Producing Multimedia Content Boot Camp

Amara Aguilar
Trainer and Multimedia Journalist
Amara Aguilar is a multimedia journalism assistant professor at Los Angeles Pierce College. She previously taught online journalism and design classes at Cal State Long Beach. Amara has her master’s degree in communications from Cal State Fullerton, with an emphasis in new media. She is currently writing a textbook on online journalism and has done extensive research on blogging and journalism. She has taught multimedia reporting, blogging, podcasting, as well as video and audio editing. She has conducted multimedia and design workshops for professionals and various institutions throughout California.  Contact info: amara.aguilar [at] gmail.com.

Tom Krymkowski
Audio Engineer and Multimedia Producer
Tom Krymkowski is a freelance broadcast audio engineer and cinematographer based in San Francisco. He’s also an experienced media trainer with more than 10 years teaching audio recording and editing for NPR’s Next Generation Radio workshops. His cinematography credits include camera work for various shorts and two full-length feature films. In addition to camera work, he works in post-production as a video editor, audio post mixer, and occasional motion graphics designer. He’s always looking for an opportunity to expand his skills and pass on what he knows. His past and present clients include: WGBH-Boston, BBC World Service, NPR, Public Radio International, KQED-San Francisco, Mevio, Pixel Corps, and Scary Cow Productions.  Contact info: tom.krymkowski [at] gmail.com.

Jessica Pons
Photographer
Jessica Pons is passionate about telling stories. Her curiosity about human interactions led her organically into photojournalism, a tool to understanding. She hopes to create images that will inspire people to reflect upon themselves and the complexity of human nature. A 1st generation American, raised partly in Argentina, Jessica wants to further explore international issues. She will graduate this year from San Francisco State University with a BA in Photojournalism. Jessica’s work abroad landed her first place for best picture story/series in 2008 for “Hearst Journalism Awards Program”, a national annual competition. She was later selected to participate in the 2008 Eddie Adams Workshop XXI, a high-level photojournalism workshop for professionals and students. Her work has been published in The Oakland Tribune, The Tri Valley Herald and Mission Local, a local newspaper serving the Mission District in SF. Jessica’s passion for global issues landed her an internship with Link TV. Jessica is available for photography and multimedia assignments all over California. Contact: jessica.pons [at] yahoo.com.

Marcio Sanchez
Staff Photographer, Associated Press, San Francisco
Marcio Sanchez is a staff photographer with the Associated Press in San Francisco. He has been with the Associated Press since 2002. Previously he worked at The Kansas City Star from 1995 to 2002. As a student, he interned at various newspapers including the Long Beach Press-Telegram, Reno Gazette-Journal and Palm Beach Post. Marcio attended San Jose State University, where he received a degree in photojournalism with a minor in Latin American Studies. He was born in San Pedro Sula, Honduras and emigrated to the United States with his family at age 12 in 1983. In his 14 years as a photojournalist, he has covered a diversity of stories. Some of the highlights: wildlife preservation in Africa; Hurricane Mitch in Honduras; baseball in the Dominican Republic; and the Super Bowl. Marcio’s work has been published in some of the nation’s best publications, including The New York Times, USA Today, Sports Illustrated, Newsweek and National Geographic. Marcio plays soccer and mountain bikes in his spare time. He lives in Santa Clara, California with his wife, Jenifer, and two children. marciojsanchez [at] comcast.net.

Nuestra Voz’s Multimedia Hasta En La Sopa – Talleres

Martina Castro
Reporter and Producer, KALW, San Francisco
Martina Castro started working in radio in 2004 with National Public Radio. She has worked in the field with reporters and in the studio with hosts on a show, so she has a varied experience with audio recording, editing and storytelling. She has mentored and trained students in radio storytelling through NPR’s next-generation radio, and just finished an editing and a reporting project with Mills College in Oakland.

