Brandi Morin is an acclaimed Cree/Iroquois journalist from Treaty 6 territory in Alberta, Canada.
She has spent
nearly 15 years amplifying Indigenous voices through her work with major outlets, including
National Geographic,
the BBC, Al Jazeera English, Rolling Stone, and The New York Times. Her journalism has earned
numerous awards,
including the 2019 Human Rights Reporting award from the Canadian Association of Journalists,
the 2022 National
Native American Journalism Award for Best Feature Story, a 2022 Edward Murrow Award for her
series on Missing
and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, PEN Canada’s 2023 Ken Filkow Prize, Amnesty
International Canada’s
2022/23 Media Award, a 2024 Sidney Hillman award for her documentary “Killer Water,” the 2024
Canadian
Association of Journalists Environmental and Climate Change award, and the 2024 Tim Giago Free
Press Award.

Since December 2024, Brandi has been producing a short documentary film on the Shuar Maikiuants
in Ecuador in
collaboration with MulluTV, Re:Wild, and Earth Alliance. The film documents the community’s
struggle to stop
Solaris Resources, a giant copper mine, from devastating their territories and lives. Mullu.tv,
an Ecuadorian
production company, is co-producing the film.

Damaris Lenantare is a member of the Rendille Peoples and a journalist and Indigenous women’s
rights activist
from Kenya. She has more than five years of experience in community media, covering stories and
creating content
at Fereiti 100.3 FM. She specializes in radio program production and short video reporting to
amplify the voices
of Indigenous Peoples, focusing on land rights, climate change, and cultural conservation in
northern Kenya.

During this fellowship, Damaris will conduct research on the impact of natural disasters,
focusing on drought and
its effects on water scarcity and livestock. She will also conduct field reporting in Marsabit
County to
document the stories of Indigenous communities and other expert’s insights, and produce articles
and radio
programs highlighting the challenges posed by climate change and climate-resilient agricultural
solutions.

Phnom Thano belongs to the Karen Peoples in Thailand. He is a journalist and content creator with
over seven
years of media production experience. He previously held the role of chief editor at the
Indigenous Media
Network (IMN), where he now serves as an advisor. Phnom is dedicated to amplifying Indigenous
Peoples’ voices
and promoting their rights, Traditional Knowledge, and livelihoods through documentary
filmmaking, photography,
and Thai-English interpretation.

In this fellowship, Phnom will conduct field visits across northern, eastern, and southern
Thailand to document
Traditional Knowledge and resource management practices. He will also produce in-depth articles
on natural
disaster preparedness, a photo collection documenting forest conservation, and a documentary
film and
audiovisual storytelling to safeguard Indigenous wisdom for future generations.

A journalist and human rights defender based in Indonesia has pioneered some initiatives for
women’s empowerment
and youth counselling. She has over two decades of experience in media advocacy for women,
children, and
Indigenous communities, documenting the violation of Indigenous Peoples’ rights to land and
access to customary
forests by the extractive industries. In this fellowship, she will amplify the voices of
Indigenous communities,
primarily focusing on the environmental impacts of mining, through investigative articles and
visual reports
about the disruption of local economies and degradation of Indigenous land and territories due
to mining
expansion.

Lorena Janeth Gómez Gómez is a Tseltal woman from the community of San Fernando, Huixtán,
Chiapas. A graduate of
the Bachelor’s program in Intercultural Communication at the Intercultural University of
Chiapas, Lorena works
in radio production and serves as a reporter and sound engineer for audiovisual projects. She
carries out
community radio and audiovisual projects with children in the communities of the Chiapas
Highlands,
collaborating on artistic, cultural, educational, and environmental projects in San Cristóbal de
Las Casas. She
has supported community communication initiatives in Indigenous, rural, and farming communities.

Her residency in the Community Media Program will support their production and dissemination of
graphic,
audiovisual, and radio materials addressing issues such as climate change, environmental
justice, the impacts of
transition minerals, and community strategies for prevention, mitigation, and response to
natural disasters. She
will seek to amplify the voices and perspectives of Indigenous Peoples as well as raise
awareness of the work of
the program’s partner radio stations and media outlets.

Iván Selles is a young Bribri man from Talamanca, Costa Rica and a trained cultural manager. His
experience
focuses on the development and empowerment of Indigenous communities, where he has participated
in projects that
directly benefit these populations. His work is notable for facilitating participatory processes
using tools
such as mapping and diagnostics to integrate the Indigenous perspective into decision-making. He
has also led
culturally adapted digital literacy initiatives, facilitating training in Bribri and Cabécar
communities. His
experience includes the systematization of ancestral knowledge on risk management and the
promotion of
Indigenous identity.

Iván’s project will focus on increasing the visibility of the work carried out by the Indigenous
Community Media
program through a strategy that combines visual communication and cultural identity. He will
produce digital and
print materials using language and identity that is inclusive of Indigenous Peoples, identify
Indigenous allies
in Costa Rica, and develop his own project in his community.