Leanne joined One World Media in 2010. As Deputy Director, she works with the Director and Board to lead the strategic development and growth of the organisation, as well as fundraising and managing finances, the office and staff. She also produces One World Media’s flagship event, the One World Media Awards, and the organisation’s year-round events programme.

Originally from Canada, Leanne studied Anthropology with a specialisation in Journalism and Communications at the University of Victoria, then progressed to an MA in Art History with a specialisation in globalisation at UCL in London. She began her career at the Royal BC Museum and since then has worked in the non-profit, arts and public sectors in the UK and abroad, including at the Canadian Space Agency, the Camden Arts Centre and the International Institute for Environment and Development. She is also Co-Director and Curator of the Gustav Metzger Foundation, an organisation dedicated to stimulating social change through art.

John Willis joined Mentorn and Tinopolis in November 2006 and is one of the best-known figures in the television industry. He recently completed two years as Chairman of BAFTA, where he remains Deputy Chairman, and has served a long list of high-profile roles, including Director of Programmes at Channel 4, Managing Director of LWT and United Productions, Vice President of National Programmes at WGBH and, most recently, the BBC’s Director of Factual and Learning.

John began his career at Yorkshire Television, where he won a string of awards for his hard-hitting documentary programmes, such as Johnny Go Home. He later became Controller of Documentaries and Current Affairs, where he started the acclaimed documentary series First Tuesday. In 1988, he joined Channel 4 as Controller of Factual Programmes, introducing new documentary strands like Cutting Edge, True Stories and Secret History. Later promoted to Director of Programmes, he oversaw a number of successful programmes and films in several genres.

Benjamin Chance was educated at Eton College and graduated from the University of Durham with an honours degree in Economics. During his time at Durham, Ben helped found the History of Art Society and was Treasurer and President of the Ski & Snowboard Club. Between 2006 and 2013 Ben worked at Morgan Stanley as an Investment Adviser for wealthy individuals, families, charities, trusts and companies before moving to a similar role at Credit Suisse. He has been named as one of the Top 30 Under 30 Wealth Managers in the UK by Citywire. Ben maintains a strong interest in the media and has published articles in national and student newspapers.

Monica Garnsey is an Executive Producer in TV Current Affairs, specialising in international and hostile environment projects, currently working on films for October Films, BBC Current Affairs and PBS Frontline. She has directed numerous observational documentaries and current affairs films for the BBC and Channel 4 in the UK, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Gaza and elsewhere. She was awarded an Emmy for BBC’s Death in Tehran, an Amnesty International Media Award for Execution of a Teenage Girl (BBC) and a RTS Award for Help Me Love My Baby for C4.

Christopher Hird is a graduate of Oxford University, where he studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics. He worked as an investment analyst in the City before becoming a journalist, working on the Economist, New Statesman and Sunday Times. He had a career in television as a reporter and producer before establishing Dartmouth Films, an independent documentary company. A leading figure in the UK documentary community, he was Chair of the Sheffield International Documentary Festival and the founding chair of the Channel Four BRITDOC Foundation. A former trustee of Index on Censorship, he is currently also a trustee of the Grierson Trust, the Wincott Foundation and the Centre for Investigative Journalism.

As Senior Controller of BBC News International Services, Liliane Landor is the Director of the BBC World Service and oversees BBC Monitoring and the BBC’s international charity, BBC Media Action. And as a member of News Group Board, she is part of the executive team leading BBC News and Current Affairs. Liliane is responsible for the BBC’s global news strategy to accelerate its digital offering and increase impact with audiences around the globe.

Liliane started in this role in September 2021, joining the BBC from Channel 4 News where she was Head of Foreign News, responsible for award-winning high-quality and high-impact journalism. A major part of her journalistic career was built at the BBC where she began at the French Service. She went on to present and edit flagship BBC World Service programmes before managing language services across Africa and the Middle East. Later, Liliane became Controller of Languages where she was editorially responsible for all non-English language services on radio, TV and online. In this role, she was editorially and managerially responsible for all 28 language services on radio, TV and online and 1400 staff in England and internationally.

She started at the BBC as a producer/presenter in the French service. She was appointed Head of BBC World Service News and Current Affairs in 2006 responsible for all the daily and weekly journalism of the World Service in English. Under her leadership in 2008 her department won 10 Sony Awards – 4 Gold, 2 Silver and 2 Bronze – a singular achievement recognising the breadth and excellence of its journalism. She was born in Lebanon, educated in France and Switzerland. She speaks five languages.

Derren Lawford is the founder and CEO of DARE Pictures, a transnational content studio dedicated to premium programming with purpose. Prior to this he was Creative Director at Woodcut Media where he was responsible for editorial strategy and securing co-production, distribution and programme finance. Joining a month after it launched in 2014, he played a pivotal role in the creation of over 300 hours of IP with turnover leaping from £750,000 to £5 million  in 5 years.