Ray Chavez
Staff Photograph, The Oakland Tribune
Ray Chavez has been a staff photographer for The Oakland Tribune for the past 15 years. He has won multiple local, national and international awards during his career. In 2008 he won numerous awards for The Mayan Way project, including: Photojournalist of the Year Award and a General News Award, both from the National Association of Hispanic Journalists; National Headliner Award, third place in Photography Portfolio; Ruben Salazar Journalism Award, Best Photography; James Aronson Award; APNEC first- and second-place awards for picture stories; East Bay Press Club, two first-place awards and one third-place award in single categories; and UNITY 2008 Photo Shootout, second place for ethnic diversity in Chicago. In addition to working at The Oakland Tribune, Chavez does freelance work for various government agencies, private corporations and nonprofit organizations. See The Mayan Way Multimedia project at Ray’s award-winning portfolio.

Ytaelena Lopez
Independent Investigative Journalist, Community Liaison and Spanish Translator
Ytaelena Lopez is an independent investigative journalist, community liaison and Spanish translator. She freelances with El Mensajero. Contact info: ytaelena [at] gmail.com.

 

Manuel Maqueda
Consultant and Journalist
Manuel is an expert in social media with three years’ experience as a reporter, a speaker, and a op-ed writer on citizen media and the transformations in journalism. Manuel is the director for the Americas of PeriodismoCiudadano.com, the world’s leading news source and resource on citizen journalism, and the founder of Nuestra Voz, a nonprofit organization helping Spanish speakers participate in the online conversation. Manuel holds a graduate degree in Economics, as well as a graduate degree in Law. He is also a Sorbonne graduate in French Language and Civilization. Born in Madrid, Spain, Manuel lives in the San Francisco Bay area, where he is actively involved in several environmental causes and social media projects. Contact info: manuelmaqueda [at] gmail.com

Nina Reyes Rosenberg
Videographer and Trainer
Nina Reyes Rosenberg is a filmmaker, artist and community educator originally from San Francisco, California. She holds a BFA in film and television production from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and has trained more than 50 youth in video production, art and photography. Her paintings have been exhibited at the Mission Cultural Center, Back to the Picture Latin American Art Gallery, and the Elks Lodge. She is currently in development on her first feature film and volunteers with the Center for Asian American Media and Southern Exposure.

Web Site Warriors – Workshop Track

Brad Eller
Designer
Brad Eller is a graphic designer with five years of agency experience, a BFA in sculpture, and precise fine-motor skills from years of DJ’ing. His focus is on web design, typography and identity work. Brad is currently based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

 

Erik Sundelof
co-founder and VP of Social Media Allvoices.com
Erik Sundelof is the co-founder and VP of Social Media and User Interface at San Francisco based Allvoices, Inc. Allvoices is a new content-based social network around news and opinions. It has within less than a year become one of the 3000 largest sites on the Internet. Erik was previously a fellow in the Reuters Digital Vision Program (http://www.rdvp.org) at Stanford University between 2005-2006. Most notably he created the Web site inthefieldONLINE.net, which was recognized by major global media including PBS, CNN and BBC, and got featured on Discovery International’s Rewind 2006 as one of 25 highlights of the Year. He is active in the social media arena and has directed the launch of several social media sites including the biggest blog in Sweden during 2005-2007. Erik is a prolific blogger on issues related to social and user-generated media, cellphone technology and community building. His academic orientations are rooted in a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering and PhD licentiate in Numerical Analysis from the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm Contact info: erik [at] allvoices [dot] com

Social Networking 101 – Workshop Track

Kwan Booth
Writer, Editor, Cultural Curator, The Oakbook Magazine
Kwan Booth is a writer, editor and cultural curator in Oakland, CA. He’s an online editor at The Oakbook Magazine and founder of the Otherside Media collective. He is also the former Associate Editor of the Oakland Post newspaper and has held editorial positions at Festivalpreview.com, NotforTourists.com and 10best.com.

