Rita Coburn

Rita Coburn is a Peabody and Emmy Award-Winning Director, Writer, and Producer with nearly four decades in radio, television and film. Beginning her career as a producer and writer for various news outlets across the U.S., Coburn went on to produce for the likes of The Oprah Winfrey Show, Oprah Radio, Apollo Live! and Walt Disney Productions. In 2016, “Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise,” which was co-directed and co-produced by Coburn, premiered at the 2016 Sundance Festival, and went on to win a Peabody Award in 2017. The documentary featured interviews conducted by Coburn Whack with world-renowned talent and public figures – President Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Maya Angelou, Oprah Winfrey, Cicely Tyson, Quincy Jones, and more.

Coburn’s value is such that she bridges the gap between generations and preserves African-American history. Through her work, she uniquely addresses topics from a multi-generational lens with a passion for impacting others through the untold stories of prominent figures and key ideals relevant to African-American culture.

Coburn (under the then name of Rita Coburn Whack) is also the author of “Meant to Be,” published by Random House/Strivers Row in 2001. The Rita Coburn Whack Papers collection, containing 40+ oral history interviews and audiovisual materials from public radio work and from documentaries created for public television, is currently housed at various institutions across the United States.