About
I’m Courtney Cochran, a creative leader, designer and strategist with more than 25 years of experience building brands, teams and creative capabilities.
I’m creative by training and a strategist by practice. My work sits at the intersection of brand, communication and experience, spanning design, video, digital platforms, live production and the systems that make all of those things work together.
For the past decade, I’ve led creative work inside a large, complex organization, building multidisciplinary capabilities from the ground up and helping teams translate everything from enterprise strategy and executive communication to culture, health and innovation into experiences people can actually understand and connect with.
I believe the best creative leadership creates clarity rather than control. It establishes a strong point of view, gives talented people room to do their best work, and builds systems that make good work repeatable. I’m interested in the space between the big idea and the machinery required to make it real.
That has meant building in-house creative and production capabilities, developing brand systems, shaping digital experiences, creating editorial platforms, directing documentary and campaign work, designing live programming, and finding better ways for multidisciplinary teams to work together.
Across all of it, the question I keep returning to is simple:
What is the signal, and how do we make it strong enough to be understood?
That idea became Amplify the Signal.
I hold a BFA in Graphic Design from East Tennessee State University and an MA in Communication from Wake Forest University. My work has been recognized by Ragan Communications, Graphic Design USA, Hermes Creative Awards and the MarCom Awards, and I was selected for BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee’s IMPACT Leadership Program among the organization’s top 6% of high performers.
Outside my day job, I’m interested in the ways design, culture and shared experience create community. I founded Chattanooga’s traditional Irish music session and am now building Chattanooga Celtic Connection, expanding that work into a broader exploration of Ireland, Scotland, the Celtic diaspora and their deep connections to Appalachia. Through music, education, history, film and community partnerships, I’m interested in how traditions travel, change and endure, and how creating places to practice them can turn cultural heritage into living community.
Awards & Recognition
Selected work has been recognized by the Ragan Communications Awards, MarCom Awards, Hermes Creative Awards and Graphic Design USA, spanning creative direction, design, video, digital experiences, editorial, livestream production and integrated communications.
Ragan Communications Awards
Excellence in Video — Being Here Matters, Town Hall Opener · 2024
Finalist, Social Media & Digital Awards — WellTuned by BCBST, Wellness Campaign · 2024
Excellence in Internal Communications — Good News Blue · 2023
First Place, Best Print Publication — Better Tennessee Magazine · 2015
MarCom Awards
Platinum — Being Here Matters, Internal Communication Campaign · 2023
Platinum — The Power of We, Internal Communication Videos · 2020
Platinum — WellTuned by BCBST, Blog/Website Design · 2020
Platinum — Eyes Up, Television/PSA
Gold — Spring All-Management Livestream Event · 2023
Gold — BlueSky Tennessee Institute, Corporate Image Video · 2023
Gold — BCBST Annual Report · 2023
Gold — BCBST Enterprise Strategy Employee Document · 2020
Gold — LeadBlue Manager Newsletter · 2020
Gold — Surprise Billing Infographic · 2020
Gold — Good News Blue, Internal Communications Web Series · 2020
Gold — BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee Company Overview · 2018
Gold — Healthy Conversations, Corporate Publication · 2018
Additional honorable mentions include work in diversity and inclusion, brand identity, mission communications, compliance and editorial design.
Hermes Creative Awards
Platinum — Mission Video · 2022
Gold — Tennessee Healthcare Innovation Initiative, Animated Video Series · 2022
Additional honorable mentions for diversity, equity and inclusion video and compliance communications.
Graphic Design USA
Health + Wellness Design Awards
Mission Moments Annual Report · 2015
Fall Wellness Fair · 2015
Healthy Conversations Magazine · 2017, 2018
Men's Health Awareness Campaign · 2018
American Inhouse Design Awards
Government Relations Booklet · 2016
It's My Blue, Enterprise Strategy Campaign · 2016
Digital Interactive Wall · 2016
Men's Health Awareness Campaign · 2016
Leadership & Development
IMPACT Leadership Program · 2024
Selected among the top 6% of high performers
Chattanooga Urban League, Inclusion by Design Fellow · 2023
IDEO U, Collaborative Leadership · 2022
IDEO U, Creative Leadership · 2022
The top 6% is the important bit. Don't bury that in parentheses. That's actual selectivity.
For the full portfolio/About site, this amount of detail is perfect. For the résumé, though, I'd compress it because we now have a lot of evidence competing for page two.
I'd probably combine leadership and awards into one bottom section:
Community & Civic Leadership
Founder & Director, Chattanooga Celtic Connection · 2026–present
Building a nonprofit cultural organization dedicated to celebrating, exploring and strengthening connections among Celtic traditions, the diaspora and their living legacy in Tennessee and Appalachia.
Founder, TradChattanooga · 2025–present
Founded Chattanooga’s traditional Irish music session, creating an accessible community for musicians, learners and listeners to participate in and sustain the living tradition of Irish music.
Member, Chattanooga Public Art Commission · 2023–present
Supporting public art and creative placemaking in Chattanooga.
Speaker, The Power of WE Externship, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee · 2023, 2024
TeamBlue Volunteer, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee · 2014–present