Kara Andrade
Multimedia Producer
Kara Andrade is an experienced multimedia journalist who uses social media to bridge the world of newspapers, technologists and entrepreneurs to present relevant stories. She builds online and offline communities through reporting, consulting and virtual world event organization. Kara was the Online Community Organizer for Spot.Us, an open source project that focuses on community-funded reporting. She graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a Masters in Journalism. Kara received a BA in Literature from New College of Florida and has six years of experience in nonprofit development, public health and community organizing. She has worked as a multimedia producer, consultant, staff writer, videographer, and photojournalist for Agence France-Presse, the Associated Press, the San Jose Mercury News, Contra Costa Times and the Oakland Tribune. She served as the Interactive Editor for Youth Radio’s award-winning converged production company.

Sarah Dopp
Tech Consultant
Sarah Dopp has been blogging, building websites, and using the Internet as her own personal sandbox for over ten years. She’s worked as a tech consultant in the professional branding industry through Interbrand and Bedrock Brands, and in the social media marketing industry through Cerado. Her clients include BlogHer, Cisco, Chevron, Jiffy Lube, Hyperion, Seton Pediatric Hospital, and Planned Parenthood, among others. Sarah is the founder and director of Genderfork, a volunteer-sustained community art blog on gender issues. She’s also an experienced performance poet and co-host of San Francisco’s Queer Open Mic. You can find her blogging regularly at Dopp Juice and twittering as @sarahdopp. Contact info: sarah [at] sarahdopp.com.

Abulkarriem Khan
Technology Consultant
I am an expert on widget and mobile monetization with GlGroup.com. I comment on the bleeding edge of content and application technology Monetization Trends on my blog. I designed a Google API Mashup App (with Alvin Wang of Cloudwizard.com), closed the show with it at Google’s 1st Public Opensocial Event with the Microsoft & Orrick sponsored startup Helphookup. I am building a category changing MMO Sports Gaming Network and helped to organize this. For more info go to our blog and Facebook page. Google video and voice me @ ak2consulting@gmail.com, (510) 228-4325. Contact info: ak2consulting [at] gmail.com.

J.D. Lasica
Strategist, tech entrepreneur, writer, blogger, trainer and consultant
J.D. Lasica works with corporations, startups and nonprofits as a social media strategist and workshop leader. He is widely considered one of the world’s leading authorities on social media and the revolution in user-created media. He is founder of Socialmedia.biz, a social media strategies and news site, and of Socialbrite.org, a learning hub to help nonprofits and social cause organizations master social media. His book “Darknet,” which coined the term “personal media revolution,” explores the emerging media landscape. In March 2005 he co-founded Ourmedia.org, the first grassroots media hosting and sharing site. In a previous life, J.D. was an editor at the Sacramento Bee and editorial manager of several Silicon Valley startups. CNET named him one of the 100 top media bloggers in the world. Contact info: Twitter at @jdlasica.

Susan Mernit
Co-founder at Oakland Local & Public Media Collaborative Consultant, Strategist, Developer, Troublemaker
Highly skilled generalist with great understanding of business and revenue issues; user experience and customer value; and deep bench strength in technology/product development and media. Personal passions for hyperlocal and community, metrics and funnel management, and mission-driven organizations all play out in my work. If you want a skilled strategist and execut0r for a consumer-focused Web or social media product, or need someone to help you develop new products to fit customer segments and business goals, I have a track record and a passion for this work. Contact info: smernit [at] gmail.com.

Marc Smolowitz
Executive Producer & Media & Technology Consultant
Marc Smolowitz is an Academy Award-nominated film, television and new media producer (“The Weather Underground” 2003, “Trembling Before G-d” 2001) and executive producer/consultant to a diverse slate of San Francisco-based media and technology companies. Most recently, he was the producer at TellyTopia, a Silicon Valley new media startup specializing in IP-TV and VOD product functionality for cable companies. Currently he is on the faculty at the Digital Film Making program at the Art Institute of California, San Francisco; serves as the editor for Reelchanges.org; and is the chair of the Technology Impact Circle at the Full Circle Fund, an engaged philanthropy group that gives grants to Bay Area nonprofits. Notably, he was the president/founder of Turbulent Arts, Inc., a successful niche market film and television company based in San Francisco (1995-2001) that ranked, at its peak, as the 26th largest entertainment business in North America, 14th among independents (Source: The Hollywood Reporter, Aug. 1998.) His forthcoming film and media projects include: “The Power Of Two,” a multimedia/broadcast documentary endeavor about organ donation, transplantation and cystic fibrosis, based on the memoir by Isabel Stenzel Byrnes and Anabel Stenzel; and “The HIV Story Project,” a short film compilation and new media content experiment that will mark the global 30th anniversary of HIV/AIDS in 2011 by bringing together leading Bay Area filmmakers to work in creative collaboration with people living with HIV/AIDS. Learn more about Marc at www.linkedin.com/in/marcsmolowitz . Follow him on twitter.com/marcsmolowitz .

