Caty Borum Chattoo Executive Director, Center for Media & Social Impact, American University School of Communication

Caty Borum Chattoo is Executive Director of the Center for Media & Social Impact (CMSI), an innovation lab and research center at American University’s School of Communication that creates, showcases and studies media designed for social change; and Assistant Professor of Communication. She is an award-winning producer, engaged scholar, and professor working at the intersection of documentary, entertainment, and social change. Her first documentary book, Story Movements: How Documentaries Empower People and Inspire Social Change, was published in 2020. She is also the co-author, with Lauren Feldman, of A Comedian and An Activist Walk Into a Bar: The Serious Role of Comedy in Social Justice (2020).

Under Borum Chattoo’s leadership, CMSI launched Story Movements, a biennial national convening and research initiative at the intersection of civic storytelling and social change, as well as new research in documentary diversity and representation, social change, and more. In collaboration with the International Documentary Association, she is the architect and director of the field’s longitudinal State of the Documentary Field study. As a producer, her documentary films and TV programs have aired in the U.S. and India. A former philanthropy director and producer with legendary TV producer and activist Norman Lear, program officer at the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Entertainment Media & Public Health program, and senior vice-president in social change communication at global agency FleishmanHillard, her peer-reviewed research is featured in leading journals in communication and the humanities. She serves on the Board of Directors of The Peabody Awards, Kartemquin Films, and Working Films.