ASCEND Media Intensive: It's A Wrap!
We are thrilled to share that our pilot practical media learning program, ASCEND Media Intensive has come to an end after an exciting eight weeks of intensive training. We're very proud of each member of the diverse, inaugural class of 15 gender marginalised media practitioners, content creators, feminists, human rights defenders, influencers and LGBTQI+ activists who attended each of the four virtual sessions, from all over Kenya! The sessions they attended covered:
Media, Culture and Politics;
Growing Your Voice and Audience, Locally and Internationally;
Content Creation 101;
Making Short Audiovisuals Work For You.
The four sessions were masterfully led by an able team of technical and media experts, namely:
Njambi Koikai - journalist, media practitioner and politician
Samira Sawlani - journalist, writer, columnist and analyst
Rachel "Miss Ray" Wamoto - content creator, producer and strategist, music producer and DJ
Meg Marieqsa - filmmaker, editor, post-production specialist and visual curator
The 15 participants went through a mixture of interactive masterclasses, one-on-one sessions and group presentations with each trainer, where they learnt, shared and presented their outcomes with the media trainers and their fellows. They left these classes with knowledge on how to frame marginalised people in media, how to pitch written pieces to local and international media houses, how to strategize and plan content, and with new audio visual insights and skills! Here are some of their testimonials and achievements from their eight weeks of media training, below!
“I really enjoyed thinking about how to grow your social media presence and the presentations helped bring out aspects that I had not considered when doing my analysis. Additionally, the session on pitching and the practical exercise of writing a pitch was brilliant! I now have more confidence in pitching my ideas to different publications.”
“I enjoyed the practical examples and Samira sharing her experiences and breaking it down to even considering mental health, writer's block, imposter syndrome and all the things that can impede your work.”
“...as a performer who is practising a form of art that is not so well versed with most people in Kenya, I have always wanted to create content on my experiences as a Gender and sexual diverse individual who use drag as a form of art to dispell stereotypes around gender . With the knowledge and tools I am confident now to create content on the same and build awareness on the same on the social media platform of my choice.”
We are so grateful to the fantastic Africa No Filter team for their incredible resourcing and support in rolling out this successful pilot program. We are also grateful to the expert media trainers for sharing their knowledge, thinking and practice around the amazing work that they do, and being a place of constructive criticism, mentorship, capacity building and safe learning for the inaugural Ascend cohort. Our biggest thanks go out to the Ascend participants themselves:
Wanjiru Nguhi
Nyakinyua Karuga
Ronald Kisige
Grace Akumu
Cheruto Rono
John Ssenyonjo
Wambua Kioko
Anne Achieng
Eric Onyango
Gloria Chahango
John Omondi
Night Okindo
Njambi Njoroge
Beverly Wakiaga
Esther Mutindi
for coming on board this pilot engagement, with such joy and energy, and making it such a success with their full, enthusiastic engagement!
