Team
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Melanie leads the WIN team while also overseeing WAN-IFRA’s externally funded media development programmes. She is a gender and media development expert with more than ten years’ experience leading capacity building and advocacy initiatives which place gender equality at their core.
As Executive Director of Media Development for WAN-IFRA, Melanie leads the organisation’s media development portfolio, which includes management of a multi-million Euro budget to support media in 25 countries around the globe. Melanie is a creator of WAN-IFRA’s sector-leading WIN programme and the architect of WAN-IFRA’s Gender and Media Freedom Strategy, an ambitious multi-year initiative to promote women’s leadership and voices in the news with support from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency and Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She manages WAN-IFRA’s Media Freedom Board, as well as the Media Freedom Brain Trust, which contributes to WAN-IFRA’s media freedom programmes as trainers, mentors and advisors.
Melanie has held various leadership, programme development and social investment strategy positions in North America and Europe, including four years with the Toronto-based Women’s Executive Network. As Vice President International, she led the company’s expansion to its first international market with the launch of WXN Ireland. Melanie has a BA (Hons) from Kings College, Dalhousie University, and holds an MSc from the London School of Economics, University of London.
Jane oversees all activities and programmes for WIN Africa as Director for the region, while also serving as WIN’s sexual harassment expert.
She is a journalist, editor and trainer and former Deputy Managing Editor for The Standard Group in Kenya.She previously served as the Capacity Building Manager, for WIN Africa, as a Project Manager for WIN East and Central Africa and Coach for Kenya.
She has also served as Head of Editorial at African Woman and Child Features Service, a women’s rights organisation and acted as Managing Director at African Gender and Media Initiative Trust.
Jane holds a Master’s degree and Post Graduate Diploma in Gender and Development from the University of Nairobi. She has coached women leaders at the Centre for Population and Development Activities and Coady International Institute, St Francis Xavier University, Canada.
Jane sits on various boards and committees. She is Board Chair for the Indigenous Information Network; a board member at the African Gender and Media Initiative Trust; and a board member at the Network for Adolescents and Youth in Africa. She is a member of the Kenya Editors Guild; a member of AMREF Health-Kenya Ethics and Scientific Review Committee and and on the Kenya Editors’ Guild Task Force on Sexual Harassment.
Thandar leads the programmes and activities for WIN SEA as Director for the region. She previously served as Country Lead for Myanmar in the past years.Thandar is a marketing and communications professional previously led a commercial teamof one of the leading media in Myanmar, Frontier Myanmar. In parallel, she also led the Black Knight Marketing and Communication Agency that is a sister company of Frontier Myanmar in collaborating with a number of top international clients in Myanmar.
Before joining Frontier Myanmar, she worked at the several companies such as Mago Marketing Services as Business Development Manager, Mizzima Media Group as Sales Director, The Myanmar Times from several roles as National Sales Director, HR Manager and Senior Receptionist. Before pursuing a career that spanned advertising, publishing, customer service and marketing communications she served Qatar Airways as senior flight attendant.Thandar is passionate about supporting community development focusing on women. One of the highlight projects is called Women 4 Women 2020 that is founded with 9 women to support underprivileged sex workers who were hit badly during COVID-19 pandemic.
Thandar holds a mathematics degree from Myanmar with other several marketing courses certificates.
Tamala Chirwa is part of the Leadership Group of WAN-IFRA Women in News as Director, People and Performance. She is charged with the responsibility of the HR function activities, overseeing the coaching component of the Accelerator and Advisory programmes including serving as an internal coach for team members and coordinating WIN Academy elements.
Tamala is an International Coach Federation Credentialed Professional Certified Coach specializing in Executive, Leadership, Group and Team Coaching. She is a LEIPA Facilitator, Certified DISC Practitioner, Coach-Trainer, and Leadership Consultant. She holds an MBA from MANCOSA-South Africa, an ACCA Diploma in Financial Management and a Post-Graduate Management Certificate from University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business. She previously held positions in organizations in Malawi, South Africa and Kenya and excelled at delivering high-value solutions as a manager in the Finance, Administration, Human Resources and Coaching functions. She has robust experience in designing and delivering leadership development and coach-training programmes in organizations. She is a Vital Voices VV100 network member of Vital Voices Global Partnership.
