Her Media Diary

Marverine Cole is a multi-award-winning broadcaster and journalist with over 30 years of experience working as a reporter and news anchor for the UK’s leading media stations including the BBC

She has produced several radio documentaries, including Black Girls Don’t Cry which earned her ‘Journalist of the Year’ at the Mind Media Awards in 2019.

In this episode, Marverine shares her journey up the media ladder as a black woman in a white-dominated UK society where a person’s skin colour plays a vital role in what they can achieve.

She also shares how she has been able to deal with the rejections which took a toll on her for so long while maintaining an outward look that everything’s great.

Marverine’s story is that of resilience and of overcoming one’s limitations to undo stereotypes. It speaks to those who are experiencing different forms of discrimination as a result of their race, gender, ethnicity, and sexuality.

Subscribe to Her Media Diary now on your favourite podcasting platform https://linktr.ee/hermediadiary  

Learn about African Women in Media https://africanwomeninmedia.com  

List of organisations for support with your mental health

Journalists’ Toolbox 

 Africa Mental Health Research and Training Foundation

 Mental Health Foundation

 Oasis Africa

 Mind

 Strongminds

 Shamiri Institute

 National Institute of Mental Health

Befrienders Kenya 

 Active Minds 

Verah Okeyo is an award-winning journalist, communications manager, and media trainer with over ten years of experience covering global health with a focus on maternal and child health, infectious diseases, and underrepresented communities.  

In this episode, Verah shares her journey from her childhood to the newsroom while battling with clinical depression. She shares the strategies she developed to manage her mental health and how her lived experiences have helped shape a set of values that guides how she reports the stories of others.

Verah’s story embodies strength, survival, and courage. She calls on journalists and media practitioners to first know when it’s time to check out and, secondly, to show empathy when writing stories of victims and survivors, even if they fall outside the box of our notions of who a perfect victim should be. 

Subscribe to Her Media Diary now on your favourite podcasting platform https://linktr.ee/hermediadiary  

Learn about African Women in Media https://africanwomeninmedia.com  

List of organisations for support with your mental health 

Journalists’s Toolbox 

Africa mental health research and training foundation

Mental Health Foundation

Oasis Africa

Mind 

Strongminds 

Shamiri institute 

National Institute of Mental Health

Befrienders Kenya 

Active minds 

National Alliance on Mental Illness 

Rethink Mental Illness 

Kamili Organization 

Adelle Onyango is a Kenyan media personality, podcaster and founder of the Adelle Onyango Initiative, an organisation that empowers youth and provides psycho-social support to African women survivors of rape. Through her podcast, Legally Clueless, she captures the raw human stories of everyday Africans. 

In this episode, Adelle shares the stories behind the many brave steps she has taken, from her career to her activism and use of media to tackle gender-based violence. Adelle's story embodies resilience and what happens when you confront your fears. 

If you are contemplating that next big step, if you want to empower others through media and storytelling, you'll want to listen to this episode.

Subscribe be to Her Media Diary now on your favourite podcasting platform https://linktr.ee/hermediadiary  

 Learn about African Women in Media https://africanwomeninmedia.com  

List of organisations that support survivors

Masimanyane Women’s Rights International: https://www.masimanyane.org/

Gender Violence Recovery Centre (GVRC): https://gvrc.or.ke/

The Gender-based Violence Command Centre (GBVCC): https://gbv.org.za/about-us/

FORWARDUK: https://www.forwarduk.org.uk/i-need-help/

Woman’s Aid: https://www.womensaid.org.uk/information-support/ 

Women Empowerment and Legal Aid (WELA): https://welaonline.org/

MUSASA: https://www.musasa.co.zw/

Qaanitah Hunter is a multiple award-winning journalist and political editor at News24, South Africa. She is the author of 'Balance of Power: Ramaphosa and the future of South Africa' and recently co-authored a book called 'Eight Days in July: Inside the Zuma unrest that set South Africa alight'. 

In this episode, Qaanitah shares her journey from childhood through her rise to fame and finding a voice to advocate for mental health after battling with depression. 

Qaanitah’s story is that of determination and sacrifice fueled by her childhood desire to reach the peak of her career against all odds. 

This episode is dedicated to every journalist out there who have experienced a decline in their mental health and sincerely wants to be the voice of change towards helping others navigate the media space without losing their true self. 

Subscribe to Her Media Diary now on your favourite podcasting platform https://linktr.ee/hermediadiary  

Learn about African Women in Media https://africanwomeninmedia.com  

List of organisations for support with your mental health

Journalists’s Toolbox 

Africa mental health research and training foundation

Mental Health Foundation

Oasis Africa

Mind 

Strongminds 

Shamiri institute 

National Institute of Mental Health

Befrienders Kenya 

Moyo Thomas is a news reporter and strategic communications specialist. Describing herself as a humanist and a womanist she is a sexual and gender-based violence advocate fighting for women's rights, security and safety.  

