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Making Contact Welcomes Our New Executive Director, Sonya Green
We are pleased to announce that Sonya Green will be the new executive director of International Media Project, the non-profit which produces the award-winning weekly radio program and podcast Making Contact.
Sonya is an award-winning journalist and community media leader committed to telling the stories of historically excluded communities.
Sonya has recently received her Masters of Science in Organizational Leadership from Mercer University with a thesis focusing on the experiences of journalists of color receiving fellowships, “Inclusion in Fellowships But Exclusion In The Industry?”.
Sonya was awarded the prestigious Knight-Wallace Journalism Fellowship from the University of Michigan, where she researched how language, attitudes and approaches in journalism narratives can perpetuate stereotypes about race, class and identity.
Sonya has served as Engagement Coordinator at the Center for Collaborative Journalism at Mercer University, as News Director and Interim Assistant General Manager at 91.3 KBCS in Bellevue/Seattle WA, and as a news producer at ABC affiliate television stations in Seattle and Denver. Sonya serves as the Board President for the National Federation of Community Broadcasters. Sonya’s start date is June 8 and her email is Sonya@radioproject.org so drop her a line!
Sonya succeeds Lisa Rudman, who led the organization for seventeen years. During her tenure, Lisa expanded the program’s reach to new audiences, increased the organization’s funding base, sustained the paid-fellowships for community activists and forged collaborative partnerships with community groups and media outlets, while building a staff and freelancer pool representative of the diverse communities that Making Contact serves.
Lisa initiated this transition back in 2019, to pass the administrative baton to a new leader. For the remainder of 2020 Lisa will to assist Sonya with fundraising and the production of special radio and podcast episodes. Lisa and the board have dedicated themselves to a careful transition and have been working to provide a strong financial on-ramp for Sonya.
“This is a key moment in Making Contact’s leadership succession planning, and a critical moment in our society at large. I’m so proud of our organization’s decades of accomplishments, and how we’re responding to this pandemic –so let me say thank you to everyone. I’m delighted to support Sonya and her vision to expand Making Contact’s resources for our talented journalists who focus on stories of justice and liberation,” said Rudman.
“Sonya brings us a dynamic combination of skills and experience,” said board chair Mickey Ellinger.”She is committed to Making Contact’s mission of bringing voices from movements that are working for justice in underrepresented communities. She has years of experience as a radio journalist and working with national media organizations. And she has just completed a graduate degree in organizational leadership. We are excited to work with her.”
“I am truly honored for the opportunity to lead Making Contact. More than ever, independent grassroots media like Making Contact are essential and needed to center the narratives of historically excluded communities underserved by mainstream media, particularly people—and especially women–of color, immigrants and LGBTQ identified people. I look forward to connecting and working with everyone invested in the organization,” said Green.
Making Contact’s programs are aired on 151 community radio stations throughout the United States, Canada and Australia, on a variety of sites including www.radioproject.org and as a podcast. Making Contact’s programs have been consistently honored by the Society for Professional Journalists.
In this COVID-19 era Making Contact has been producing Covid-19 UnVeils: a series of programs that explore the impact upon homeless communities, immigrant farm workers, prisoners, gig workers and delivery drivers. Covid-19 UnVeils exposes the root causes of the inequity and racial disparity in the pandemics victims. as well as the community organizing and mutual aid efforts arising within the crisis.
Mickey Ellinger, on behalf of the Board of Directors
P.S. You can make a special donation honoring Lisa Rudman and welcoming Sonya Green online or via mail at International Media Project /Making Contact 1714 Franklin St. Oakland, CA 94612. Thanks!