He was previously at London Live, where as commissioner he oversaw a dozen documentaries working with the industry’s brightest new directing talent. He was also responsible for creating, commissioning and acquiring shows for Raw, an experimental late-night zone which gave TV debuts to a host of YouTube stars. Prior to that, as Head of Content at Livity he worked with Channel 4, Google and the Department of Health, and has also been an advisor to multi-millionaire YouTuber, Jamal Edwards. As Head of Programming & Scheduling at BBC Worldwide’s Global iPlayer, he helped launch in 16 territories, and in a distinguished decade at the BBC he worked as a digital executive producer on the award-winning documentary series Our War for BBC Three, was Panorama’s first multiplatform editor, and as a development producer helped to secure a raft of commissions for BBC Three Current Affairs.

David Lloyd currently teaches TV Journalism at City University. Previously he was Head of News and Current Affairs at Channel 4, where he was widely acknowledged as one of the most influential figures in British news and current affairs. Over his 17 years at Channel 4 he was responsible for creating its flagship current affairs series Dispatches and the critically acclaimed international current affairs series Unreported World. He steered Channel 4 News to its current position and winner of two International Emmys. Lloyd joined Channel 4 from the BBC where he had already enjoyed a distinguished career in current affairs. He began there as a general trainee in 1967 and over the following 18-years he was editor of Newsnight, Breakfast Time and The Money Programme.

Jane is a leading multi-media professional who is currently developing TV projects in Uganda and Ghana. She was recently Launch Programme Director for the Evening Standard’s London LIve TV station. Before that she was Interim SVP Programming for BBC Worldwide’s global channels, a consultant at Discovery in Moscow and at The Africa Channel. Jane was UK Managing Director for Al Gore’s Current TV and before that Director of six Factual and Lifestyle channels at UKTV. She started her career in print journalism before joining the BBC, where she created and ran the their first tri-media news operation BBC London. She was also Controller of the Community Channel. Opening up media to new voices is a passion in all her roles. Jane is co-founder of UAMA – Uganda Arts and Media Academy – and a non-exec director for the short film community.

Sunil Sheth is a partner at London solicitors Fladgate LLP. He leads the firm’s India team, which has established a market reputation as the leading adviser to Indian companies, both here and in the Subcontinent. In 2011, he was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Society of Asian Lawyers, an organisation of which he was Founder and Chair. Sunil is a trustee of Sense International, a charity supporting children who have the double disability of being deaf and blind. For six years, he was a trustee, Vice-chair and Chair of Audit Committee of Victim Support, a UK national charity assisting people who are victims or witnesses of crime. He has also been a member of an Advisory Panel to the Bank of England.

Jennifer joined One World Media in January 2017 as a Creative Access trainee Comms Officer. She is now responsible for all digital communications, including website maintenance and social media content.

Jennifer has a BA in Creative Writing and Journalism from Middlesex University. She is interested in the stories that don’t get told, the reasons why, and the media’s role in how things are perceived. She is an avid script writer and poet and will be starting an MA in Screenwriting at the LCC in Autumn 2018. 

With over 30 years’ experience in broadcasting and many awards under her belt, Flora is always on a mission to uncover and mentor new talent, and to bring stories made by local filmmakers around the world to an international audience. She conceived and ran Channel 4’s long running Unreported World, and was the founding commissioning editor of Witness, Al Jazeera English’s flagship documentary strand which transmitted to 280 million homes worldwide. Since leaving, she has run workshops for BBC Media Action with Libyan filmmakers, and acted as a mentor for IDFA Academy, East Doc platform, EsoDoc, Docs in Thessaloniki (with the EDN) and Medimed in Sitges. She is the Director of Global Short Docs Forum, and an Executive Producer and a mentor for the One World Media Fellowship.

Lisya has worked with One World Media in various capacities since 2013. She is currently responsible for One World Media programmes for nurturing new talent, including the Fellowship, Global Short Docs Forum, and the training workshops.

Lisya is a producer and project manager, working on film and event production for over fourteen years. She has worked with the Rory Peck Trust, Barbican Centre, Open City Documentary Festival, and DocumentarIst Istanbul Documentary Days, among others, managing a range of film, event and training programmes. She has experience in video production, as well as an MA in Film Studies, and a background in Political Science.

Saleh’s role at the DEC is to provide strategic leadership and management to ensure that the charity is run to UK legal and best practice standards.  He is responsible for reporting to the Board of Trustees and enacting their decisions – while also representing the DEC with major partners, at key events and meetings.

Prior to joining DEC in 2012, Saleh’s work in the NGO sector included heading Programmes, Fundraising and Communication teams.   

Saleh also has valuable NGO experience in disaster response interventions – and with the DEC he has led appeals for Syria, the Philippines, Gaza, Nepal and around the Ebola crisis.