Tamala has a passion for developing women in leadership and supports C-Suite leaders who intentionally seek to scale their leadership impact. Her coaching philosophy is on the premise that high performers must be consistently supported to sustain the successes they register in their career trajectories to build powerful legacies. She is actively committed to contribute towards advancing the coaching agenda in Africa to enhance the leadership capacity of African leaders as they generate solutions to African challenges.
Tamala’s recent past engagements include Subject Matter Expert/Coach for the MBA Leadership Lab of the African Leadership University; Malawi Coach/Cohort Facilitator for the Breakfast Club Africa for CEOs. She is Board Chairperson of World Connect Malawi and Board Member of World Connect US. She has also served on the panel of coaches for the Obama Foundation Leaders Africa.
Dalal is a journalist based in Beirut who worked for United Press International (UPI) for 21 years as Lebanon Correspondent, Beirut Bureau Chief, Middle East Bureau Chief and Editor-in-Chief of the Arabic desk. She has travelled extensively in the Arab region, securing in-depth interviews and covering major summits. In 2003, she was entrusted with developing the UPI Arabic News Service and expanding its news coverage, leading a 30-member team, including editors, translators and correspondents in Beirut and the region.
Dalal was Media Director at the American University of Beirut and later focused on developing media projects and training for a number of news outlets. In June 2015, she helped set up The Arab Weekly, a London-based English-language weekly newspaper, where she served as Deputy Editor-in-Chief.
She is currently a media consultant and trainer who focuses on in-depth political analysis of Lebanon and the region. She has a BA in Political Science and Public Administration from the American University of Beirut and is fluent in Arabic, English and French.
Susan Makore is a highly experienced media management professional known for her expertise in coaching, training, and governance. She currently serves as Director, Advisory and Insights for the World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) Women in News program, where she also coaches. She has served as Women in News Advisory Senior Manager for Africa and has extensive experience in executive coaching.
As a Certified Coach belonging to the International Coach Federation, Susan has developed subject matter expertise in media management, business strategy, managing work relationships, sexual harassment in the workplace, and gender balance in the media. She holds a Master of Arts degree in Media and Cultural Studies, a Bachelor of Arts in English, History, and Economic History, and a Post Graduate Diploma in Media and Communication Studies.
Prior to her current role, Susan served as the Group Chief Executive Officer for AB Communications from 2013 to 2020. Under her leadership, AB Communications expanded its media interests, including a national privately-owned commercial radio station, two regional radio stations, an outdoor media entity, a television production house, a weekly newspaper, and Business Times.
Susan’s extensive experience in media management, coaching, training, and governance makes her an ideal candidate for any organization seeking to achieve gender balance and excellence in media industries.
Molly is a consultant with 12 years’ experience in media development work, with particular focus on gender and media, media monitoring, advocacy for free expression, public information rights and media organisations’ development.
An established project designer and manager with skills in monitoring and evaluation, knowledge management and managing work out of multiple countries. Between 2015 and 2019, she had oversight over the WIN programme as Programme Manager for Sub-Saharan Africa with focus on Botswana, Rwanda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Her experience has seen her become an activist for freedom of expression and access to information issues where seven years of her career was spent in promoting public information rights for citizens in Zimbabwe. Molly is an avid writer and has been published by the Africa in Union – the African Union’s flagship magazine.
She has also conducted various research on gender and media issues in Zimbabwe and co-authored research such as Gender responsiveness of Policies and News Sourcing Trends in Zimbabwe’s media houses: A situational assessment of gender policy availability and gender sensitivity in the media’s selection of news stories and more recently Gender Sourcing Patterns of media in Zimbabwe (2015-2019 study). She has in-depth knowledge of Monitoring and Evaluation, experience in facilitating workshops and conferences and has made presentations at meetings such as the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights.
Molly is also a mentor with Global Giveback Circle, where she has been a mentor who builds relationships and provides advice to young women on how to navigate their lives. Molly holds an MA in International Affairs, a BSc Honors in Media and Society Studies [both obtained from the Midlands State University], a Postgraduate Diploma in Knowledge and Information Systems Management from Stellenbosch University and a diploma in Project Management, Monitoring and Evaluation.
