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Time: 1:42
Jodi Cobb describes the secrecy of a geisha’s life.
Jodi Cobb was the first female photographer almost everywhere she worked early in her career, including National Geographic. Rather than be thwarted by the adversity she encountered—including gender bias and the dangers and discomforts of traveling a far less modern world as a single, working woman—Cobb found ingenious ways to turn these situations to her advantage. As she broke through these barriers, one after another, her career advanced.
Cobb was one of the first photographers to travel across China when it reopened to the West, the first photographer to enter the hidden lives of women in Saudi Arabia, and the first woman to be named White House Photographer of the Year. She has worked in more than 60 countries, primarily the Middle East and Asia, where she was the first photographer to enter the mysterious realm of the geisha.
Demand for even cheaper goods and services has made human trafficking one of the largest criminal activities in the world—a harsh reality Cobb exposed in her 2003 National Geographic story “21st Century Slavery.”
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