Gerhold Lecture Series in the Humanities
An Evening with Jodi Kantor: On investigative journalism, breaking the Harvey Weinstein story, and discovering your life’s work
Save the Date
Wednesday, October 21, 2026
Capital Student Q&A
3 p.m.
Bridge of Learning
Guest Speaker Lecture
7:30 p.m.
Huntington Recital Hall
Free and open to the public
About the Speaker
Jodi Kantor is a best-selling author and prizewinning investigative reporter whose work reveals hidden truths about power, law, gender, technology and culture.
Over the years, her reporting has led to a now ubiquitous invention that helps new mothers; paternity leave for workers at Amazon, the second-largest U.S. employer; and a global reckoning that shifted legal, corporate and social standards for treatment of women.
For the past two years, she has been working to shed light on one of our most critical, powerful, and least-understood institutions: the Supreme Court. Together with her New York Times colleagues, Kantor revealed the behind-the-scenes story of how the justices overturned the constitutional right to abortion, problems with the investigation into the leak of that opinion, and a secret influence effort by anti-abortion activists and another alleged breach. In the spring of 2024, Kantor broke the news of two provocative flags, associated with efforts to overturn the 2020 election, displayed at the homes of Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. Her work raised widespread public concern and renewed calls from lawmakers to address ethical standards at the court.
In 2017, Kantor and Megan Twohey broke the story of decades of sexual abuse allegations against the Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. Their work helped shift the culture, protect women around the world, and spur a chain of truth-telling that continues to this day. Together with a team of colleagues who exposed harassment across industries, they were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for public service, journalism’s highest award. Rich Lowry, the editor of the National Review, called Kantor and Twohey’s Weinstein investigation “the single most influential piece of journalism I can remember. It instantly changed this country.”
Kantor and Twohey wrote She Said, about the Weinstein investigation, to take readers behind the scenes of this kind of work and show the impact that even a small number of truth-tellers can have. The book was called “an instant classic of investigative journalism” by the Washington Post and one of the best books of the year by the New York Public Library, NPR, The New York Times, Time, and many other publications. A 2021 film adaptation, starring Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan, was called “a new entry in the pantheon of great newspaper movies.” Kantor and Twohey also adapted the book into Chasing the Truth, a guide for young journalists who want to tackle difficult stories.
Before then, Kantor’s work on the havoc caused by automated scheduling systems in Starbucks workers’ lives spurred changes at the company and helped begin a national fair-scheduling movement. Amazon has repeatedly changed its policies in response to reporting by Kantor and her colleagues, introducing paternity leave and making other changes. After they revealed deep problems at the warehouse that was Amazon’s chief pipeline to New York City during the pandemic, the facility became the first-ever Amazon warehouse to vote to unionize. Her report on working mothers and breastfeeding inspired two readers to create the first free-standing lactation pods for nursing mothers. Thousands of them are now available in airports and other settings across the country.
From 2007 to 2013, Kantor covered President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama for the Times, delving into their ideas, biographies, family, marriage, faith and approach to the White House, and covering the 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns. Kantor’s best-selling book, The Obamas, about their behind-the-scenes adjustment to the jobs of president and first lady, was published in 2012. “In lesser hands The Obamas would be an act of astonishing overreach, but Ms. Kantor… has earned the voice of authority,” Connie Schultz wrote in a review of the book. “A meticulous reporter, Ms. Kantor is attuned to the nuance of small gestures, the import of unspoken truths.”
Kantor’s next book will be How to Start: Discovering Your Life’s Work (Little, Brown and Company, April 21, 2026) in which she offers inspired wisdom, strategy, and a set of aspirations for young people to launch their careers and last their whole lives.
Kantor became a journalist by dropping out of law school– and never looking back. In 2003, she became the Arts & Leisure editor at The Times, and the youngest person in memory to edit a section of the newspaper. Since then, she has been the recipient of many awards and honors, including the Columbia Alumni medal, the George Polk Award, and Time Magazine’s list of 100 most influential people of the year. Her work has earned praise across the political spectrum. In 2025 she joined the New York Times’ Washington bureau’s Supreme Court team full-time.
Kantor lives in Brooklyn with her husband, New York Times personal finance columnist Ron Lieber, and her two daughters, and has a special love for mentoring younger journalists.