2018 FEBRUARY | GUATEMALA REPORTING FELLOWSHIP

The International Women’s Media Foundation selected 8 journalists from 6 different countries to participate in the Adelante Adelante reporting initiative from February 1 to 16, 2018. The journalists began the Reporting Fellowship in Mexico City where they received Hostile Environment and First Aid Training. The training was followed by 10 days on the ground in Guatemala where Fellows reported on Democracy and Governance. Visit our blog blog for updates from #IWMFfellows on the ground.

ALICE FORDHAM | FREELANCE RADIO JOURNALIST

Twitter: @alicefordham | Instagram: @alice.aforethought

Alice Fordham is a British reporter who has spent most of the last decade reporting from the Middle East and Africa. From 2014, she was a correspondent for NPR, producing most of the organization’s coverage of Syria and Iraq. Her work has covered breaking political news and the frontlines of wars but there have also been many stories of culture, beauty and fun. Now, she is living in London, traveling in Spain and Latin America and learning Spanish with a view to broadening her horizons.

CELIA GUERRERO ACOSTA | MULTIMEDIA JOURNALIST | PIE DE PÁGINA

Twitter: @celiawarrior

Celia Guerrero Acosta is a multimedia journalist in Mexico City. She is a member of an active network of journalists, the Red de Periodistas de a Pie, working to elevate journalism in Mexico and a reporter for their investigative site, Pie de Página. Celia is a representative of the organization in its alliances with Méxicoleaks and Resistencia Modulada, with Radio UNAM. Previously, she worked as a consultant for the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ). Celia studied journalism, creative writing and literature. As a freelance journalist, Celia focuses on human rights, freedom of expression, victims of violence, migration, the environment, gender and corruption. She has published in outlets like Proceso, Vice, El Universal, Animal Político, IPS Noticias, Cosecha Roja, Aristegui Noticias, Factum and Literal Magazine.

NINCY MELISSA PERDOMO BANEGAS | MULTIMEDIA JOURNALIST | EL PULSO

Twitter: @Lilith_Nin | Instagram: @nincarcajou

Nincy Melissa Perdomo Banegas is a Honduran multimedia journalist, based in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. She is a graduate of communications and publicity from Unitec and a co-founder of Garabato Productions. Nincy directed the documentary Mi Historia, Mi Cultura: Omoa and the experimental short film Festín de sus Muertes. She was part of a program of cultural volunteers with Educa, Women in the Arts “Leticia de Oyuela.” Nincy has published various texts in La Rabia del Axolotl and Ombligo magazines. She produced the program Tierra Adentro for elheraldo.hn, where she served as a video journalist for two years. She published the poem “Sangre y Ceniza” (“Blood and Ashes”) in July 2013. She has served as a video stringer for the Agence France-Presse (AFP) since 2013. Currently, she covers parliamentary politics, feminism and gender issues, and social movements for the online outlet El Pulso.

SMITA SHARMA | FREELANCE PHOTOJOURNLIST

Twitter: @smitashrm | Instagram: @smitashrm

Smita Sharma is an independent photojournalist based in India. Her work primarily focuses on gender violence and human rights issues and has been published in CNN, The Washington Post, New York Times, BBC, Channel 4, TIME Lightbox, Quartz, Newsweek, Caravan Magazine among others. Her work has been screened and exhibited in various countries including USA, France, Myanmar, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Cambodia and India. Smita was given the “Indian of the Year” award in 2017 for her contribution in the field of journalism. She is the recipient of The Washington Post Award at Eddie Adams Workshop in 2013 and National Silver and PVCHR Bronze medal for Protection of Human Rights by Rex Foundation in 2015. She graduated from the International Center of Photography, New York. Her long-term project on Sexual Violence in India was shown at the UN Headquarters, New York, at CSW- Commission on the Status of Women in 2015 and 2017 respectively.

MITRA KABOLI AND KATIE SCHLECHTER

MITRA KABOLI | FREELANCE AUDIO PRODUCER, EDITOR AND SOUND DESIGNER

Twitter: @mitrasaurus

Mitra Kaboli is an audio producer, editor and sound designer who has been working professionally in radio and podcasting since 2012. Her award-winning work has been featured on ESPN’s Dunkumentaries, NPR’s Latino USA, Marking Contact, Death, Sex & Money and Audible Productions. Much of her work focuses on the experiences of women, queer communities and people of color living in America and Canada with a signature emphasis on intimacy and emotion. She is the co-founder and senior producer of The Heart, which is the primary outlet for most of her reporting. With The Heart, she has had the opportunity to shape and influence a growing field all while putting women, queer and marginalized voices at the front of their practice. In 2016, The Heart took home the Gold Award for Best Documentary at The International Third Coast Awards. In 2017, The Heart was a Peabody Finalist. Mitra currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.

KATIE SCHLECHTER | FREELANCE MULTIMEDIA JOURNALIST

Twitter: @KSchlechter

Katie Schlechter is a freelance print, radio and photo journalist based in Mexico City. She has lived and worked in Spain, Ireland, France, Chile, Nicaragua, Guatemala and New York City. After her undergraduate studies she spent one year interning at Democracy Now!, and two years as editor-in-chief of IndyKids newspaper, a publication written for and by kids. In May 2017, she received her M.A. from NYU, and in August of that year she relocated to Mexico City to pursue her freelance career. Her work continually returns to themes of migration, LGBTQ issues, sex work, addiction, international law and policy as well as U.S. involvement in Latin America, past and present.

LIANNE MILTON AND ERIKA PIÑEROS

LIANNE MILTON | FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER

Instagram: @lil_milty

Lianne Milton is a documentary photographer with Panos Pictures based in Rio de Janeiro, working throughout South America since 2013. Her work focuses on the effects of politics on people and their environments. In 2015, Lianne was awarded the inaugural Yves Rocher Foundation Photography Award for her photo essay on marginalized rural communities in Brazil’s northeast dry region. Lianne’s freelance career began in 2009 with a project documenting the rise of Sharia law in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. From 2009-2012, she focused her work in Southeast Asia and Central America, exploring stories such as post-civil war conflict in Guatemala, drug addiction and the environmental impact of hydroelectric dams in Cambodia, and the volcanic eruption of Mt. Merapi in Indonesia. Lianne’s work is published in the Financial Times Magazine, Guardian of London and Weekend Magazine, Mother Jones, M le Monde, NPR, Open Society Foundations, Stat News, US News, the Washington Post and many others. She holds a bachelor’s degree in photojournalism from San Francisco State University. When Lianne is not photographing, you can find her surfing along the jungle coast of Rio de Janeiro with her husband.

ERIKA PIÑEROS | FREELANCE MULTIMEDIA JOURNALIST

Twitter @erika_pineros | Instagram: @erikapineros

Erika Piñeros is a multimedia journalist covering human rights and socio-political issues, based between Colombia and Cambodia. In her native Colombia, Erika has reported on internal forced displacement, kidnapping, the reintegration of ex-militants from illegal armed groups into society, and the impact of drug policies on the livelihoods of coca farmers. She has documented Cambodia’s post conflict rapid development and its impact on the Cambodian population including land grabs, civil unrest and the recession of natural resources. Her work lives on news outlets such as IRIN News, America’s Quarterly, Foreign Policy, CNN International and Le Figaro.