Meet Our SAY Gala 2026 Honoree: Joel Korte
Joel Korte is the founder of Chase Bliss, a Minneapolis-based company known for its innovative guitar effects pedals. He studied electrical engineering and started Chase Bliss in 2013, naming the company in honor of his late brother Chase and inspired by Joseph Campbell’s mantra, “Follow your bliss.”
Joel is also a person who stutters and has long been involved in the stuttering community. He worked as a camp counselor at Camp SAY in 2012 and 2014, experiences he describes as formative and deeply meaningful. Through his leadership, openness, and visibility, Joel is passionate about helping normalize stuttering and showing young people who stutter that their voices belong everywhere.
SAY was one of the first places where I saw stuttering fully normalized. Being surrounded by so many kids who stutter, all showing up as themselves, was both powerful and joyful, and it changed how I understood my own voice.