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WNN – Women News Network Staff
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JOURNALISTS
Lys Anzia – WNN founder / director / editor-at-large
In 1979, WNN founder/director, award-winning playwright, (2007) Pushcart Prize nominee, (2010) United Nations panelist on media and ongoing humanitarian journalist – Lys Anzia, was the first woman on the programming board for US Public TV Channel12 KBDI in Denver, CO (US). With an early career that began in public radio via Pacifica affiliate radio station WPFW-FM in Washington, DC, Lys has a strong dedication in bringing the highest quality online journalism available to the public. WNN currently covers hard news stories on women from 6+ global regions. Lys is also a radio producer for WINGS – Women’s International News Gathering Service and is director/curator for Women News Network Global Video Library.
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Elahe Amani – humanitarian journalist – gender specialist – peace activist – Iran/US
Elahe Amani works with immigrant women who are part of the South Asian, Iranian and the Middle Eastern ethnic communities in Southern California to help women from these communities build peace at home and in society. She is current c0-chair of Women Intercultural Network, a global women’s organization with grassroot circles in Uganda, Japan and Afghanistan. Elahe has also been a professor through the Women’s Studies Department and is also on the advisory board of the Women Center at CSU, Long Beach, California.
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Manar Ammar – women’s news reporter – Egypt
WNN correspondent, Manar Ammar is an Egyptian freelance journalist and translator. Her work has been published in The Daily News Egypt, All Headline News (AHN) and Cairo news agency, Bikya Masr. She is also a professional translator, having worked on a number of international projects in the region.
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Svetlana Bachevanova – photographer/photojournalist – Bulgaria/Eastern Europe/US
Bulgarian photographer for WNN, Svetlana Bachevanova, has exhibited her work in Europe and the United States in galleries and museums and has been published by numerous major newspapers, agencies and magazines such a National Geographic, International Herald Tribune, l’Humanitie, Soar, Pravda, Biography, Reuters and Associated Press.
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Nilanjana Bhowmick – women’s rights / human rights reporter – India
In addition to her work as a WNN India correspondent, Nilanjana Bhowmick writes for TIME magazine. Launching her career from the BBC Asian Network, Birmingham, in 1999, Nilanjana worked for the BBC South Asian Syndication Unit in Leicester before moving to BBC World Service, London. As a journalist, she has also provided news stories for The Times of India and India Today. Her work includes production work in documentary film production for the BBC, NPR and Voice of America. as well as consulting for Panos London Radio. Nilanjana also works as a radio producer for WINGS (Women’s International News Gathering Service) and recently founded a new women’s media site from India, “Shetizen Journalist.”
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Sally Chiwama – gender development journalist – Africa / Zambia
Sally Chiwama uses professional training in journalism as ammunition to inform society on the importance of information. As part of the Zambia Media Women Association (ZAMWA) Secretariat, Sally has represented ZAMWA in Kenya, Ethiopia and South Africa. She is a recent Dec 2008 recipient of a newly acclaimed media award started by humanitarian luminaries, THE ELDERS. The EHHR Media Award – the Every Human Has Rights Media Award honored Sally’s WNN feature story with a ten day training in humanitarian journlism in Paris. She received her prize for her WNN article, “When a Girl Student Stands Up and Wins.”
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Drea Knufken – writer / journalist – US
Drea Knufken is a freelance writer and journalist living in Boulder, Colorado. She first became aware of international women’s issues when she studied abroad in Accra, Ghana, and saw first-hand the powerful role women had in keeping that country thriving.
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Joseph Mayton – human rights correspondent – Cairo, Egypt
Joseph Mayton is a WNN journalist based in Cairo, Egypt. He is currently also a correspondent for Middle East Times and contributes regularly to The Middle East Magazine, The Media Line, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, Newsweek Turkey and a number of other publications. Mayton is also founder of the new Cairo based news network, Bika Masyr.
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Shuriah Niazi – humanitarian journalist – Central India
Journalist Shuriah Niazi is based in Central India. In 2006, he received an award recognition at the sixth Sarojini Naidu journalism awards hosted by The Hunger Project – India. As a journalist, Niazi focuses on human rights and women’s rights development issues for the South Asia region.