Mona leads WIN’s Gender Balance training and tracking and is also the Arab Region lead for research initiatives.
She is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Mass Communication, Cairo University, where she teaches public opinion, digital media production, mass media, research methodology and media literacy.
Mona has participated in scientific conferences in Germany, Austria, Tunisia, Turkey, Qatar, Netherlands and Greece. She is a certified trainer for Training of Trainers, media production, communication skills, and journalism.
Maja is WIN’s senior manager of Knowledge Systems and E-Learning and her role is to build, streamline and make accessible the vast amount of intellectual content that underpins WIN activities. She is a Journalist and Communications specialist with a MA degree in Journalism and Public Relations, obtained from the University of Zagreb and is currently undertaking her PhD studies in Communication Science in Croatia.
Maja currently manages and optimises WIN workflows, including SIRI selection processes and operations for various initiatives/projects. She coordinates relevant systems and initiatives for Media Freedom programmes and oversees internal online tools workflows and procedures. She also manages and maintains the WIN Learning Management System (LMS), webinar activities and software programmes and facilitates online learning (E-Learning) processes, notably for the Gender balance in content module and Digital ABC modules currently in development.
Maja joined WAN-IFRA in 2018 as a full-time Intern in Frankfurt, to later become a Community outreach coordinator consultant for WAN-IFRA’s Media Management Accelerator (MMA) E-learning program. In the meantime, she also collaborated with WAN-IFRA Women in News as a team coordinator.
Myra drives WIN’s communications initiatives and media relations. She is a Lebanese journalist and gender rights activist. She is WIN programme manager for the Arab Region She also heads the Media Department at the Arab Foundation for Freedoms and Equality and is an advisory board member at the International Women’s Media Foundation.
Before joining WAN-IFRA, she worked with several local and regional organisations as a trainer and communications consultant. She was a political and human rights reporter for the English section of NOW news. Myra holds a Political and Administrative Science degree from Saint Joseph University in Beirut. She started her career specialising in gender and communications, focusing on media and gender issues in the Middle East. For over ten years, she has advocated for social justice, gender rights, tolerance, diversity, and women’s and sexual rights.
She is also a trainer and consultant in digital security, organisational development, communications, media and gender for regional and international organisations including Internews, the International Research and Exchanges Board, the Institute for War and Peace Reporting and the Arab Network for Early Childhood Development.
Farah manages Women in News’ digital platforms including the Gender Balance Tracker, as well as the programme’s gender balance tracking research and Social Impact Reporting Initiative (SIRI).
She joined WIN after a five-year stint with WAN-IFRA’s press freedom and media development team where she administered and coordinated a diverse number of regional and global projects, from advocacy campaigns, to skills exchanges, trainings and conferences. Farah previously worked with BBC Monitoring, Deutsche Welle, and Samir Kassir Foundation.
Farah is a founding member of Egyptian digital media startup Medina Media where she is responsible for digital strategy and managing partnerships with other media organisations in the region and beyond.
She has a BA in Language, Literature and Civilisation from Université Paris III-Sorbonne Nouvelle, and is based in Cairo, Egypt.
Mariona Sanz Cortell is a Spanish journalist and communications specialist who firmly believes that good journalism is key for social change.
With over 20 years of professional experience in the media sector (journalism and
communications), she has dedicated the last decade to her passion: managing media
development and press freedom projects around the world, within organisations such as UNESCO or WAN-IFRA.
Having managed activities in over 30 countries across five regions, Mariona travels (both physically and virtually) to promote research initiatives, capacity building and mentoring opportunities, media exchanges, grants, advocacy campaigns, podcast series and much more.
The wide and evolving range of topics to cover (including soft censorship, innovation, gender balance, safety, mental wellbeing, online harassment, ethics, media sustainability…), as well as the possibility to help others, keeps her always passionate and engaged.
In a nutshell, Mariona enjoys working with and learning from inspiring media leaders to foster local-lead, contextualised solutions to the many and rapidly changing challenges that journalists and newsrooms are facing around the world.
With a BA in Journalism, Mariona has obtained a MA in International Relations (Università di Bologna, Italy) and a MA in Communication for Development (Malmo University; Sweden). She is fluent in 6 languages (English, Spanish, French, Italian, German and Catalan) and currently lives in Barcelona, Spain.