Expanding Your Storytelling Tool Kit – Workshop Track

Lisa Fernandez
Reporter, San Jose Mercury News
Mercury News staff reporter Lisa Fernandez has reported on a variety of ethnic communities living in Silicon Valley, from Afghan widows who fled their war-torn countries to high-tech Indians who erect large temples in the Bay Area as their new home-away-from-homes. Her workshop will teach both reporters and nonprofit organizations how to tell better, richer and more universally appealing stories that will reach wider audiences. She has experience with both print and video and will offer tips on how to multitask, and include both into your daily workload.

Sasha Khokha
Central Valley Bureau Chief, KQED’s The California Report
Sasha Khokha is the Central Valley bureau chief for KQED’s “The California Report,” a statewide public radio program airing on 29 public radio stations. Based in Fresno, she covers a vast geographic beat, including the nation’s most productive farm belt, some of California’s poorest farmworker towns, and Yosemite and Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Parks. Sasha’s award-winning radio work is also heard on National Public Radio and PRI’s The World. Sasha is a graduate of Brown University and the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. Her stories have won an Edward R Murrow Regional Award, as well as awards from the National Federation of Community Broadcasters, the California Teachers Association and the Association of Health Care Journalists. Sasha joined KQED in 2004, after stints as a reporter in Alaska and with NPR’s “Weekend Edition Saturday.” She is also a documentary filmmaker; her film “Calcutta Calling” documents the lives of teenage girls adopted from India to Swedish-Lutheran Minnesota. The film was nominated for a national Emmy in 2007.

Thomas Peele
Investigative Reporter, Bay Area News Group
Thomas Peele, an investigative reporter for the Bay Area News Group, has worked for newspapers for 25 years. His career has spanned both coasts, from the Boardwalk of Atlantic City to the streets of San Francisco. He has won more than 40 journalism award, including several for the investigation of the 2007 murder of journalist Chauncey Bailey. They include the 2008 IRE Tom Renner Award, the 2009 IRE for medium-sized newspapers, and Columbia University’s Paul Tobenkin Award and was a finalist for the Medill Medal for Courage in Journalism. He has been assigned almost exclusively to investigating the murder of Chauncey Bailey for the past two years. He is also an adjunct lecturer in the journalism department of San Francisco State University and will lecture on public records and data bases at the University of Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism in the fall of 2009. Peele also writes extensively on free press and freedom of information issues.

Beth Renneisen
Visual Journalist and College Instructor
Beth Renneisen is a news artist who has had lengthy career as a graphics editor at the Marin Independent Journal and as a design consultant. She has won many awards for informational graphics and page designs from Gannett, the Society of News Design, the California Newspaper Publisher’s Association and the Associated Press Nevada/California (APNEC), where she won a first place in graphics in 2008. Her specialty is training novice graphic artists and creating a climate that promotes productivity in a small staff with limited resources. Beth is now completing a master’s degree in visual journalism at San Francisco State University.

Martin Reynolds
Editor, Oakland Tribune
Martin Reynolds began his career in journalism as a Chips Quinn intern at the Oakland Tribune in 1995, and has worked at the paper ever since; first as a reporter on the metro staff, then as an assistant city editor and associate editor. In 2006 he became the paper’s managing editor, and in 2008 was named its editor. Among his many accomplishments, Martin helped coordinate the Chauncey Bailey Project, an ongoing investigative series looking at the circumstances surrounding the murder of the Oakland Post editor and the issues that led up to his slaying. Martin was also one of the lead editors in Not Just A Number, a nationally recognized, award-winning online journalism project that brings home the impact the city’s accelerating murder rate is having on families and neighborhoods. Besides editor of the Oakland Tribune, Martin continues to serve as an assistant managing editor for news for Bay Area News Group – East Bay.

