Myanmar

WIN WAN-IFRA

Producer, Splice Beta

Nyi is a Project Coordinator at WIN WAN-IFRA. She has more than ten years of experience in Communications and Project Management, cultivated through diverse roles in PR agencies, corporate environments, and NGOs. Nyi is doing her master's degree in Mental Health in Thailand. Besides her studies, she is passionate about helping young people and making positive social changes.

Italy

Code for Africa

How to recalibrate your grant work in the post-USAID era

Jacopo Ottaviani (X, Linkedin) is a computer scientist who works as Code for Africa’s Senior Strategist. As an ICFJ Knight Fellow in 2016-2019, Jacopo built teams and programs funded by the World Bank, Google News Initiative, GIZ, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. His mix of technical skills, as a computer scientist and data journalist, has resulted in a series of projects published by, among others, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, El País, and Internazionale. He worked on multiple grant projects supported by the Pulitzer Center and the European Journalism Center. He is a member of the European Press Prize preparatory committee and works as a trainer with BBC Media Action.

Philippines

Amber Studios

How I dropped out of traditional media to build my own creative lab

Jacque Manabat has transitioned from a celebrated, decades-long career as a senior multi-platform journalist at the Philippines' largest broadcasting network to becoming an independent producer and creative entrepreneur. Jacque is the co-founder of Amber Studios, a vibrant post-production hub and creative lab dedicated to shaping the next wave of Filipino content. Here, she doesn't just produce her content, but also creates a diverse portfolio of content for other creatives, including an upcoming educational animation short series for Filipino children. Her passion for purpose-driven media is evident in the vodcasts she produces, which cover critical topics like animal rights, mobility rights, young entrepreneurship, and various social issues.

United States

Lighthouse Reports

Global funders come with agendas. We avoided those, and used our funding for community-driven investigations

Eva Constantaras is Data Editor at Lighthouse Reports. She has spent most of her career as an itinerant data journalist, setting up data teams in newsrooms in Global Majority countries. She is also a Google Data Journalism Scholar, a Fulbright Fellow, and a winner of the Sigma Data Journalism and Philip Meyer Award. She is currently based in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Malaysia

Trident Media

How I took over a media business while grieving — and somehow made it work

Darshini Kandasamy is an award-winning journalist, media entrepreneur, and 2024–2025 John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University. She co-founded Between The Lines, Malaysia’s pioneering subscription-based newsletter known for its sharp, contextual coverage of politics and current affairs, and led it to 2023 through a period of profound transition after the loss of her co-founder and husband. At Stanford, she explored sustainable models for independent media and fostering inclusivity in journalism through the lens of trauma and neurodivergence.

Philippines

AI Ethicist

How I reset my life, became an AI ethicist, and returned to traditional media

Carl Javier is a writer by training, but has a career that has spanned journalism, academe, publishing, development work, and more. He was the CEO of PumaPodcast for 4 years, the Managing Editor of Anino Comics for 5 years, and has been a teacher for almost 20 years. He is currently the Executive Director of Data and AI Ethics PH, where he advocates for Responsible AI adoption.

Mauritius

Consultant

Here’s how to build independence from the expertise you already have

Khalil is an advocate for more audiences-informed approaches in the media, and an audience development expert, with focuses on user needs, product work and AI. He's always happy to chat: he does consultations, and advises and mentors teams and individuals. He's also a long-distance swimmer, perhaps a natural consequence of living in the tropical island of Mauritius.