Caroline manages the Social Impact Reporting Initiative (SIRI) in Africa, a newly created programme launched in 2020, while also serving as Country Coordinator for Botswana. She is a longtime champion of WIN, having served as country coach, manager of the WIN Advisory, a Steering Committee member and one-time mentor. Caroline is a journalist and communications specialist with over 25 years’ experience in the media industry. She coached and mentored Botswana media practitioners during the pilot phase of WIN.
She holds a Diploma in Journalism from the Africa Literature Centre in Zambia, a Bachelor’s degree in Communication Science from the University of South Africa and a Master’s degree in Applied and Professional Ethics from the University of Leeds, United Kingdom. Her professional focus is on media training, mentoring and capacity-building.
Caroline was previously Information and Research Officer for the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Botswana Chapter, and she was instrumental in transforming the MISA Chapter into a thriving media advocacy organisation. She has also been a facilitator, planner, and trainer for a project on the formulation of HIV and AIDS Policy and Code of Conduct in Botswana Media Houses. She has substantial radio production experience covering social issues.
Kagure manages communications for Women in News’ activities in Africa. She has more than 15 years of experience in media and publishing. She is a WIN Leadership Accelerator alumna from Kenya, and currently coordinates communications and social media engagement for Botswana, Malawi, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. She was previously a WIN national mentor under the Future Leaders Initiative.
Kagure holds a master’s degree in Development Studies from the University of Leeds, UK, a bachelor’s degree in Communications from Daystar University, Kenya, and a Media Management Certificate from the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa. She has undertaken several professional short courses and trainings through Thompson Reuters Foundation, Bloomberg and Africa Data School. She is a member of the Kenya Editors Guild.
Kagure’s media career has spanned a variety of specialisations and is currently focused on exploring new formats of storytelling, particularly through the use of explainers, data and infographics, and heads a desk that was among the finalists in the 2021 WAN-IFRA Digital Media Awards Africa. Kagure is passionate about data journalism, getting women’s voices heard and advancing their empowerment.
Phenny is a pivotal person in the WIN family, carefully managing its finances. She is a certified accountant with experience in reporting, planning and analysis of data for informed financial decisions. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) degree in Accounting from the University of Nairobi and is a Certified Public Accountant (CPAK).
As a dedicated and detail-oriented accounting professional, Phenny has been meeting the accounting needs of corporations and individuals for the past 10 years. She has served as senior accountant at Potterhouse International School and the World Mission Agency. She has specialised in assets, liabilities, and capital account management and analysis, financial forecasting and budget analysis, as well as tax returns.
Phenny stepped up to the Finance Manager role for WIN after serving as Finance and Admin Coodinator for WIN Africa.
Elige is an award-winning Lebanese journalist who has contributed to several Lebanese, and international publications, including Raseef22. She is the Women in News (WIN) Country Coordinator for Lebanon.
Farah joined WAN-IFRA Women in News to work closely and collaboratively with the operations team, in order to implement WIN’s vision and strategic objectives, in the African and Arab region and Southeast Asia. Her work mostly covers the monitoring of WIN programmes’ participants in addition to administrative work.
She is a journalist by practice who has been trained and worked in several organizations since 2009. In 2014 she obtained her MA in Online Journalism focusing on interactivity and news digitalization from the Lebanese University, Faculty of Information and Documentation.
Previously, Farah covered media and communication for development alongside academic teaching in Lebanon. In addition, she received several courses and trainings in different media disciplines.
Sheila is a highly-organised administrator helping ensure the smooth running of WIN’s Africa projects in Botswana, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Zambia. She has vast international exposure as a media and communications specialist, and has a strong background in advocacy and project management.
Sheila is also a Certified International Coaching Federation Coach. Sheila has a Bachelor’s in Communication and Culture from the Chancellor College of the University of Malawi and is pursuing a Master in Behavior Change Communication from the Polytechnic – University of Malawi.
She has worked in various organizations and media houses in Malawi and has led communication projects for various international and local organizations propagating social change in fields of agriculture, education, health, and the environment among others. She holds two top journalism of the year awards from the Media Institute of Southern Africa – Malawi Chapter in the fields of agriculture and maternal health.