Outside the charity sector, Saleh led in the management of Microsoft’s major digital inclusion projects and has also worked for the West Midlands Regional Assembly and local government authorities.  He currently sits on the Boards of the RSA and One World Media Trust, is a member of the Humanitarian Memorial Steering Committee, and acted as Chair of the Emergency Appeals Alliance in 2016.

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Victoria Bridges is Global Director, Media Matters for Women, which works with women in Sierra Leone to create social change and was founding Executive Director of GlobalGirl Media UK, a London-based charity which empowers young women in digital media and journalism skills. Formerly a freelance documentary filmmaker, she has credits from all the major UK channels. Victoria also works as a communications consultant and video facilitator in the non-profit sector. 

Indy Vidyalankara is the founder of boutique music PR company Indypendent PR and currently Head Of Strategic Communications at music charities Help Musicians UK and Urban Development. She is a seasoned and accomplished former Sony Music Director Of Communications, Saatchi & Saatchi ad exec and PR specialist. With a career spanning two decades in comms in some of the most high profile companies including eleven years in publicity across BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 1Xtra with some of the biggest names in TV and radio, across some of the most loved television shows on the BBC, such as Strictly Come Dancing, The Voice UK, Children In Need, Eurovision, Comic Relief and The One Show.

Joel Kibazo, is the founding partner of JK Associates, a London based consultancy whose main focus is African business, finance and government relations.

His wide experience spans the world of journalism and broadcasting, diplomacy, and business & finance. 

Joel was Managing Director-Africa at FTI Consulting – the global services group, and prior to that he was Director of Communications and External Relations at the African Development Bank – the continent’s premier financial and economic development institution.

Joel was previously the Director of Communications & Public Affairs at the Commonwealth Secretariat. Before his move into diplomacy, Joel worked as a journalist at the Financial Times for 12 years covering financial markets and the African business and financial sector. He also worked extensively in broadcasting, reporting and presenting business, education and cultural programmes for BBC World Service, Radio 4 and BBC World television as well as other broadcasters.

Joel has a BA in Social Sciences, an MA in International Economics and Economic development, and an MBA.

Shereener is a Barrister at Garden Court Chambers. Her career started at the Human Rights set of Sibghat Kadri QC where she completed a general common law pupillage with an emphasis on criminal defence.

Shereener has regularly appeared in Crown Courts across the country. In 2009 she specialised in employment law – spending three months, unpaid, working in the Employment Department at Leigh Day Solicitors. She worked as legal adviser to the Guardian complaints Review Panel until 2017. Shereener also libel reads for The Times, The Sunday Times & The Sun newspapers. In 2011 Shereener won the Sidney Elland Goldsmith Bar Pro Bono Award. She was an advocacy teacher for the Inner Temple from 2010 to 2016. She was Chair of Trustees at New Cross Gate Trust until 2017.

Shereener recently started an acting career and has appeared in several fringe theatre productions.

Juan is a Managing Director at Barclays, responsible for the Risk Solutions business in EMEA since June 2015. Prior to this he was co-head of the Debt Capital Markets and Risk Solutions Group for Southern Europe, having previously worked as Head of Risk Solutions Group Iberia.

Juan joined Barclays in 2010 from Goldman Sachs, where he spent 11 years as a member of the Financing Group, within the Investment Banking Division. During this time he held different roles working for Iberian clients (corporates, public sector and financial institutions) such as Debt Capital Markets, Risk Management (primarily interest rates and foreign exchange), and Structured Finance solutions.

Juan has a BA in Law (1998) and a BA in Economics (1999) from the University of ICADE in Madrid. He has participated in several NFP initiatives (e.g. Pilot Change program within Barclays) and charity events (e.g. CRIS cancer foundation). He is also a member of Institute Choiseul 100 Spain Economic Leaders for Tomorrow (2016), a think tank aimed at giving back/improving Spain’s positioning in the world.

His hobbies – in addition to spending as much as time as possible with family on the weekends – include sports (spinning, golf, tennis, skiing), travelling, cinema and reading.

Sloane joined One World Media in September 2018 as an intern, assisting with the Global Short Docs Forum, the Production Fund, and International Reporting Workshops. Sloane is in her third year at Syracuse University in Upstate New York, studying Political Science and Public Communications. She is interning with One World Media until the middle of December as part of her study abroad term in London. She has previously worked as a teaching assistant for a Policy Studies professor, and as a contributing writer for a student-run newspaper.

Gemma is the director of One World Media and is responsible for the growth and success of One World Media’s programmes, particularly focused on supporting new talent covering global stories. She is passionate about the power of media to open minds and create space for conversation and change. Before joining One World Media, Gemma was working in the US documentary film industry. Most recently as Director of Programs for the Social Impact Media Awards (SIMA), and prior to that as COO of San Francisco Green Film Festival.

Chloe joined One World Media in 2018 as the Digital Communications Officer. She is responsible for content creation and comms strategy across all social media, websites, print and digital content.

