100 Days Journey of Change
My incredible experience at CUNY’s Entrepreneurial Journalism Creators Program
As a photojournalist, I come in contact with many people across diverse communities with unique culture, food, identities, and stories. When we engage these communities to tell stories, it is usually for a specific purpose; our framing sometimes is narrow and a lot of times does not capture the essence of the people in these communities.
These communities are also not priorities of mainstream media, they never make the news until a disaster or an anomaly occurs that attracts people to them, and often times it is still exploitative and transactional.
I wanted to build Reclaim Stories, an organization that trains people to tell stories from their communities and at the same time connect their stories to the world. To achieve this, I had questions about all that is required to build a business around this idea and keep it sustainable. One of my big questions over the years has been, “How can communities tell their own stories to shape narratives and make their own news?” Joining the Entrepreneurial Journalism Creators Program was part of my quest for answers. I did not only get answers, the program opened me up to a new vista of opportunities and networks.
The 100 days at CUNY EJCP gave me the opportunity to
- Reflect: I reflected on the what is required to build reclaim stories into a thriving and sustainable business. Listening to our instructors opened me up to new revenue models, marketing, and how to approach building a successful product.
- Test: I carried out a pilot of the project in partnership with Street Child, an international organization in Nigeria. I worked with a group of 10 girls who were trained and equipped with a camera to tell their stories of girls’ education and the result was outstanding. Click here to download the published work.
- Partner: The program provided an opportunity for partnership with people from across the world. Hearing the great work that everyone in my cohort is doing in their space is a huge motivator and the needed fuel to burn when I feel like throwing in the towel.
What is Next…
I am on a journey to build Reclaim Stories. The coming months will be exciting and I look forward to sharing how all of this takes proper shape. I will be working another group of young people before the end of the year.
Our website and social media platforms will also be going live to share the incredible stories we see daily, the sound that lifts our souls and the beauty of the people shared by themselves.
Follow me on twitter, Instagram and my website to be part of my journey.