Sheila is a WIN Alumni of Malawi (2018) and has served as a WIN mentor in Malawi.
Solange is the WIN Country Coordinator for Rwanda. She is a highly-experienced journalist and owner of AFRI-MEDIA Ltd, which focuses on media, communication, and event management.
Solange started her career at Radio Rwanda, later moving to senior roles there and at community station Radio Izuba and TSANGO STAR, a commercial station in Kigali. She was a Correspondent for French media agency, Syfia International in Rwanda where she also became a trainer. She was a Correspondent for Deutsche Welle radio and website and worked as Editor and Project Coordinator for PAX PRESS, a network of journalists based in Rwanda.
Solange worked at the International Rescue Committee and was in charge of monitoring community projects funded by USAID and with Partners in Health, as Education and Information Coordinator. She is currently pursuing her Master’s degree in Project Management at the University of Kigali.
Carolyne, a richly experienced journalist and manager, is WIN’s country point person and coordinator in Uganda.
Her journalism career started in 1997 at the Daily Monitor, as an intern, and then reporter. In 2004 Carolyne and a group of like-minded journalists – passionate about media independence and professionalism – started The Observer. She is still at The Observer as a sub-editor and also holds managerial office as Administrative Director.
Carolyne considers journalism her true calling and would do it all again, given a chance.
She is a WINer (class of 2019), but has also won awards in her line of work, most notable being the CNN African Journalist of the year 2002 in health reporting. She has also been part of the Media Challenge Initiative, where senior writers volunteer to mentor upcoming writers.
Emelda is the WIN Country Coordinator for Zambia and as a 2010 alumnae, is a longtime champion of the programme. She is a Zambian journalist working as editorials editor with Zambia’s Daily Mail. She was part of the first cohort of the WIN programme (2010-2014), which focused on addressing gender parity at management level in the African media industry.
Emelda holds a Bachelor’s in Mass Communication from the University of Zambia and a Postgraduate Diploma in Media Management from Rhodes University, South Africa. She is currently studying for a Law degree at the University of Zambia.
Emelda started her journalism career at Radio Christian Voice before joining the Zambia Daily Mail as a Sub-Editor. In her 14-year engagement with the paper, she has risen through the ranks and held various portfolios including Assistant Gender Editor, Deputy Sunday Mail Editor and Sunday Mail Editor.
Emelda is part of the Graca Machel Trust – Women in Media Network of 34 highly experienced journalists from 15 African countries aimed at amplifying voices of women and children. She is also part of the International Training Programme on Media Regulation in a democratic framework 2019 Cohort and a member of the Free Press Initiative and Zambia Media Women Association.
Joyce is the WIN Country Coordinator for Tanzania. She is a communications expert, media trainer, researcher, coach, and mentor and has been working with WIN since 2015. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Mass Communication from St. Augustine University, Tanzania and a Master’s degree from the same University.
Joyce has taught Media Ethics, Corporate Communication and Conflict Communication at various universities in Tanzania and has trained journalists on Reporting in Volatile Situations, Media Ethics, Gender Sensitive Reporting and Reporting Elections. She has designed media training programmes in conflict reporting and reviewed various works, including training manuals.
Joyce has also worked with the Tanzania Media Foundation (TMF), Media Council of Tanzania (MCT), Gender Links in collaboration with UN Women, Tanzania’s Media Women Association (TAMWA) and Integrity Watch in its programme, Women’s Participation in Political Processes in Tanzania.
Before moving into academia, Joyce worked as a Senior Editor for The Guardian Limited, becoming one of a few women journalists in Tanzania to hold a top editorial position. As an editor, she mentored many journalists who are currently in senior positions in various media organisations.
Mbauwo, a life-long learner and advocate for women, is the WIN Country Coordinator for Malawi. She is also the News Editor for Blantyre Synod Radio.
She has 20 years of experience in radio and TV broadcasting.
Mbauwo is 41 years old, and has a serious passion for seeing women succeed in journalism. She also makes it a point to get a new qualification every year.
Samar, who serves as WIN’s Jordanian Country Coordinator, is a journalist and Managing Editor at Al Rai newspaper, specialising in human rights, women’s issues and civil society.