Chloe brings a varied background in design and communications to the team, having worked previously in the creative marketing and charity sectors, including the award-winning branding agency ALLGOOD and mental health charity, Camden Hub. She recently took a career break to complete an MA in Ethnographic and Documentary Film at UCL, and is passionate about working with emerging filmmakers and championing brave storytelling.

Carol Nahra is a documentary journalist, programmer, and lecturer based in London. She has written extensively about the UK documentary landscape for industry publications and her Docs on Screens blog. She hosts the Bertha DocHouse podcast, DocHouse Conversations, and is the lead trainer for the Grierson Doclab. She is a Teaching Fellow in documentary at Royal Holloway University, an Associate Lecturer on the MA in Documentary Film at London College of Communication and an adjunct professor teaching documentary and digital media at Syracuse University, London. 

Holly joined One World Media in January 2018 as the Events Assistant, assisting with the Global Short Docs Forum and the One World Media Awards. She began her career in Scotland, working for Hidden Door Arts as their Visual Artist Coordinator and subsequently Film Programme Assistant. Holly completed her MA in English Literature at the University of Edinburgh, where she specialised in Postcolonial Literatures and Contemporary Cinema, and spent a year abroad at the University of Copenhagen studying Danish Cinema, Postcolonial Theory and Sustainable Development. She has also freelanced as a Production Assistant, a Runner and a Film and Theatre Critic.

Victoria Bridges is an independent documentary producer and director and a partner in the production company Lotus Films. She has made a wide array of factual programmes, with an emphasis on social justice and the environment. Her work has won BAFTA Insight, Cable ACE, ECHO, Rory Peck (nominee) and Graz Humanitarian awards. She was the Founding Executive Director of GlobalGirl Media UK, a charity which develops the voices and digital storytelling skills of young disadvantaged women, and she continues to mentor emerging female filmmakers. She is a participatory video practitioner and an Associate of InsightShare UK.  She has a Masters in International Communications and Development from City University and a BA from Harvard University. Connect with Victoria on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Will joined One World Media in October 2019 as Events & Partnerships Manager. He is responsible for producing One World Media’s flagship event, the One World Media Awards, and the organisation’s year-round events programme.

Will has worked in events and festivals for over twenty years mainly in the UK and Africa. He founded the award winning Lake of Stars Festival in Malawi and has gone on to create other festivals in southern Africa including a Day of Ideas with the EU, the Children’s Future Festival with UNICEF and the Lilongwe Shorts Film Festival. He has organised a peace concert in South Sudan, music tours from South Africa to Mozambique and launched NGO Girl Effect’s youth brand across Malawi with a series of music videos, workshops, screenings and roadshows. Will’s career started in Liverpool in live events, he then moved to London and worked for brand agency RPM whilst developing the Lake of Stars Festival. Recently he’s worked with the first London Borough of Culture team, Waltham Forest, on various events including a Barbican curated film festival.

Flora has a background in fundraising and event management for higher education, with a specific focus on Africa, Asia and the Middle East. She has previously worked for food based startups and social enterprises, and recently completed an MA in Anthropology of Food at SOAS University, with a specific research interest in the role of nutrition, media and ‘post truth’ in the UK. Flora is also a freelance documentary producer and she joins One World Media with an interest in promoting high quality journalism and storytelling from around the world.

Samir Shah is the Chief Executive and Creative Director of Juniper, an independent television and radio production company.

Samir was awarded a CBE in the 2019 Birthday Honours list for services to Television and Heritage. He  has worked in broadcasting for over forty years.  Since 1998, Samir has been CEO and owner of Juniper which specialises in television and radio factual programmes from current affairs to dramatised documentaries for a range of broadcasters including the BBC, C4 and Nat Geo.  Before Juniper, Samir was head of current affairs television at the BBC and, later, responsible for the BBC’s political journalism across radio and television. Samir’s career started at the London Weekend Television in 1979.

In June 2014 Samir was made Chair of The Geffrye,  Museum of the Home, a position he currently holds.  From 2005 to 2014, he was a Trustee, then Deputy Chair, of the V&A. Samir was a Non-Executive Director on the BBC Board between 2007 and 2010. He is a former Chair of the Runnymede Trust (1999 to 2009) and is a Trustee of Reprieve.  He was former Chair of Screen West Midlands (2008-201). From 2004-2007, Samir was a Trustee of the Medical Foundation for the Victims of Torture.

Samir was awarded an OBE in 2000 New Year’s Honours list, elected a Fellow of the Royal Television Society in 2002 and, in 2019,  was appointed  Visiting Professor of Creative Media, Oxford University  (Faculty of English).  In August 2006 Samir was appointed a Special Professor in Post Conflict Studies in the School of Modern Languages and Cultures at the University of Nottingham.

Samir was born In India and came to England in 1960. He was educated at Latymer Upper School in London, read Geography and Maths at the University of Hull and has a DPhil from St Catherine’s College, Oxford.