Robert J. Rosenthal
Executive Director, Center for Investigative Reporting
An award-winning journalist with nearly 40 years of experience, Robert Rosenthal became executive director of CIR in January 2008. Before joining CIR he worked for The New York Times, Boston Globe, Philadelphia Inquirer and, most recently, the San Francisco Chronicle. Since September of 2007 he has also been the executive editor of the award-winning Chauncey Bailey Project. As a reporter, Robert won numerous awards, including the Overseas Press Club Award for magazine writing; the Sigma Delta Chi Award for distinguished foreign correspondence; the National Association of Black Journalists Award for Third World Reporting; and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in international reporting. Robert worked for 22 years at the Philadelphia Inquirer, where, from 1982 through 1986. he was the newspaper’s Africa correspondent based in Nairobi, Kenya. He reported in 25 countries in Africa and spent a great deal of time in the Middle East. He became the Inquirer’s editor and vice-president in 1998. Before joining the Inquirer in 1979, Rosenthal worked as a reporter for six years at The Boston Globe and three-and-a-half years at The New York Times, where he was a news assistant on the foreign desk and an editorial assistant on the Pulitzer-Prize winning Pentagon Papers project. His work at CIR is now focused on being part of the solution for the crisis in journalism.

Driving Business Innovations — Workshop Track

L.A. Chung
Innovative Programs Director, Center for Integration and Improvement of Journalism
L.A. Chung is Innovative Programs Director at the Center for Integration and Improvement of Journalism at San Francisco State University. She is also a writer and researcher whose first love, really, is newspapers. She has been a columnist and editor at the San Jose Mercury News, a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Hartford Courant. At different points of her career, she has been a wedding planner and an executive director of a non-profit organization — which means she handles meltdowns and balky office equipment with aplomb. These are useful skills in the current entrepreneurial news environment. As a researcher on a Hewlett Foundation project, she is looking at the business models being used by online news start-ups. Contact her at lachungsf [at] yahoo.com.

David Cohn
Director, Spot.us
David Cohn has written for Wired, Seed, Columbia Journalism Review and The New York Times. While working toward a master’s degree at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, he worked as the editor at newassignment.net, which focused on citizen journalism and ways news organizations could explore the social Web. He also worked with Jeff Jarvis from Buzzmachine.com to organize the first Networked Journalism Summit, which brought together the best practices of collaborative journalism. David recently became a contributing editor at NewsTrust.net, a nonprofit media literacy tool and news filter. He also is the editor in chief at Broowaha, an expanding citizen journalism network. @Digidave @spotus.

Julian Do
Southern California Director, New America Media
Julian Do oversees ethnic media development for New America Media in Southern California. Since 2008, Julian has been spearheading the development of LA Beez, a hyperlocal news Web site focusing on ethnic community news in Los Angeles. LA Beez is launching its mobile phone BZBcoupons in August 2009. Contact: jdo [at] newamericamedia.org.

Lila LaHood
Development Director, The Public Press
Lila LaHood is development director at The Public Press, a San Francisco-based startup, nonprofit news organization dedicated to producing local public-interest journalism. The Public Press publishes on the Web at www.public-press.org and is developing plans for a local print edition. Lila is also involved in shaping the organization’s community engagement program, recruiting and coordinating volunteers, and general business management. She has worked as a nonprofit consultant, and as a freelance writer and editor. She was previously a business writer at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, where she covered retail and real estate. Lila has an M.S. from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and a B.A. in international relations from Stanford University. Contact info: lila [at] public-press.org.

