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Cortney Harding

Cortney Harding

Founder & CEO of VR/AR Agency "Friends with Holograms"

Cortney Harding is a global thought leader, published author, and....

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Cortney Harding is a global thought leader, published author, and speaker on emerging technology and the role of virtual and augmented reality. She is the Founder and CEO of a transformational VR/AR agency focused on creating innovative, powerful, and effective experiences for training. Her clients include Walmart, Verizon, Accenture, Coca-Cola, and the US Air Force. She is the winner of multiple awards including “Best VR/AR” at Mobile World Congress, SXSW Innovation Award Finalist, and Top HR product by HR Executive.

In an era where many enterprise VR/AR creators lean on outmoded ideas and churn out non-interactive, unrealistic, bland content, Cortney pushes the medium forward by fusing some of the first voice-activated virtual reality interactivity with highly engaging, cinematic content from acclaimed directors who specialize in the medium. She has experience building teams with best-in-class Unity and Unreal developers and producers.

Her agency Friends with Holograms created “AvenueS” for Accenture, an immersive experience that places child welfare workers in training in a realistic, traumatic environment and then confronts them with an extremely challenging decision – whether or not to remove a child from their home and family. The interactive piece is now in use by the largest child welfare agency in the US and is being expanded into multiple chapters of content. People have often reported highly emotional responses in tests of the experience, including crying.

Her agency also created “Can’t Win” for Development Dimensions International (DDI) which places employees into an immersive scenario to demonstrate the impact of exclusionary behavior in the workplace that was described by senior leaders as “not a conversation, but an emotional experience.”

Prior to founding Friends With Holograms, Cortney led business development for VR production company Moth+Flame where she worked with AT&T, MTV, and Discovery Networks, and prior to that led business development for several music technology startups as well as served as the music editor of Billboard.

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Topics

Topics

Introduction to Virtual & Augmented Reality

Virtual Reality for Social Impact

Virtual Reality for Diversity & Inclusion

What is the Metaverse?

Videos

Videos

Dr Juan Rios and Cortney Harding talk about the Reality of Virtual Reality in Social Work
Creating VR Experiences for Clients with Cortney Harding

Books

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News

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TESTIMONIALS

CLIENT TESTIMONIALS

The American Psychological Association was thrilled to have Dr. Antonia Novello as our speaker for the 2024 APA Convention. Dr. Novello was fantastic, and her presentation was a tremendous success. Thank you, Peter, for all your hard work in making this event such a resounding success.

American Psychological Association

For our annual Native American Heritage Month celebration, PDA Group arranged for John Echohawk to join us for a virtual moderated discussion. The program was thoughtful, engaging, and highly impactful for our audience of lawyers and professional staff. We are grateful for their partnership and look forward to working with them again.

Debevoise & Plimpton LLP

We have partnered with PDA Group on multiple successful events, including our charity luncheon with Lisa Edelstein and our Women’s Philanthropy Kickoff Event featuring Allegra Goodman. Their professionalism, expertise, and commitment to excellence make them an outstanding partner. Thank you for your exceptional work and continued support.

UJA-Federation

We have received so much fantastic feedback following our virtual event. It was an absolute success, and Sylvia Fowles was excellent. Thank you again to Sylvia and the entire team for your partnership!”

U.S. Bank

Kurt Warner was spectacular—he completely wowed the audience and solidified major leadership points. He was an amazing partner, and we will be talking about this experience for years to come. We will definitely leverage the PDA team for all of our speaking needs!”

Sysco Corporation

The events over the past two years went very well — everyone had a great time with Dr. Mark Esper in 2025, and Sam Hinkie led a very engaging Q&A with our Principal, Jean Reynolds, in 2024. Thank you for working with us these last two years; your support has been instrumental to the success of our programs!

Investcorp Strategic Capital Group

It was an absolute privilege to have Dr. Sanjay Gupta as our keynote speaker for the 2026 GME Leadership Conference. He delivered an outstanding address that resonated deeply and left a lasting impression on everyone in the room. The entire planning process was seamless and collaborative. It was a pleasure working together, brainstorming suggestions, and ultimately selecting the perfect fit for our event. We couldn’t have asked for a better experience.

HCA Healthcare

We had a fantastic day with Inge! She was very engaging with all those that attended. Her personal stories about the holocaust were very special and we were moved that she was willing to share them with everyone. Thank you again, PDA for all your hard work and dedication to make this program such a success!

Salt Lake Community College

It was a great pleasure to work with PDA Group! The communication was always prompt, friendly and helpful. We loved the speakers and events we booked through Mr. Peter Walker (PDA Group).

Western Michigan University

On behalf of myself and my organization Entertainment Unlimited the Campus Programming Board of Ferris State University, we thank you PDA and Dan for a successful event!! Dan was magnificent! Students really enjoyed the presentation. I know I did. Can’t wait to bring in more programs with PDA Group.

Ferris State University

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