AIR INVESTS IN PUBLIC MEDIA'S FUTURE: ENTREPRENEURIAL FELLOWS

AIR – public media’s go-to organization for audio excellence – just announced 12 recipients of Entrepreneurial Fellowships. Here is the Class of Fall 2015:

The fellowships provide the winners with career and craft coaching sessions led by my favorite consultant Tom Livingston. [I was a coaching client of Tom’s for many years and benefitted greatly.

AIR is filling a major public media need: Mid-level career coaching. This is where the next generation of leaders will come from. Public media needs to invest in mid-career coaching because these folks have a wide perspective and multi-generational experience.

HERE ARE THE WINNERS

Brett Ascarelli, a radio journalist at the Swedish public service broadcaster, has worked as a print journalist, photographer and graphic designer.

Heidi Chang is a multimedia journalist whose work has been featured on NPR, “The World,” “Living on Earth,” Voice of America, “Marketplace” and other outlets.

Sarah Gustavus is a public media journalist who covers public policy, food and culture as a producer with New Mexico PBS.

Freelance audio producer Dr. Diane Hope has made radio features for BBC, numerous podcasts, and museum audio guides.

Emma Jacobs has reported for NPR affiliate stations including WHYY and WNYC. She is a recipient of a 2014 NPR Above the Fray traveling fellowship and NLGJA radio award.

George Lavender is the coordinating producer of Making Contact, a nationally distributed half-hour radio show. His reporting has aired on NPR, WBUR, KQED, KCRW, and RFI.

Anthony Martinez grew up an only child on a farm in Idaho, which made him into a hard-working introvert hell-bent on seeing the world. (He is a 2013 alumnus of AIR's New Voices scholarship program.)

Allyson McCabe reports and produces music stories for NPR, The Brooklyn Rail, The San Francisco Chronicle, and The Rumpus, and hosts “FM Mutations” for WPKN.

Karen Michel has asked questions, listened to answers, and made many radio and some performance pieces to let others know what she’s seen, heard, and learned.

Ryan Noyes is founder of Listening Post Productions, a start-up public media production corporation in Philadelphia.

Khrista Rypl is a web producer at “Studio 360,” a production assistant at “Here's the Thing,” and an occasional editor for Michael Ian Black's podcast, “How to Be Amazing.”

A.C. Valdez is an award-winning radio producer, and has worked with shows like NPR's “Latino USA” and PRI's “America Abroad.” He lives in New York.

Congratulations!