Samar is a certified trainer for the International Federation of Journalists on human rights journalism and parliamentary and municipal elections. She was previously a member of the Jordanian Press Syndicate Council.
Marchel is a multimedia journalist from Bacolod City, Philippines.
Her passion for writing led her to the world of journalism in 2012.
Currently, she works as editor and reporter for Digicast Negros. She is also a correspondent for Rappler, covering stories in her community.
She has also worked for various community papers in Bacolod like SunStar Bacolod where she served as an editor-in-chief, The Visayan Daily Star, and Watchmen Daily Journal, both as a reporter.
She is also the auditor of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines and a fellow of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism.
She had also taught creative writing nonfiction at La Consolacion College Bacolod.
Ulla previously worked as the Editor-in-Chief for Noble Magazine, as well as led Aprio Arm Botswana (a subsidiary of Aprio Group) as the Country Partner. She also worked for Prime Projects, as a Communications, Public and Media Relations Manager. From
2014-2016, Ulla worked for the biggest media company in Botswana, Dikgang Publishing Company’s Mmegi and The Monitor newspapers.
Ulla is currently pursuing Master of Business Administration (MBA) and have graduated with a BA Hons Broadcasting and Journalism in 2014. Presently, she is also the Vice Chairperson of Women in News (WIN) Alumni Chapter for Botswana and Namibia.
In 2022, Ulla completed African Women in Media (AWiM) and UNESCO training on peace and security reportage. Moreover, she completed UNDP, Botswana Council of Non-Governmental Organisations (BOCONGO) and Ministry of Finance and Planning media training for reporting on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Further to that, in 2021, Ulla was selected as one of Botswana’s Young Professionals,
compiled by Rera Partners (formely Merero). During 2020, she graduated from a one-
year Women in Business programme mentorship training with Cherie Blair
Foundation. In the same year, Ulla completed a Media Management course at University of Witwatersrand in South Africa.
Oleksandra is a project administrator with responsibility for the successful coordination and running of administrative tasks while working with stakeholders across a variety of departments and a variety of levels within an organization and ensuring that different project elements meet high-quality standards in a timely manner.
She has experience in Human Rights international organisation, telecommunication and visual industries with a background in project management and performance analytics. Oleksandra is interested and passionate about innovations, social impact, sustainability movement and technologies for good.
She has a BA in Telecommunication Engineering from Odessa Academy of Telecommunication and is based in Grenoble, France.
Zeinab is an experienced administrative, IT and project management professional with vast working experience in coordinating various projects leveraging on technological platforms to enhance processes and procedures in organizations.
She has a BS in Computer Sciences, as well as a teaching diploma, and a certificate in digital media.
Zeinab in based in Lebanon.
Sandra is a WIN Coach for Zambia. As an experienced mentor and coach, Sandra’s focus is on supporting young people and women. She has been working with WIN since its inception in Zambia in 2010, and specialises in strategic management, career planning and leadership.
Sandra is a Certified Investment Advisor and a Member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investments (UK). She is a graduate of the University of Greenwich (BA) and Edinburgh Business School (MBA) and has 17 years’ experience in the financial services industry.
Sandra is an Executive Director at The Institute of Strategy Execution and Leadership. She was previously Head of Consultancy, Investment and Asset Management at ZSIC Ltd, Zambia’s largest Insurance and Investment group and a Senior Trader – Debt Securities at Pangaea Securities Limited.
Kwamboka is a journalist and editor with more than 20 years’ professional experience. She joined Women in News (WIN) as Coach in Kenya, in 2020. She has worked for Kenya’s top media organisations – the Nation Media Group and The Standard – as a Features Writer and Features Editor respectively as well as being the East African Correspondent for the Inter Press News Service.
Kwamboka trains young female journalists at the workplace on safety and gender equality in the newsroom, a project she started in 2017 through the Kenya Union of Journalists and supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She also teaches Journalism at the Multimedia University of Kenya and the Kenya Institute of Mass Communication (KIMC) in Nairobi. She has mentored several journalists in the course of her career and has served as a member of the Media Council of Kenya Complaints Commission. She is a member of the Association of Media Women in Kenya and founder member of the Gender Media Network of Kenya.
