Michaela Holland (AAJA-New York) is an award-winning immersive storyteller who works both as a producer and director on experiential and experimental content. Her current project Face to Face, a three-act installation that gives the audience an intimate look at gun injury and human resilience, was recently awarded the Alternate Realities Programme: Virtual Reality Award at the 25th Sheffield Doc/Fest Awards ceremony. Her work has been vital to projects that include Emmy and Webby award-winning VR documentary, Capturing Everest, and TIME’s 360° livestream of the Great American Solar Eclipse of August 2017, which garnered over 5 million views on Facebook and Youtube. Follow Michaela on Twitter at @Midgehollandt.
Sandy Louey (AAJA-Sacramento) is the manager for the California Energy Commission’s Media and Public Communications Office. She was recently selected for an agency-wide staff nominated award in the accountability category for creating an environment that supports creativity and innovation and as someone who is willing to roll up her sleeves to get the job done, and done well, on deadline. She was previously a newspaper reporter for 17 years and currently serves as chapter president of AAJA-Sacramento, a position that she has had for more than a decade. Active in AAJA since 1988, she is a former national and San Francisco Bay Area chapter scholarship winner. Her past AAJA leadership positions include vice president of the Texas chapter and national board member for the New England and Texas chapters. Follow Sandy on Twitter at @slouey.
Elaine Ramirez (AAJA-Asia) enters Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in June for a master’s degree in media innovation and entrepreneurship. After finding creative and leadership momentum from leading three magazines, founding a popular newsletter on South Korean tech and organizing AAJA-Asia’s N3Con media conference and mentorship program, she seeks to hone skills to grow an innovative media startup. More importantly, she aims to meet fellow media entrepreneurs and content-driven innovators especially with interests in blockchain technology. Follow Elaine on Twitter at @elainegija.
Archith Seshadri (AAJA-Atlanta) recently competed for the grand prize on ABC’s $100,000 Pyramid, hosted by former NFL player Michael Strahan featuring celebrity partners Questlove and Snoop Dogg. During the show, he managed to make it to the Winner’s Circle twice and was able to return home with a hefty prize. Archith currently serves as a co-director of the AAJA Mentor Match program and previously was an anchor for the Indian news channel World is One News (WION) and CNN. Follow Archith on Twitter at @ArchithNEWS.
Doris Truong (AAJA-Washington, D.C.) will be the first Director of Training & Diversity at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies where she will focus on the evaluation, execution and creation of Poynter’s training opportunities. She was previously the homepage and weekend homepage editor at The Washington Post, where she edited stories, directed breaking news coverage and used analytics to respond to real-time trends. Doris previously served as AAJA national president from 2011-2012 and served on the board of UNITY: Journalists for Diversity, including as the organization’s vice president. Follow Doris on Twitter at @DorisTruong.
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