Cooper Harris is an American entrepreneur and actress. She is currently the CEO & founder of Klickly, a payments platform, based in
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...
,
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...
. Harris had a career as an actress on such TV shows like ''
Young and the Restless
''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in fictional Genoa City (not the real-life similarly-named Genoa City, ...
'' and ''
As the World Turns
''As the World Turns'' (often abbreviated as ''ATWT'') is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS for 54 years from April 2, 1956, to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created ''As the World Turns'' as a sister show to her other soa ...
'', among others.
Cooper was also the Director of Tech for Collective Summit and produced the first-ever Innovation Summit and Social-Impact
Hackathon
A hackathon (also known as a hack day, hackfest, datathon or codefest; a portmanteau of hacking and marathon) is an event where people engage in rapid and collaborative engineering over a relatively short period of time such as 24 or 48 hours. Th ...
during
Sundance
A Sun Dance is a Native American ceremony.
Sun dance or Sundance may also refer to:
Places
;Canada
* Sundance, Calgary, Alberta, a neighbourhood
*Sundance, Manitoba, a ghost town
;United States
*Sundance, New Mexico, a census-designated place ...
. Her team won the Los Angeles AT&T Hackathon.
Career
As an actress
Upon her move to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
Harris was cast in the soap opera, ''
As the World Turns
''As the World Turns'' (often abbreviated as ''ATWT'') is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS for 54 years from April 2, 1956, to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created ''As the World Turns'' as a sister show to her other soa ...
''. After her role on the TV Harris stepped in to play a leading role in an off-Broadway play at the
Cherry Lane Theater
The Cherry Lane Theatre is the oldest continuously running off-Broadway theater in New York City. The theater is located at 38 Commerce Street between Barrow and Bedford Streets in the West Village neighborhood of Greenwich Village, Manhattan, N ...
. Shortly after the show closed, Harris moved to
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...
and into a role in a
Paramount film called ''
Dough Boys'', which was her entrée into the Hollywood entertainment scene.
As a Tech Entrepreneur
During her stint on ''
Young and the Restless
''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in fictional Genoa City (not the real-life similarly-named Genoa City, ...
'', Cooper became interested in entrepreneurship and started attending hackathons. Having grown up with a brother who was a computer engineer and a father who was a
serial entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...
, Harris stated that she was interested in a field that would allow both creativity and the ability to control her own destiny.
Harris won the AT&T Hackathon in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...
, and shortly thereafter build the first Innovation and Tech Summit during the
Sundance film festival
The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,6 ...
, called Collective. As part of this initiative, she co-founded Hackdance, a social impact hackathon that brought celebrities together to create apps or platforms that would change the world for the better. Cooper then went on to judge and produce the South by Southwest Hackathon, a hackathon for PBS, and the BritWeek children’s hackathon.
In her first startup, a digital production company, she created and sold her own shows & content to companies such as Post It Notes, Kimberly Clark, DailyMotion & studio production giant, Endemol.
Cooper is a favorite speaker at international summits including the
Consumer Electronics Show
CES (; formerly an initialism for Consumer Electronics Show) is an annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). Held in January at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Winchester, Nevada, United States, the event ty ...
,
Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity
The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity (formerly the International Advertising Festival) is a global event for those working in creative communications, advertising, and related fields. It is considered the largest gathering of the ...
,
South by Southwest
South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, ...
, ShopTalk,
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,6 ...
, Los Angeles TechWeek, London Tech Conference, and more, speaking on Marketing Technology / Retail Tech /
Financial Technology
Fintech, a portmanteau of "financial technology", refers to firms using new technology to compete with traditional financial methods in the delivery of financial services. Artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud computing, and big data are ...
, fostering women in
Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics
Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is an umbrella term used to group together the distinct but related technical disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The term is typically used in the context o ...
, and disrupting the status quo using technology and innovation.
Philanthropy and Charity
Previously, as the Executive Director of the Oasis Foundation, Cooper oversaw initiatives to foster innovation & entrepreneurship. She is also a mentor at
Network For Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), which teaches kids entrepreneurship in schools. Cooper speaks on being a Woman in Tech and the intersection of Entertainment & Tech at venues such as the CES Conference, USC, SXSW, Silicon Beach Fest, iMedia Summit, General Assembly, Wonder Woman Tech Summit, Sundance, and more, and produced a media-based Hackathon for PBS.
Cooper is on the Board of the non-profit organization Hidden Voices.
Awards and honours
* 2017 Cannes Lions "Top Thought Leader"
* L'Oreal's "Digital Woman of the Year"
* UKTI Innovation Award, alongside Will.I.Am
* Cooper is a member of YEC (Young Entrepreneurs Council) and sits on the board of Hidden Voices, a non-profit organization tell the stories of homeless, imprisoned or immigrant people underrepresented by mainstream media.
References
External links
*
Klickly
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Cooper
21st-century American businesspeople
American computer businesspeople
American women company founders
American company founders
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Place of birth missing (living people)
University of North Carolina School of the Arts alumni
21st-century American businesswomen