Susan Misra
Senior Consultant
Susan Misra specializes in designing, managing and evaluating capacity-building initiatives. At TCC Group she has worked with more than 100 nonprofit organizations to conduct organizational assessments and develop strategic capacity-building plans. She has also coached board-staff leadership teams on building organizational capacity and presented on a range of topics from organizational life cycles and change management to board development and strategic planning. A sampling of her past nonprofit clients include Associated Press Managing Editors; Washington Center for Politics and Journalism; National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy; Center for Race, Poverty and the Environment; Sierra Repertory Theater; and the Capitol Beat Statehouse Reporters. Before joining the firm, Susan served as the co-director for policy research at AWARE in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India. She  is credited with creating an emergency loan fund for farmers and restructuring the Women’s Division to focus on entrepreneurship and health programs. Susan received a master’s degree in public policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where she gained advanced skills in strategic management, political advocacy, leadership and economic development. At Harvard University, she was awarded the Kennedy School Social Service Award, as well as the post-graduate Sheldon Fellowship to study bridging social capital and community conflict resolution. Susan holds a Bachelor of Science in psychology from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon.

Roger Pang
Business Development, Fonemine
Roger Pang is the director of business development at Fonemine. He is the founder of Techklix.com a technology job network. Prior to working with startups, he was the recruitment sales manager at the San Jose Mercury News until last October. He was responsible for integrating partnerships with Yahoo and Careerbuilder into the paper’s business model. Before working in the recruitment category, he managed the national sales team responsible for online and newspaper revenue. Roger also worked at The New York Times for 13 years, working in advertising sales, strategic planning and the newsroom.
Contact info: Roger.Pang [at] fonemine.com

Clarisa Morales Roberts
Executive Director, Independent Arts & Media
Clarisa has been working in the nonprofit sector for since 2000. She specializes in Project and Organization Development and has worked as staff and as a consultant for multiple nonprofit organizations in the North Bay. She is a graduate of Sonoma State University with a B.A. in Liberal Arts, and attended Graduate School at San Francisco State University where she studied Humanities, focusing on Community Narrative. Prior to her work in nonprofit, Clarisa served in the U.S. Army for 9 years where she received training in communications and media development.

Gene Takagi
Attorney
Gene Takagi is a nonprofit and tax-exempt organizations attorney and the contributing editor and publisher of the Nonprofit Law Blog. Prior to opening his independent practice in 2005, Gene practiced corporate law at Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton, during which time he was awarded Outstanding Barrister of the Year by the Bar Association of San Francisco. Before that, he had a 15-year management career in both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors. Gene has a graduate degree in nonprofit administration and a J.D. from UCLA.

Dawn Garcia
Deputy Director, John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships at Stanford University
The Knight Fellowships is transforming its program to focus on journalism innovation, entrepreneurship and leadership. Previously, Dawn Garcia was a newspaper reporter and editor in California for 18 years, focusing on immigration issues and statewide politics, as well as urging diversity in the newsroom and in coverage. She is also president of the Journalism and Women Symposium (JAWS), a national nonprofit organization of women journalists and journalism educators. JAWS, which had been a group with a shoestring budget, largely funded by membership dues and bake sales, won two foundation challenge grants under her leadership, totaling $70,000 in the past three years. JAWS raised more than $100,000 in donations from members and outside supporters to more than match the grant funding.

Josh Wilson
Editor, Newsdesk.org
Josh Wilson is one of the co-founders of Independent Arts & Media, a San Francisco nonprofit organization and producer’s co-op that expands civic dialogue by increasing access to independent voices. Through his work with Indy Arts his is also the founder and editor of Newsdesk.org, a commercial-free journalism Web site focusing on “important but overlooked news,” and a co-founder of the Expo for the Artist & Musician, “the Bay Area’s only grassroots connection fair for independent art, music and culture.” He is also a longtime producer, DJ and host at the award-winning community radio station KUSF-FM, and held various positions there, including Community Affairs Director and Program Coordinator. A professional journalist and editor, Josh has worked in various staff and contract capacities for SFGate.com, Meredith Corporation, and Wired magazine, and as a freelancer for the San Jose Mercury News, the San Francisco Bay Guardian, and other publications. Contact info: editor[at] newsdesk.org.