The building of a media empire

I lived in Kyrgyzstan for two years working with the United Nations on media and social justice development projects as a Peace Corps volunteer. My time here was the most rewarding and meaningful time of my life. I spent my first year working with the community radio station RadioMost in Talas City, where I helped create training materials for a growing national network of citizen journalists.

Then, I wrote a project concept and secured funding from UNESCO for it. There were many organizations supporting media training in these areas, but those journalists’ reach was limited. My idea was to leverage mobile technology’s power by placing it in the hands of rural journalists and building a unifying platform that tells the story of life in Central Asia. Today, KyrgyzMedia.kg is a vibrant and active outlet that receives thousands of monthly visitors from all over the world and continues to be supported by the United Nations and the Deutsche Welle Akademie. The initiative is supported locally by Kloop Media.