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Introducing: AIR’s 2019 Claiming the Rad in Radio Fellows

October 28, 2019—In an effort to bring more sustainable support to women-identifying producers of color in media, AIR has paired five mentors with mentees through our inaugural Claiming the Rad in Radio Fellowship. We’re excited to announce the pairs today. Over the next five months, fellows will have time with their mentors to navigate career transitions, assertiveness on the job, dealing with race and gender bias, salary/pay negotiations and finding/creating community for self care. The program will also be accompanied by a series of exclusive webinars specifically designed for the fellowship cohort and their mentorship discussion topics. Meet our fellows below and read up on our amazing mentors: Independent Storyteller Dmae Roberts, fundraising expert Alyce Myatt, CEO Juleyka Lantigua Williams of Lantigua Williams & Co., Audience and Innovation Director Kim Bui of AZ Central, and Editor and Reporter Carmel Delshad of WAMU.

Amarachi Anakaraonye and Kim Bui

Amarachi Anakaraonye is a freelance multimedia producer with a keen eye and ear for calling out inequities, and calling in objective subjectivity. She has spent the past decade sojourning the United States, Europe, and Sub-Saharan Africa utilizing her innate empathic nature and cultural sensitivity to explore how Black women experience and transcend trauma within and beyond such institutions as health, education, and media. In 2017, she created her podcast, The Fragmented Whole, a bi-monthly podcast series that simultaneously dismantles and reframes narratives of trauma, displacement, and healing among women of color, particularly Black women. She has guest hosted and produced such podcasts as The Measure of Everyday Life (WNCU 90.7 FM/RTI International) and The Nonprofit Experience (NC State University’s Philanthropy Journal). Amarachi is a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and when she’s not producing new and existing projects, she enjoys cycling, yoga, and dancing. To learn more about Amarachi’s present and future pursuits, visit www.amarachia.com.

Fellowship statement: “My present and future aim is to establish my own multimedia production and marketing company. I have a strong desire to work with organizations prioritizing health equity and media literacy through technological innovation. The ‘Claiming the Rad in Radio’ Fellowship will provide me with critical insight on industry standards to reference when: 1. Educating clients about the significance of multimedia arts in marketing their services in an educational and/or entertaining manner, and 2. Partnering with clients that already realize the significance of using diverse multimedia outlets in marketing, but need guidance in planning, executing, and/or evaluating such assets.”

Gabrielle Berbey and Dmae Roberts

Gabrielle Berbey is a documentary filmmaker and multi-media journalist from San Francisco, based in New York. Interested in exploring how stories can be adapted throughout different forms to have the most impact, Gabrielle’s experience spans across audio and broadcast documentaries. Upon graduating from Bard College with a B.A. in Film/TV and Human Rights, she worked on the producing team for the FRONTLINE PBS award-winning investigative podcast, The FRONTLINE Dispatch. She currently works on the edit team for a PBS broadcast biographical series about Muhammad Ali, directed by Ken Burns. 

Fellowship statement: “Gabrielle’s independent documentary work ranges from radio pieces to short documentaries. With a specific focus on illuminating stories in the Filipino diaspora, she produced a documentary about the last remaining Filipino grocery store in upstate New York, and her senior thesis documentary tells the story of a Filipino-American community grappling with political unrest in the homeland. Throughout this fellowship, she is excited to develop and produce a historical audio documentary about the 1941 attack on Manila Bay, and how the Philippines’ legacy as a U.S. territory has been largely overlooked in American history.”

Elizabeth Estrada and Juleyka Lantigua Williams

Elizabeth Estrada is a Cuban American multimedia producer dedicated to using audio to explore and amplify stories about Latinx communities living in America. She is currently the engagement editor at WHYY’s PlanPhilly where she connects audiences with local news. Elizabeth has worked at the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, Firelight Media, New York Women in Film & Television and interned at The Pulse. She is a producer and board member at PhillyCAM, Philadelphia’s public access media station, where she was the recipient of the Innovation Award for Radio in 2018.

Elizabeth is a graduate of Ithaca College and The New School University. Originally from Queens, New York, she now lives in South Philadelphia with her fiancé and dog. You can follow her on Twitter @theElizabethEst.

Fellowship statement: “Through this rad fellowship, I hope to cultivate a long-lasting community with other women of color audio producers. I also intend to conquer my fear and finally produce a pilot of a podcast that I've been wanting to create for a long time that centers diverse Latinx changemakers.”

Janae Pierre and Alyce Myatt

Janae Pierre is a general assignment reporter and local host of NPR’s All Things Considered at WBHM in Birmingham, Alabama. A native of New Orleans, Pierre has worked and volunteered with several different media organizations, notably NPR affiliate WWNO, the New Orleans Tribune and WBOK 1230AM. In her spare time, Pierre enjoys listening to old vinyl records (she loves that scratchy sound). Some of her favorite artists include Al Green, Gil Scott Heron and Dinah Washington. In early 2019, Pierre was recognized as the “Best Large Market Radio Reporter” by the Alabama Broadcasters Association. She was also listed on Radio Ink's 2017 “Future African American Leaders in Radio.” 

Fellowship statement: "I'm thrilled to be a part of this mentorship program and I hope to literally 'claim the rad in radio' with the help of my mentor Alyce Myatt. With her advisement, I look forward to learning different ways to advance my career and ideas to merge my love for reporting and philanthropy in Birmingham and my hometown, New Orleans."

Rhana Natour and Carmel Delshad

Rhana Natour is a national reporter and producer with PBS NewsHour in Washington D.C. where she covers a wide array of subjects including stories on technology, race, gender and gun violence. 

Before coming to the NewsHour, Rhana was an associate producer at ABC News in New York. In 2014, she earned an Emmy nomination for her work on the Nightline special “Crisis in Syria.”

Rhana is also passionate about quality long-form storytelling. She was part of the producing team for the feature-length documentary Speed Sisters that follows the first female race car driving team in the Middle East. Rhana is a graduate of the University of Michigan and was a Fulbright scholar to the United Arab Emirates.