I met my Natalia Antelava about a month ago in Tbilisi, Georgia, at the storytelling festival she co-founded that I spoke at. At this festival, I spoke alongside Sean Penn, Armando Iannucci, Aaron Rasmussen, Joe Sabia, Sarah Natochenny, and 70 others. I was impressed by her then and I am much more impressed with her now! She’s an incredible human that has gone through so much, been to so many places, and continues to give a damn in very beautiful and meaningful ways. 

A co-founder of Coda, Natalia is an Emmy-nominee and award winning journalist. Originally from Tbilisi, Georgia she started her career freelancing in West Africa. Since then, she had been BBC’s resident correspondent in the Caucasus, Central Asia, Middle East, Washington DC and India. She has covered the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008, the war in Eastern Ukraine and reported undercover from Burma, Yemen and Uzbekistan. Her investigations into human rights abuses in Central Asia, Iraq and the United States have won her a number of awards. In addition to a career in broadcast journalism, Natalia has also written for the Guardian, Forbes magazine and the New Yorker among others. 

Over the past few years, Natalie co-founded two incredible organizations we talk about at length in today’s conversation—Coda Story and ZEG Storytelling Festival. 

NEXT STEPS:

- Follow Natalia on Twitter.

- Follow Coda Story on Instagram and Twitter and consider supporting them on a monthly basis.

- Check out what happened at ZEG Storytelling Festival last month and consider joining us next year! You most definitely must add Tbilisi to your travel plans.

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