Info Call – Changemaker in Media

🎙️ 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗷𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲’𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗮𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗲𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗼𝘄𝗻?

Last week, the Ashoka Visionary Program hosted a conversation with three media professionals, a former ORF journalist turned podcast founder, a journalism innovation leader, and a Czech media veteran, about what it really means to be a changemaker in the media world.

Here’s what stayed with them 👇

🪞 Nadja had spent nearly 20 years at ORF trying to push for change from the inside, until a single conversation reframed everything.

💬 “I finally felt understood. And I finally realized, ah, there’s a role like mine in other big organizations too. I didn’t fail as Nadia. It’s about systems change. […] For the first time in many, many years, I was in the right company with the right people, with the right mindset. And that was really soothing for me and a very healing and inspiring time in my life. […] Ashoka has given me the understanding to find my place and to be at peace with my place and to understand my role in this big transformation that we’re in.” Nadja Hahn, Journalist & Podcast Founder, formerly ORF

🔍 For Vera, the program didn’t just expand her network, it is changing the fundamental way she approaches problems.

💬 “What the systems change thinking has really shifted for me is the way I ask questions. I no longer think how do I fix journalism’s problems, but it’s more like what is this a symptom of? […] This has really offered me clarity, not only of my potential power as an agent of change, but also in where this actually comes from and how it applies to my daily work.” Vera Penêda, European Journalism Centre (EJC)

🧠 And Jeremy, a media professional who’s spent years watching the Czech media scene from the inside, found something he hadn’t expected: permission to think big.

💬 “It was such a welcome time to just go off on a weekend and be with different people and do the big thinking that you never really have time to do. […] We journalists are often better at telling other people’s stories than our own. And I learned a lot from that, even though I should probably know better.” Jeremy Druker, Editor in Chief Transitions Media

🙏 Thank you Nadja, Vera, and Jeremy — and to Olga Shirobokova for hosting a conversation that felt genuinely real.

If you work in media or journalism and recognize yourself in any of these words, the 12th cohort of the Ashoka Hashtag#VisionaryProgram is open. It’s a year-long leadership journey for changemakers who want tools, frameworks, and a peer community that takes the long view on change.

📹 Full recording in the comments: https://lnkd.in/dtG_X_2g
📝 Apply here: https://lnkd.in/e_PN7WQ3

Linkedin Post by Olga Shirobokova