In this episode, Moyo Thomas discusses the representation and presentation of sexual harassment and gender-based violence in Nigerian media and the cultural dimensions of gender equality.

Her call to journalists and media organisations is to be proactive in challenging male dominance in media leadership and more willingness to stop sexual harassment in the workplace. You don’t want to miss  this episode

Subscribe to Her Media Diary now on your favourite podcasting platform https://linktr.ee/hermediadiary  

Learn about African Women in Media https://africanwomeninmedia.com    

List of organisations that support survivors

Masimanyane Women’s Rights International: https://www.masimanyane.org/

Gender Violence Recovery Centre (GVRC): https://gvrc.or.ke/

The Gender-based Violence Command Centre (GBVCC): https://gbv.org.za/about-us/

FORWARDUK: https://www.forwarduk.org.uk/i-need-help/

Woman’s Aid: https://www.womensaid.org.uk/information-support/  

Women Empowerment and Legal Aid (WELA): https://welaonline.org/

MUSASA: https://www.musasa.co.zw/

Soyem Osakwe is a specialist in Global communications, campaigns and advocacy. In this episode, Soyem speaks passionately about her work using effective communications strategies to raise awareness and advocate against gender-based violence. If you are a journalist or content creator, if you work for an NGO or simply want to lend your voice to real change, then you'd want to listen to this episode as Soyem shares essential tips on how she has successfully worked with ambassadors, celebrities and influencers in fighting for justice for survivors and victims of gender-based violence. 

 Soyem's episode will be released on 14 November 2022.  Subscribe to Her Media Diary now on your favourite podcasting platform https://linktr.ee/hermediadiary 

 #HerMediaDiary 

List of organisations that support survivors 

 Women Empowerment and Legal Aid (WELA): https://welaonline.org/  

MUSASA: https://www.musasa.co.zw/  

Masimanyane Women’s Rights International: https://www.masimanyane.org/ 

 Gender Violence Recovery Centre (GVRC): https://gvrc.or.ke/ 

 The Gender-based Violence Command Centre (GBVCC): https://gbv.org.za/about-us/ 

 FORWARDUK: https://www.forwarduk.org.uk/i-need-help/ 

 Woman’s Aid: https://www.womensaid.org.uk/information-support/ 

In this episode Yemisi Akinbobola Interviews @rachel_ombaka media editor, trainer and public speaker shares her experiences of sexual harassment in the newsroom and speaks passionately about her activism against this. Her interview is honest and personal, as she shares how childhood memories of gender-based violence impacted her own relationship with her daughter and how these experiences have shaped her championing and training others to rise up against sexual harassment in Kenyan newsrooms. For her work, some called her a "bad girl", a term meant to ridicule her and women like her who dare to speak up. "Let's all be bad girls" is her call to us to not allow these voices of oppression to triumph over the much-needed change and enabling environment in media industries. 

You won't want to miss her inspirational story. Rachel's episode will be released on 7 November 2022.  Subscribe to Her Media Diary now on your favourite podcasting platform https://linktr.ee/hermediadiary  

#herMD #Sheroes 

Introducing Her Media Diary, a podcast where Dr Yemisi Akinbobola speaks to some of the most influential women leaders in media. From intimate experiences of workplace dynamics to burning global issues like climate change, food security, and peacebuilding. Her Media Diary tackles these topics and more. Bringing you first-person accounts and solutions from across the world.

Her Media Diary podcast is a product of African Women in Media (AWiM). Find out more about AWiM https://africanwomeninmedia.com/

In this episode of #HerMediaDiary Kenyan journalist, Julia Majale talks about her journey to becoming the Managing Editor of Tuko Media. Julia discusses how her early life shaped her leadership skills and the enduring influence of her father and grandmother. She challenges journalists to seize opportunities and to take on extra roles that stretch them, put them on the path of growth and open doors to even more opportunities. 

We also discuss:

• Being intentional about creating a work environment that is enabling for women journalists
• Challenges of managing staff who are working from home
• The future of digital media, paid content and paywalls

This podcast series looks at labour migration in Africa and focuses on how women experience it on different levels. It highlights how African women experience labour migrations locally, regionally and internationally; featuring expert analysis and tips for journalists who report on labour migration issues. 

In this episode we discuss:

• AWiM Co-founder and CEO Dr Yemisi Akinbobola talks about why it is important to support more women in media to get into labour migration reporting
• AWiM's partnership with Wikimedia Foundation to increase the number of African women who write and edit Wikipedia profiles, and to increase the number of notable African women profiled on Wikipedia

Hosted and produced by Andy Mkosi for African Women in Media

Read the labour migration newsletter that looks into the effect of automation on labour migration here

Explore more:

Africa Free Trade Agreement (ACTFA)

Silencing the Guns

Joint Labour Migration Programme (JLMP)

AWiM's Labour Migration Reporting courses