Muriel is currently Head of Business Development – Commercial, Operations and Philanthropic Partnerships at BBC World Service. In this role, she leads a multifunctional team working across editorial and philanthropic partnerships, commercial development and strategy, technical operations and communications.

Prior to this, Muriel worked in a number of business development and commercial strategy roles in the media and advertising industry, including Time Inc., Hearst and BBC Studios, working both in New York and London. She also completed training schemes in journalism at The Guardian, and media production at both Nickelodeon and CBBC. She has written and presented research papers on the impact of advertising on content consumption and cultural statistics for United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). Through public speaking engagements and volunteer work, she has also contributed to discussions on sustainable monetisation opportunities for publishers in emerging markets.

Muriel holds an MSc with Distinction in Management from the University of Bristol and a BA in Media and Modern Literature from Goldsmiths College, University of London.

Umloda joins One World Media as the Project Assistant, supporting the team to deliver the annual One World Media Awards and Fellowship programme. She has a background in Interior Architecture and is currently completing an MA in Global Cinemas, with a focus in African and Middle Eastern regions. Her previous experience includes roles as a production assistant at Film Africa Film Festival, and theatre companies Lewisham Youth Theatre and You Me Bum Bum Train.

Charlotte Alfred is an investigative journalist and editor. She has reported from the Middle East, Africa, Europe and the U.S. and managed editorial for Lighthouse Reports, the Global Investigative Journalism Network, The New Humanitarian and First Draft. Her stories about migration, misinformation, journalism and conflict have been published by The Guardian, Nieman Reports, and De Correspondent, amongst others. Previously, she was the managing editor of Refugees Deeply, covered international news for HuffPost, and worked on documentaries for PBS Frontline. She is an advisor to the Overseas Development Institute’s Human Mobility Initiative and a mentor for the Coalition for Women in Journalism and The Second Source.

Godfrey Cromwell has worked in not-for profit organisations across the world for over 35 years, from disaster relief and medical programmes, to appropriate technology and enterprise development. Since 1990 his work has centred on economic reform, human rights and the quality of elections in the countries of the former Soviet Union. He emphatically supports bringing to light stories and supporting talent from the global south.   

He has run his own businesses and been an adviser to private clients of major UK investment houses. During 2018-2020 he was Executive Chair of  the body set up by HM Treasury to place £700m of support into challenger banks and fintechs to improve competition in financial services to small businesses. 

Since 2014 he has been a crossbench (independent) peer in the House of Lords, including serving on the EU Justice and Finance Select Committees.

Leonor Stjepic is an award-winning social entrepreneur, CEO and mentor.

She has spent a third of her professional life in the private sector and two thirds working with NGOs including the Amnesty International Working Group for Children, Index on Censorship, and the Galapagos Conservation Trust where she worked with the BBC on the first Galapagos series with David Attenborough.

In June 2018, Leonor took up her fourth CEO role as Chief Executive of the Montessori Group, and has recently set up the International Montessori Institute in partnership with a UK university.

Leonor has sat on numerous boards, including the Jane Goodall Institute and Chair of London Fire Brigade Enterprises, and is a mentor for the Cherie Blair Foundation.

Ayesha Aleem leads and manages content creation and strategy across all social media, websites, print and digital communications at One World Media. Her background is in multimedia journalism. She has been published in the UK, US, India and the UAE, including in media outlets like The Boston Globe, the FT, HuffPostUK, Media Diversity Institute and Glamour UK. 

In 2019, Ayesha was a Year Here fellow in London, where she trained in applying skills like design thinking to social enterprise and impact models towards innovating for social change. She has completed the Thomson Foundation’s mobile storytelling workshop in London and National Geographic’s Out of Eden Walk workshop in Slow Journalism.

Ayesha holds a master’s degree in journalism from Boston University. You can find her on LinkedIn. 

Alexa Saley is an intern at One World Media during the Spring term at Syracuse University, where she is a third-year student pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Political Science, Television, and Film. She has a passion for compelling stories on issues of social equality and plans to pursue a career in the entertainment industry. Alexa is inspired by powerful social movements like #MeToo that shift the industry and hopes to explore stories that empower people to call out systems of oppression.

Jelia Sané was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 2013. She is a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers, London, where she specialises in international law and immigration and asylum law. Jelia’s international law practice is focused on criminal, humanitarian and human rights law. She provides legal advice and representation to victims of international crimes and serious human rights violations before bodies like the International Criminal Court and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. She regularly works as a legal consultant for UN entities, humanitarian organisations and human rights NGOs, including the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, the International Committee of the Red Cross, Save the Children and the World Organisation Against Torture.

In 2019, she was named International Law Barrister of the Year by Advocate, the UK Bar’s leading pro bono charity. In the UK, Jelia represents refugees, asylum-seekers, separated and unaccompanied minors and trafficking victims in legal proceedings. Between 2017-2019, Jelia served as Junior Counsel to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse on the Roman Catholic Church investigation.

