Cori Murray is a multi-platform storyteller. As the former Deputy Editor at ESSENCE, she led the brand’s digital and print platforms that serves 31 million Black women. Under Murray’s editorial leadership, ESSENCE won its first American Society for Magazine Editor’s National Magazine Award for Photography in April 2022 and featured a same-sex couple on its cover—a first in the magazine’s 52-year history, among numerous other accomplishments. For 10 years, she led programming for the Black Women In Hollywood awards and served as co-producer of the annual Oscars week event.

The writer, editor, producer and host received a ElevatHER award by the Black Women Film Network in March 2022 in recognition for how she “prepares and preserves the untold stories of Black women to empower future generations.” She's written cover stories for InStyle, Women's Health and EBONY and contributes to The Hollywood Reporter, Emmys.com, Apartment Therapy, WWD’s Beauty Insider and Detour.

Murray is a member of the African American Film Critics Association. Her stage and screen presence includes appearing in the recent OWN docuseries, Time of Essence, and appearing as a cultural critic in numerous national media platforms including Good Morning America, Access Hollywood, CNN, MSNBC and Ava DuVernay’s 2010 documentary, My Mic Sounds Nice: A Truth About Women in Hip Hop. Murray moderates panel discussions for entertainment companies ranging from Amazon Studios and Warner Bros. Pictures to Toronto International Film Festival and the Tribeca Film Festival. As a podcaster, she launched and cohosted ESSENCE’s leading podcast, Yes Girl!, which became a two-time Webby Award-nominated podcast. Murray has also been a featured guest on the Luminary podcast, Stoop Talk, and Mailchimp podcast Going Through It with Tracy Clayton.

A sought-after mentor with Femme It Forward’s Next Gem Femme program, Murray earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from Hampton University. She lives in Brooklyn, New York with her daughter.