Kwamboka has written two books for children – Amariga the Greedy Boy and Seven Shades of Dusk.
Joan is an International Coach Federation (ICF) Associate Certified Coach and is the Founding President for ICF Uganda Chapter and serves on the Coach Masters Academy Global Faculty.
She holds a Master’s degree in Public Health Leadership from the Uganda Christian University, a Bachelor of Arts degree from Makerere University and a Post Graduate Diploma in Journalism and Media Management from Uganda Management Institute. Joan is also a Jack Canfield Success Principles Trainer.
Joan has vast experience working with executive leaders in the NGO sector in close to 30 countries and has provided technical oversight for World Vision International health programmes. She has been in the motivational and coaching space for eight years and runs a company called Imagine Me Africa providing coaching and motivational training.
Marie Ange is the Women in News coach for Rwanda. She is a journalist and communicator. Her passion for the industry saw her leave a job in ICT to enrol in journalism school, where she graduated with a degree in Mass Media and Communication from Mount Kenya University, Rwanda. She has since been part of different programmes to empower women in media, including the African Great Lakes Reporting Initiative.
Marie Ange worked with different online news sites before joining IGIHE Ltd, a digital media house based in Rwanda, as part of the Economics and Technology desks. She also worked with the former Media High Council, a public institution mandated to build the capacity of the media sector in Rwanda, where she played an important role in organising and conducting training sessions, workshops and forums to promote professionalism and fill the gender gap.
She is currently working with Rwanda TVET Board, a government institution that co-ordinates all programmes, projects and activities that fast-track the development of TVET institutions.
Fatma is the founder of Women for Media Network and is an Egyptian-based coach for WIN. She was the first woman to assume the post of Editor-in-Chief of a news website in Egypt when she established Dream News. She also started Egypt’s first online news radio, Youm7 radio and website, one of the largest news websites in the Middle East, where she was Editorial Development and Quality Manager.
Fatma founded and headed the Video 7 website and was a weekly columnist for its printed newspaper. At Dream, she established and led the news website and Dream TV Online. She also ran the news station.
She is one of few professional trainers on the online press in Egypt and the Arab region. She has published four books, two of which are on women’s issues. Fatma wrote a weekly column for the Dot Misr website for a year and has previously participated in many events related to women and development. She worked as Chief Editor of ‘3asal Abiad’, a programme on Ten TV and is currently Chief Editor of ‘Alsafeera 3aziza’, a programme on DMC TV.
Mai is a certified coach, leadership development consultant and facilitator. She brings with her a combination of proven business and organizational leadership experience, and coaching and consulting experience in leadership development.
With great respect that each leader is a unique individual holding his/her personal values and qualities, as a coach, Mai is now helping individual leaders to gain deeper understanding about themselves, build a greater self-awareness, identify their hidden potential, and discover new possibilities that they can do to create positive impact for themselves and the organization.
Mai’s breath of business hands-on experience allows her to have a deep understanding about the real challenges that our leaders are facing these days. Mai’s experiences also prove to be very valuable in blended coaching approach, and in constructing questions, and supporting leaders putting new learnings into real life practice at the workplace to achieve sustainable behavior change.
Mai is a strong advocate of women leadership empowerment. She strongly believes in the powerful impact and positive change that women, as leaders, can bring to themselves, their teams, and their organizations. She was project leader of the “Women Leader in Business”, a customized program developed by Global Knowledge Management Center, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, focusing on empowering female leaders at oganizations in Japan. She participated as a Coach/Trainer in “Women in News” 2021 program, supporting a team of selected Vietnamese journalist leaders/potential leaders enhance professional skills, and focus on take control of their future by re-connecting with who they are and their dreams, reflecting on
their past choices, their experiences. The journey started with trust and finished with
inspiration.
Speaking several languages and having been working in different cultures, Mai’s cultural experience influences her coaching, training, and consulting. She coaches with an open mind and a strong belief in the holistic inside-out approach which focuses on the whole element of the leader, of his individuality. She embraces curiosity, critical reflection, and exploration of new perspectives.
Mai found it extremely encouraging when leaders who were coached by her find inspiration in her coaching style and are demonstrating the qualities they have learnt from her sessions, such as active listening, coaching presence, engagement in coaching conversation in their daily work with their team members and achieving better team cohesiveness and performance.
