Organization Spotlight: Global Girl Media

 A few weeks back we had the lovely opportunity to interview Annie Williams of Global Girl Media.  GlobalGirl Media, headquartered in Los Angeles,  is dedicated to empowering high school age girls from under-served communities through media, leadership and journalistic training to have a voice in the global media universe and their own futures. Their work is spreading across the globe and VOICE looks up to and forward thanks to foundations organizations like GGM have laid. 

Can you include a short personal bio?

Amie Williams, Executive Director and Co-Founder of GlobalGirl Media is an award winning producer/director specializing in film and video for NGO and international development organizations.

What problem are you solving?

GlobalGirl Media grew out of a coalition of women broadcasters and journalists from around the world who recognized that mainstream reporting too often focuses on flash points of violence, celebrity or disaster, while the everyday experience and voice of the invisible majority, particularly young women, passes silently under the radar. With the explosion of social media networking and user-generated content on the web, the fact remains that this media is only open to those who have access to these technologies, leaving many youth, especially young girls in at-risk or impoverished communities, falling hard into the digital divide.  We seek to address this disparity by supplying the equipment, education and support necessary to help young women become digital and blog journalists, bringing their own unique perspective to the global web.

What is one piece of advice you would like to offer someone doing similar work?

For anyone woman interested in working in Media, my advice would be to not be afraid to use your voice!  We so desperately need more women to voice their opinions and share their unique perspectives.

What is an experience you’ve had that has made you stay motivated in the work you’re doing?

Every day spent working with girls in LA, Morocco, and South Africa has been inspirational.  But most recently, in Morocco, GlobalGirl reporters covered the National Parliamentary elections in November, 2011. Reforms to Morocco’s Constitution increased political participation of women by setting aside 60 national seats for women. Watching young Moroccan GlobalGirl Reporters take an active interest in reporting on the value of women in government was extremely moving, especially in light of the present national elections in the United States.

How can people join you in what you’re doing?

There are many ways for you to become an active part of GlobalGirl Media.  If you’re a girl interested in social justice, women’s rights, storytelling, film, or journalism and you want to share your unique voice and perspective, we encourage you to write and report by whatever means you can.  If you live in one of the cities where we currently  hold media training (Los Angeles, CA, USA; Soweto, South Africa; Rabat, Morocco) we’d love for you to get in touch with us!  Also, stay tuned because we’re expanding to other cities around the world.  You can support us by donating through our website at www.globalgirlmedia.org and by sharing our stories with your friends.

Interview Corner with Reshma Lohia

VOICE wants to share the stories that motivate us with you. Check back each week and sit in on the interview corner with a new camper, counselors, teacher, or school owner. This week we are hearing from Reshma Lohia, owner of VOICE participating school Lohia’s LIttle Angels High School, and mentor to VOICE. Ms. Lohia has shown VOICE guidance, cultural awareness, wisdom, and friendship. We appreciate all she has done to advocate for VOICE!

Watch more videos at VOICE 4 Girls YouTube Channel HERE!

VOICE Welcomes Our New Executive Director Pradeep Narayanan

This past month has been grueling! Whew!

There are about 500 things to make decisions on and do just in preparation for summer camp, and while our team has been awesome in getting things done and sharing their great ideas, ultimately our bandwidth has been stretched to the max, particularly on the upper management side.

While Voice founders were back in NYC in November, rallying support and advice for our next steps, our key supporters strongly suggested that we appoint an executive director. After much discussion, we decided the best thing would be to bring in a new person that could offer more experience and deeper ties into India, to enhance our vision and planning for the future.

We put out job postings and interviewed quite a few number of people, each with different strengths and weaknesses. We were really looking for someone that would be excited by the challenges of a startup, eager and knowledgable to manage large scaling goals, and someone that was comfortable building partnerships to raise financial and managerial support within India.

One man that we interviewed stood out from the very first conversation. Even in this preliminary interview, he spoke clearly and thoughtfully, with a mind to the challenges but a optimistic outlook on bringing our organization there.

I passed him through to Averil, who called me immediately after she spoke to him, as thrilled as I was with his extensive 19 years of past experience and down to earth attitude. As we spoke to him further, and had our sponsors at Gray Matters Capital do a final interview, we really were getting a sense that he was going to fit right in with our Voice 4 Girls team.

We sealed the deal last week, when he came into Hyderabad for a short 2 day visit. Over lunches and dinners we all got to know each other and share the key areas of focus that need more attention.

We are absolutely thrilled with our decision and so excited to introduce Pradeep Narayanan to our followers out there.

Please give him warm wishes while he and his family settle down in Hyderabad in the next couple of weeks and he dives on-board.

Stay tuned for posts from him!