Prior to joining Doughty Street in 2014, Jelia worked for a number of international organisations and NGOs, including the International Criminal Court, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, the Centre for Justice and International Law in Argentina and the Political Prisoner’s Solidarity Committee in Colombia.

Nevine Mabro is Head of Storyville at the BBC having previously worked as a commissioning editor and Head of Foreign News for Channel 4 News. From Syria, Somalia to South America, Nevine’s work has been awarded a raft of coveted accolades during her tenure, including two International Emmys for news coverage, a BAFTA and countless RTS Awards. She led the programme’s Aleppo coverage with Syrian filmmaker, Wa’ad al-Kateab, which garnered international acclaim, amassing more than 400 million views online alone.

Rosemary is a communication and media development practitioner with nine years of experience in project management, media development, advocacy and investigative data and fact-checking journalism. She has led projects at the intersection of community radio, peace and conflict management, and investigative journalism bordering on human rights, peacebuilding, anti-corruption, good governance and sustainability. She has coordinated advocacy campaigns focused on migration, gender-based violence, illegal detention and extrajudicial killings across Africa. Working with organisations like International Center for Journalists, International Centre for Investigative Reporting, Institute for Media and Society, she has supported the training of more than 500 journalists from across Africa and coordinated the grantmaking for hundreds of investigative reports published across African media platforms.

Rosemary holds a masters degree in Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution, a bachelor’s degree in International Studies and Diplomacy, and a diploma in Mass Communication. She serves as non-executive director at Dataphyte, Nigeria’s foremost data journalism platform.

Rosemary can be reached on LinkedIn and Twitter.  

Joane is a film and marketing student at Syracuse University and an intern at One World Media during her London study abroad programme. On campus, she is the Public Relations Chair for Syracuse’s Filipino Student Association where she runs the organisation’s social media and helps plan events to share Filipino culture with the Syracuse community. When she’s back at home in Virginia, Joane works at a small, independent cinema where she enjoys sharing her love for film with moviegoers. Her interests in film and marketing intersect with her passion for connecting audiences with stories that resonate with them.

Mai is a Yemeni-British journalist who has spent the last 10 years with the BBC focusing on commissioning and creating different forms of engaging storytelling and leveraging creativity for impact. She received high commendation from the Association of International Broadcasters for her 2022 BBC investigation into a historic assassination that marked a shift in Middle Eastern regional politics and shaped her personal and family life. 

Previously, Mai was the Digital Content Editor for BBC Arabic shaping digital strategy and managing the digital video team. In this role she was recognised in the 2021 Kind leadership list. She has worked across the BBC’s 40 language services to establish bespoke strategies appropriate to their individual markets and spent time in the different regional hubs training teams at every level in how to produce powerful visual content.

Originally from Yemen, Mai has studied and worked in Egypt, Kuwait, the US and is currently based in the UK. She holds a Master’s degree in Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship from Goldsmiths, University of London and an Executive MBA from Wharton School of Business.

Peter is an experienced leader in the fields of media, higher education and economic development. At the BBC he was Editor of Panorama, Newsnight and Elections. His leadership roles included Head
of Current Affairs, Head of TV News and Head of the Multimedia Newsroom. He was Director of the BBC World Service from 2009 to 2014. Peter chairs Learna Limited, a provider of online Higher Education for post-graduate doctors.

Peter is a member of the Content Board of Ofcom, the UK Communications regulator and Chair of the South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership. He has been a member of the BBC Commercial Board, BBC Direction Group and Vice Chancellor of the Open University from 2015 to 2018. He won BAFTA awards as editor of Newsnight and as executive producer of the documentary series, The Power of Nightmares. 

In 2015 he received a CBE for Services to Broadcasting.

Chiara Figer joined One World Media as an intern in January 2023. She is currently studying Marketing and Business Analytics at Syracuse University. She hopes to pursue a career in film and entertainment. 

Peyton Spellacy is a university student from Sacramento, CA who has passion for journalism that stems from her passion for people. As a journalist, she is dedicated to uncovering the truth and educating communities. This has led her to Syracuse University in New York to study broadcast journalism with a minor in political science.

Last summer, she was an intern at WISH-TV where she covered a wide variety of topics from public policy to technology and feature stories. This summer, she will gain a global perspective on international stories with One World Media.

Mauricio Sada-Paz is a Managing Director at Bank of America where he is Global Head of eFICC Sales, based in London. He leads the execution of the eFICC strategy across Credit, Foreign Exchange and Rates.

Mauricio re-joined Bank of America in September 2021 with over 23 years of markets experience. Prior to this role, he spent three years at Barclays as Global Head of eFICC Product and Distribution after having spent eight years at Bank of America Merrill Lynch as Global Head of eFX Sales and Head of eFICC Sales for EMEA.  Previously, he spent 12 years at Goldman Sachs, initially as a FICC Sales Trader before moving to FX Sales.

