Cober’s career comes full circle at Society of Illustrators

In the 125-year history of the Society of Illustrators, there have only been four female presidents. Leslie Cober is honored to be one of them. The daughter of illustrator Alan E. Cober, Leslie knew she wanted to be an illustrator since she was five years old.

Having a parent who was successful at it dispelled the prevailing societal myth of the starving artist.

She had a built-in mentor in her father, whose work has appeared in Rolling Stone, Time, and Sports Illustrated. High school art instructor Bob Glouberman was another mentor; so was science fiction illustrator Murray Tinkelman, and caricaturist C. F. Payne, and preservationist and arts advocate Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogell.

Cober achieved that childhood dream. She is a successful illustrator whose work was commissioned by the New York Times, Barneys New York, Bergdorf Goodman, Bloomberg and many other companies.

“I’ve been in the illustration world my whole life,” said Cober. “My father was an illustrator so I have been coming here [to the Society of Illustrators] my whole life.”

Describing her role as president, she said “I love the Society of Illustrators. I love that it’s a community and represents illustration globally. It’s a place where people can come and be with like-minded people... it’s a place for us all to come celebrate illustration.”

“My motivation is my love for the arts,” Cober continued, “Everything I do is out of passion for loving the arts, loving communication, [and loving] other people.”

One of Leslie’s passion projects is her ongoing work with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Since 2022, she has curated “Art, Culture, Fun,” art classes taught by professional artists that are free to residents of the five boroughs.

“The artists are paid, which I love because artists deserve to be paid,” Leslie noted. What started off four years ago as 20 classes has grown to 200 due to popularity.

The extremely popular Members’ Show at the Society of Illustrators is also curated by Cober; she has managed it since 2013.

“Each year,” she said, “I come up with the theme for the show... The opening night is just a very warm, thankful, really great night because the members are here. The members are the most important part of the Society.”

In addition to her work at the Society of Illustrators, Leslie teaches at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Next year will be her twentieth anniversary as a professor there. She also teaches at Western Connecticut State University.

What’s next for Cober? Her schedule is jam-packed. She will appear on an upcoming episode of Giuseppe Castellano’s podcast The Illustration Department. Her illustrations will be part of the Visions of a Nation: 250 Years from Revolution to Rockwell art exhibit at the Norman Rockwell Museum, which opens in June. In July, she will begin a new position as Director of MFA Illustration at University of Hartford. And in September, Leslie’s art exhibit Legacy of the Line 2: The Work of Leslie Cober and Alan E. Cober will open at Western State Connecticut University.

Her advice to fellow artists: “If you try to be what someone else is they will always be better than you... if you do your own thing you’re the only one who’s going to be the best at what you do, so stay true to yourself. Stay true to who you are.”