Masuma Ahuja wants to change the way we tell stories of what it is to be a girl in our world — and you can help her.
Meet Girlhood, a digital media by and for teenage girls, that empowers and enables them to tell their own stories.
Author’s note: For reference, I’m an 18-year-old girl deeply passionate about media, storytelling, and helping build a more empathetic world. Hearing Masuma’s idea nearly brought me to tears — I can only imagine how much I would have benefitted from a platform like this while I was in high school. Masuma’s passion is contagious and I cannot wait to see what this becomes.
Takeaways
Masuma started her career working on digital strategy and innovation at big publishers, including CNN and The Washington Post, but later moved to freelance work where she began exploring stories of girls and women from around the world.
She found that the media was quick to tell stories about the victimization and sexualization of girls, but failed when it came to broader themes of what it means to be a girl.
So, she came up with Girlhood, “a digital media organization and community, featuring multimedia storytelling by and for teenage girls around the world, across social and digital platforms.”
Masuma is still in the early stages of starting Girlhood and could use your help! For specific opportunities, see here or keep on reading.
Context
In 2017, Masuma Ahuja left her job at CNN to build Girlhood, an new media platform that aims to transform the way we create, consume and interact with media and stories about girls across the globe.
Masuma’s early career was spent working at The Washington Post and later CNN where she focused her efforts on bringing the networks to emerging platforms to capture young audiences.
Eventually, Masuma found herself growing bored with her work and began to venture into more creative storytelling (like this piece on love stories told through voicemail).
As she continued to explore, Masuma gravitated toward the question of how to tell stories of different women across the globe — especially those stories that are rarely reflected in journalism.
One of her first projects exploring stories of women internationally was titled A portrait of motherhood around the world and gave mothers disposable cameras to document the details of their personal lives.
Masuma noticed that the stories about girls that appear in the media typically fall into three buckets: victimization, sexualization, and the extraordinary girl fighting back (think Malala or Greta). While discussions on these topics are important, she realized that they can’t be where the conversation ends.
Exploring gender in journalism
Masuma’s realization of the need for a change in journalism was so profound that it led her to quit her job at CNN and begin to explore what she could do to make a difference.
Masuma’s first big project as a freelancer was done with The Lily, where she created a series on the lives of ordinary teenage girls across the world.
Her piece was so well received that Masuma was approached by a publisher interested in helping her expand the series into a book (slated to be released this February 2021).
While writing the book, Masuma realized that the girls whose stories she was compiling from around the globe were talking thematically about the same things under different circumstances.
This realization led Masuma to ask “Where do girls see their voices reflected?” and “How can they connect with each other?” Finding no good answers, Masuma decided to create one.
“So much of our coverage of gender is very single tone. Very often in international media organizations, my questions were always just like, hey what does life look like?”
What Girlhood hopes to do
Create a global network of storytelling workshops, where communities of girls work together in spaces where they can learn how to tell their own stories.
Develop partnerships with community-based organizations, so that girls are able to rely on and work with existing, local support structures.
Curate stories from girls around the world across various media and platforms so that those not participating in workshops are still a part of the discussion.
Build a platform to amplify girls’ voices. For Masuma, it’s important not to tell the stories of others, but rather, empower them to use their own voices.
Spark conversations on important themes affecting the lives of girls that are rarely discussed in the media.
What makes Girlhood unique
Stories that burst the bubbles created by our algorithms. With echo chambers and filter bubbles permeating nearly every digital space, Masuma hopes to create a collection of stories that force people to move away from their typical media diets.
The world seen through girls’ eyes. Not influencers or headlines, but ordinary girls. The news focuses on what is current and social media distorts reality. Girlhood solves this by providing a real space to explore broader thematic topics.
A community space on the internet that encourages kindness and curiosity. For many, digital spaces are becoming increasingly associated with negative feelings of anxiety and stress. Girlhood specifically intends to be a place of kindness and positivity.
Help Masuma out!
Masuma is actively building out Girlhood and could use your help with everything and anything! Currently, she’s looking for a partner to head up business development.
She’s also working on funding and searching for people who are interested in helping out. And, of course, if you want to get involved in any other capacity, or simply talk to her about the project, she’d love to hear from you. Reach out to her on email.