Mauricio graduated from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University where he received a BS in International Economics.  Mauricio is on the board of the Financial Markets Standards Board “FMSB” representing Bank of America. He is also very close to the CRIS Cancer Foundation, attending multiple fundraising events every year.

Zoe Sale is a journalist and producer with decades of experience in current affairs, popular factual TV and independent documentary film. She was part of the multi award winning Nobel nominated team behind ‘Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields’ (2011) and ‘War Crimes Unpunished’ (2012) for Channel 4 and produced ‘No Fire Zone’ (2013) a feature length documentary with the same team that was nominated for a Grierson and an international Emmy. The global outreach campaign and worldwide screenings Zoe managed also won the Britdoc Puma Impact Award.

As a Development Producer, she has developed original content and ideas that have been commissioned including, ‘Are Our Kids Tough EnoughChinese School’ (3×60 BBC2/Open University August2015). The series went viral in China and was mentioned by Xi Jinping on a state visit.

Zoe is an HEA Fellow and has taught Film, TV and Media Production in higher education as a senior lecturer since 2017 – first at Portsmouth University and most recently at UCA.

Charlie is a programme coordinator working on the 2024 Awards. 

Charlie has worked for three years at the BFI London Film Festival as a guest coordinator, and has more than four years of experience working at film festivals and in independent cinema exhibition in London and Glasgow. With an academic background in film and social theory, Charlie has a joint honours BA in Film & Television studies and History of Art, and an MA in Gender, Media and Culture. 

Vivienne Francis is Director of One World Media.

A senior academic in Journalism at the University of the Arts London, Vivienne founded an award-winning initiative, The Refugee Journalism Project, supporting exiled media professionals to rebuild their careers in the UK. This work led to collaborations with global media organisations and international agencies, including UNHCR, Bloomberg, The Guardian Foundation, and the Council of Europe. Before academia, Vivienne was a current affairs producer at the BBC and a print journalist. She holds a Doctorate in Professional Studies by Public Works. Her thesis critiques the use of a social justice approach in journalistic practices. 

Ava is studying Television, Radio, and Film at Syracuse University. She is currently spending a semester in London. 

Emma Madigan is an intern assisting with the 2024 award season.

Emma is a student at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, studying television, radio, and film with an emphasis on sociology and its intersection with the media. Emma has engaged in a range of academic and professional experiences in journalism, video editing, writing, and production throughout her studies.

Dawn has worked extensively in television across a range of genres from live large scale events such as Glastonbury, The State Funeral for HM Queen to Christmas Day live outside broadcasts, music programmes and daytime magazine shows for the major UK channels rising to the position of Commissioning Executive and Executive Producer for the BBC. Internationally, Dawn has also worked in Kenya as a studio director on a range of education programmes for children for one of the national channels.

She joins One World Media as a Senior Programme Manager with responsibility for the Global Short Docs Forum 2024.

Shelley is the head of the Area Office for the World Food Programme in Rakhine,Myanmar. She has also worked with the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, FACEBOOK/META, CIFF, WHO, UNICEF and was previously the WFP spokesperson in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Southern Africa.

She was a BBC journalist for 16 years, her postings have included North America, the Middle East, and South Asia

Jess Crombie is a researcher and scholar working as a Senior Lecturer at UAL, and as a consultant for the humanitarian sector with organisations such as the Unicef, UNHCR, DEC, Red Cross, Save the Children and the World Food Programme. In both contexts, Jess draws on almost two decades as a senior leader in the charity sector to explore the ethical complexities in documentary storytelling and find practical ways to change the dominant humanitarian narratives. Her research focus investigates the potential for power shifts by seeking out the opinions and ideas of those with lived experience and co-creating story gathering actions and outcomes, a process that she has coined, ‘contributor centred storytelling practice’.

Jess commissioned and co-authored the ground-breaking research  ‘The People in the Pictures’, and later ‘Who Owns The Story’, founded and now co-chairs the Bond sponsored ‘People in the Pictures working group‘. Jess advises the ‘Centre for Public Authority in the Polycrisis (CPAP) housed at London School of Economics (LSE), the ‘AI Ethics Project’ convened by the sector think tank Rogare, and the Photography Ethics Centre in Belfast.

Tracy’s career spans both legacy and digital media, from broadcast television to global media campaigns for iNGOs, and more recently, communicating the impact of social media on how we share and receive information. 

Tracy has held leadership roles in media production, communications and government relations including at the BBC, Save the Children International and at the Meta Oversight Board, all with an emphasis on reporting on human rights issues in ways that matter to the communities and people they affect most. 

Tracy’s broadcast experience crosses all stages of video production from development, shooting, directing and producing, and includes live and outside broadcasting, as well as in-studio productions of current affairs content. 

