MozFest Moderator, Sarah Marshall

Sarah Marshall, an accomplished leader in the digital journalism space, is also a keen listener. Full of curiosity and enthusiasm, she is always eager to learn.

Sarah is always scoping out emerging software tools and innovative ways to tell stories. She is the growth editor at Vogue International and a lecturer at City University, London. She also co-founded Hacks/Hackers, which connects members of the media with the tech industry for collaborative learning events. Previously, Sarah worked as Wall Street Journal’s social media editor and journalism.co.uk’s technology editor — the role that first brought her to MozFest in 2012.

If all that experience wasn’t impressive enough, Sarah also moderates MozFest’s Dialogue & Debate series, which began in 2016. “Dialogue & Debates pulls together different strands of conversations that people are discussing in their spaces to get them all talking together,” Sarah explained. Oftentimes MozFest participants are drawn to the space that matches their area of expertise. The conversations Sarah moderates with diverse MozFest speakers helps get attendees out of their bubble.

Sarah Marshall has a knack for seeing broad themes surrounding Internet health and distilling these big topics into detailed and digestible conversations. To prepare for the sessions, Sarah usually talks to the speakers beforehand to get a sense of the key points and what projects they’re working on. But she also strongly believes that “at MozFest, it’s not about talking at the audience, but opening up the conversation and recognizing that everyone in the room has an experience or idea to share.” The Dialogue & Debates series isn’t scripted and Sarah doesn’t pre-screen audience questions.

“Attendees are at MozFest because they believe in a bigger community, not because they have something to show off or prove,” Sarah added. She strives for inclusive discussion and encouraging active participation.

Sarah is excited to learn along with the audience at this year’s Debates & Dialogues. “When I first went to MozFest, I found it very refreshing,” she said. “It really blew my mind. I had been used to going to conferences that were about sitting back and listening to some keynotes.” The MozFest speakers are different from what you’d usually find at a tech conference and come from diverse ethnic and vocational backgrounds.

See Sarah moderating the 2017 Dialogues and Debates from Saturday and Sunday on Air Mozilla.