Pat graduated Magna Cum Laude from De La Salle University with an Applied Corporate Management degree and is a multi-awarded student leader in her University.
As the youngest Country Marketing Manager in Unilever Philippines, Inc., she has successfully grown for 8 years food brands like Knorr, Selecta, Lady’s Choice and Lipton across Southeast Asia where she garnered several brand marketing awards locally and internationally.
Passionate about purpose, Pat is recognized by De La Salle University as one of the most outstanding facilitators for the course Personal Effectiveness, where she helps graduating college students to appreciate their gifts and use them to fulfill their calling. She is one of the proponents and facilitators of Discover Your Purpose Workshops in Unilever, Heineken and Lazada where she was able to help hundreds of her colleagues find their unique purpose in life.
Her walk with purpose inspired her to put up Purposeful Careers – a coaching firm that helps people be true to their gifts and be confident with their career choices. She’s also a resource speaker on habits, personal effectiveness, purpose, mindfulness for several organizations in the business, NGO and government sector. Pat is a Certified Transformative Coach (Advanced Level) of the Coach Masters Academy, the leading coaching academy in Asia, and a Professional Certified Coach of the International Coaching Federation. She holds a full-time role as the Regional Lead for Coaching in Lazada.
Evita has over 30 years experience in Human Resource (HR) Management as an Executive Practitioner, Consultant and Coach across various industries. As a Consultant and Coach, Evita has worked for Korn Ferry, a global consulting firm and now she partners with various HR consulting and coaching firms, providing solutions and coaching to their clients.
Evita has been working with top management, managers and professionals for MNCs, local, conglomerates, state owned companies, government offices, NGOs and MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise). Whilst with Korn Ferry, Evita had regional experience in Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, India, Algeria and Yemen. As an HR practitioner, Evita’s last role was as HR Director for a MNC FMCG, Johnson Home Hygiene Products, a subsidiary of SC Johnson. During her tenure, she played a key role in the integration of 4 companies into 1 company as a result of acquisition and was actively involved in 5 change management initiatives (e.g. acquisition, SAP, rightsizing).
Evita is a certified coach (ICF, ACC credential). Her area of coaching is in leadership, performance, career and mental wellbeing. Through coaching she helps her coachees among others: prepare for a higher leadership role and managing their team effectively, address performance issues, career transition/mobility and work and relationship issues (burnout, stress, anxiety and life challenges).
Faith is an alumnae of the Accelerator (2016). She is a writer and editor with a weekly column in the Saturday Nation focused on social and gender issues. She served as an Assistant Coach in Kenya in 2019 before taking up the position of WIN Coach in 2020.
She holds a Master of Arts degree in Digital Journalism from Aga Khan University, Kenya, Master of Arts in Communication Studies and a Bachelor of Education (English and Literature), from the University of Nairobi, Kenya. She has a Certificate in Online Journalism from the Radio Netherlands Training Centre (RNTC), Netherlands. She is a Certified Coach with the International Coaching Federation (ICF).
Faith has been a journalist with Nation Media Group, Kenya since 2013. Before this, she worked for ten years as a market researcher and trainer. She is a member of the Online News Association, Association of Media Women in Kenya, and a board member of the Kenya Editors’ Guild.
May is a certified trainer specializing in women empowerment, women leadership, gender and development. She also works as an Empowerment Coach, a personal branding strategist and mentor, and her other business. May has also been working at the Myanmar Women’s Affairs Federation (sub-working group on protection and rehabilitation of women) since 2009. In addition, she conducted several trainings locally and internationally.
She studied political management, business management & master’s in EWHA WOMANS UNIVERSITY of South Korea, specializing in Capacity Development of Women’s Leaders and conducted research on “Trafficking in Women: The case of Myanmar“. In addition to her formal education, she obtained several pieces of training; Family planning program in Singapore, Youth leadership training in Japan, Leadership training programs in China and Cambodia, Combating violence against women’s and children in Israel, 21st-century women leadership program in Korea and Digital marketing program in Teesside University in the UK etc. The first degree is in Engineering, and currently doing her PhD at Chulalongkorn University (Faculty of Political Science). Her research title is related to Gender and Women Empowerment.