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Charles Gitonga Njeru – investigative rights journalist – Africa / Kenya
Charles Gitonga Njeru is a Kenyan Journalist who specializes in investigative reporting, women’s rights and science reporting. His news stories have been published by Reuters News AlertNet, The Guardian (UK), Africa Science News, along with The Daily Nation and The Nairobi Star Newspaper in Kenya. Njeru’s work has also been featured by Spore Magazine (Brussels) and Ooskanews (US) covering water, land and sanitation issues in developing countries. Charles is also a very recent recipient of an award grant from The Fund for Investigative Journalism in Washington, D.C.
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Punita Rimal – women’s news reporter – Asia-Pacific / Nepal
Punita Rimal is a freelance journalist who specializes in covering women’s advocacy news for the Asia-Pacific Nepal region. She is a member of Nepal women’s media group, SANCHARIKA.
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Brenda Zulu – ICT policy journalist – Africa / Zambia
WNN Zambia correspondent, Brenda Zulu, has been an ICT policy journalist since 2005. Her dedication to women’s education through the use of new technology in South Africa is strong and focused.
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INTERNS
Allison (Ali) Baker – women’s advocacy and media intern / citizen rights journalist / Global
As a feminist, gender studies student and citizen journalist at Naropa University in Colorado (US), Allison Baker, uses language as a tool for empowering and bearing witness to global women’s experience. Her goal is to raise the level of awareness for women’s issues worldwide using media as an instrument of transformative representation for all those daughters, mothers, sisters, wives — whose plights and contributions have gone unheralded.
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Anam Zehra – women’s advocacy & media intern – women and social justice – global
WNN women’s advocacy and media intern, Anam Zehra, life experiences in Pakistan have made her a staunch advocate of activism and social justice. She has also worked as an intern for the editorial department of the highest ranked English newspaper in Pakistan, The News International. In addition to this, Zehra is co-founder of Shajareilm, an emerging youth organization in Pakistan. Currently, she is finishing her degree at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, US where she is a radio producer on WMHC South Hadley 91.5 FM, covering political news and affairs in South Asia.
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Maggie Hazvinei Mapondera - journalism intern / women’s rights, human rights – Global
WNN journalism intern Maggie Hazvinei Mapondera, from Zimbabwe, is a recent Yale graduate who has worked to educate the public on searing issues surrounding today’s global slavery, human trafficking, and the denial of rights for global women. Maggie is especially passionate about finding ways to address the realities of the human experience through writing and other creative outlets. She is currently interning for WNN from Washington D.C where she works as a program assistant for Just Associates (JASS), a global women’s advocacy organization.
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Michelle Martini – social media intern – advocate for global women & girls / US
WNN social media intern Michelle Martini has taught ESL to students in Hong Kong, China, migrant workers in Marian, Indiana, and adults in San Francisco, California, where she resides now. She has also worked with the Camfed USA Foundation and is an outspoken advocate and writer for the rights, education, and empowerment of global women.
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Deborah Mazon – media intern for women and development / global women’s rights – human rights – US/Global
Deborah Mazon is a dedicated rights defender who actively assisted and participated in Cesar Chavez marches and apartheid South Africa protests. She has been involved in numerous campaigns to empower women through the use of media. Her current work for women in development includes: “African (US) Descent History, News & Culture” and her visual arts blog, “International Women in Photography,” published through PNN – Personal News Network (founded by award winning journalist, Lauren Elliot, creator of the educational global geo-game series, “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?”).
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Angela (Anzie) Shresthra – foreign liaison intern – women’s education advocate – Nepal / Asia-Pacific
WNN foreign laiaison intern, Angela (Anzie) Shresthra, from Kathmandu, Nepal, believes strongly in the crucial role human rights, women’s rights and equality plays in society. “Growing up in an under developed country like Nepal, where most of the community is strictly male dominated, I feel everyone should be treated equally regardless of their gender - whether mother, daughter or sister,” said Anzie. Studying economics and business in the U.S. has enabled Shresthra to become an advocate for women’s higher education and empowerment in Nepal.
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