Her career has seen her film in Gaza, Syria, Iraq, Nigeria, Kenya, Liberia, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe producing content for CNNi, AFP, Reuters, Al Jazeera and more. She has lead teams globally to report on some of the hardest to reach places in the world, whilst ensuring information is safeguarded, sourced and accessible to the communities it sets out to serve. 

Mateo is an intern at One World Media. Currently a third year student at Syracuse University, majoring in Cinematography and Sociology, with an intended minor in Philosophy, he is spending the Fall semester in London.

Mateo’s experience with nonprofits goes back to watching his father create Corporacion Imagina Quindio, a nonprofit built to support Colombian children and their families in the communities of Armenia, Quindio.

More recently, Mateo has had the opportunity to intern at Jackson Wild in Jackson, Wyoming, an experience that has drawn him to the world of documentary filmmaking. He hopes the pursuit of the social sciences will provide a strong foundation in socio-political and philosophical theory for the stories he tells through visual media.

He can be found on LinkedIn.

Luisa Mancilla Barrera is the Project Coordinator of One World Media’s flagship events: OWM Awards and the Fellowship Programme. She is a multimedia artist and filmmaker who believes in tenderness as a form of social resistance. Her work explores migration, belonging, food, gender, identity and care work through documentary film, expanded cinema, writing and community events.Migration has shaped Luisa’s identity, with roots across Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela. After a stint in the more mainstream Latin American film industry, she shifted her focus to art as a tool to achieve social justice.

To that end, she moved to London and completed an MA in Documentary Film at UCL. Whilst on this course and always seeking to position care at the centre of her practice, she began volunteering with the Latinx elderly community at Calthorpe Community Garden, where worked as Community Administrator. In 2024, in collaboration with Fabiola Calvani, Luisa launched errante, a migration and diaspora film programme. Within this container, Luisa and Fabiola seek to de-centralise film consumption by organising alternative events where migration films are in dialogue with food and experimental arts.

Currently, Luisa is diving into experimental documentary filmmaking with social impact.

Kadaria is a Nigerian-British journalist, media entrepreneur, and trainer. She is the Executive Director of Daria Media and Managing Director of Radio Now 95.3 FM, both dedicated to public service journalism that empowers citizens and promotes accountability.

Recognised as one of Nigeria’s most influential media figures, Kadaria has conducted high-profile interviews, moderated presidential debates, and produced critically acclaimed documentaries that have shaped public discourse and policy. She is a board member of the International Press Institute Nigeria and Treasurer of the Independent Broadcasters Association of Nigeria.

She spent 13 years at the BBC, reporting across Africa and briefing UK parliamentarians on African affairs. She later became Editor of NEXT, a pioneering newspaper that reshaped Nigeria’s investigative journalism landscape. Her writing has appeared in The Guardian, Financial Times, Premium Times, and other leading publications.

Kadaria holds an MA in Television from Goldsmiths, University of London, and a BA in Mass Communication from Bayero University Kano, Nigeria. A Chevening Scholar, she continues to champion accountability journalism through grants from leading donor agencies.

Catherine is an experienced leader in public service broadcasting and digital health, with 25 years at the BBC in senior commissioning, channel management, and editorial roles. She has led award-winning television and social action projects, delivering impactful, prime-time multiplatform campaigns that reached millions worldwide.

While CEO of an innovative nonprofit, she developed lifesaving digital health solutions, forged major global partnerships, and won awards for innovation and research. Committed to social change, she has used media to address education and health inequalities in underserved communities.

Catherine has mentored for Documentary Campus, advised the European Broadcasting Union, and served on various boards and initiatives, including the Nominet Trust’s steering group for social tech innovation.

Alexandra Bingham is the Engagement and Communications Manager at One World Media, where she leads communications and outreach to amplify the voices of journalists and filmmakers telling underreported stories from countries across the global majority.

She brings over 14 years of experience working across the NGO and humanitarian sectors at the intersection of media and storytelling — increasing the visibility of efforts to address the climate crisis, global injustice, and poverty. A trained filmmaker and photographer, Alexandra is committed to ethical storytelling and to shifting narratives that centre dignity, diversity, and nuance.

Chinwe Kalu-Uma is the Head of Partnerships and Fundraising at One World Media, where she leads the development of One World Media’s strategic and commercial partnerships to amplify the voices of journalists and filmmakers telling underreported stories from the Global South.

She brings over 15 years of experience at the intersection of international broadcasting, digital media, and strategic partnerships, as well as a future-facing perspective to media development. Her career across Broadcasting and Digital Media has allowed her to forge meaningful, strategic relationships to drive both impact and income.

Ajay Bhasin is interning abroad from upstate New York at Syracuse University, providing filmmaking, editorial, and graphic design work to One World Media as part of his major in Television, Radio, and Film.

Ajay aims to better understand the UK Media landscape and increase One World Media’s impact through creative decision making and products.