Jessica Brillhart

Jessica Brillhart is a renowned mixed reality creator, author, and theorist. She graduated from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. Brillhart started her career as a filmmaker at Google's Creative Lab, later becoming the company's Principal Filmmaker for Virtual Reality.

After nearly a decade at Google, Brillhart was appointed the Director of the Mixed Reality Lab at the USC Institute for Creative Technologies. She oversaw research for the Army Research Lab, the Office of Naval Research, and DARPA for three years, concentrating on visual asset optimization, attention-driven systems, and next-generation interface design.

Brillhart has led several award-winning experiences and platforms, including the immersive audio platform Traverse. She has collaborated with NASA JPL, Frank Gehry, the Montreal Canadien ice hockey team, Yo-Yo Ma, and, unofficially, the Weather Channel. She has received the Distinguished Leadership Award from the Advanced Imaging Society and was named one of MIT Technology Review's 35 Innovators Under 35.

Brillhart remains a respected advisor, judge, and speaker. Her Medium series "In the Blink of a Mind" is considered a pivotal resource for virtual reality design theory. She continues to write about designing for spatial computing and its impact on society and culture through her Substack Newsletter, CONTEXT.

Brillhart runs her mixed reality creative studio, Vrai Pictures, from Los Angeles, California, where she strives to usher in a new era of inclusive, beautiful, and meaningful computing.