Doing Good

Marie von Hafften is a 2018 Story Fellow with the Solutions Journalism Network, curating reporting on responses to social problems. She also writes The Response, the organization's weekly newsletter. Marie studied international affairs and public policy at Columbia University and has worked for UN Women, UNOCHA and KYRS-Thin Air Community Radio. Her writing and photography have been published by PRI/GlobalPost, Christian Science Monitor, Next Billion and Global Envision.

After ten years working in television news in Washington, DC, Geri quit the business to start a family and in 1997 founded GoodNewsNetwork.org, which quickly became the #1 site on Google for "good news". For more than 20 years, GNN.org has delivered positive news and inspiring stories from around the world as an antidote to the barrage of negativity in mainstream media. Featured on CBS News, BBC, Rolling Stone magazine, and NPR's All Things Considered, Geri was dubbed “The Good News Guru” by the Washington Post. From Health news to Heroes, World news to Animal rescues—and our new ‘Good Talks’ page, which aggregates the best motivational podcasts, GNN provides the ultimate grab bag of GOOD, with its daily dose of optimism and hope.

Bangalore-based Rashmi Vasudeva's journalism has appeared in many Indian and international publications over the past decade. A features writer with over nine years of experience heading a health and fitness supplement in a mainstream Indian newspaper, her niche areas include health, wellness, fitness, food, nutrition and Indian classical Arts.

Her articles have appeared in various publications including Mint-Wall Street Journal, The Hindu, Deccan Herald (mainstream South Indian newspaper), Smart Life (Health magazine from the Malayala Manorama Group of publications), YourStory (India's media technology platform for entrepreneurs), Avantika (a noir arts and theatre magazine), ZDF (a German public broadcasting company) and others.

In 2006, she was awarded the British Print-Chevening scholarship to pursue a short-term course in new-age journalism at the University of Westminster, U.K. With a double Masters in Globalisation and Media Studies from Aarhus Universitet (Denmark), University of Amsterdam and Swansea University in Wales, U.K., she has also dabbled in academics, travel writing and socio-cultural studies. Mother to a frisky toddler, she hums 'wheels on the bus' while working and keeps a beady eye on the aforementioned toddler's antics.

Padma has been a journalist for the past 14 years. She has primarily reported on science and environment for Indian newspapers and magazines. Since 2015, she has also been writing and hosting a science podcast, The Intersection produced by Audiomatic.

Her work has appeared in several Indian publications, such as The Times of India, The Hindu, Mint, Scroll.in, The Telegraph and many others. Internationally, she has written for San Francisco Chronicle, Global Post, Newsweek, New Scientist.

Chhavi Sachdev runs Sonologue and is India's second most experienced podcaster, having started putting out podcasts on her own and for clients like the Blue Frog in 2008... long before Serial, leading her mother to tell other people "I don't know what she does. Something to do with radio on the Web."

Over the last 10 years, she has developed and launched several podcasts that are successfully running, as well as produced the LSDcast - India's definitive podcast about love, sex, and dating, and Tall Tales Takeaway -- bite size true stories, told live.
She also conducts workshops on DIY podcasting, audio editing, and consults for organizations that need a little handholding in the audio format.

To pay the bills, Chhavi is a freelance multimedia journalist and producer covering science, health, development, sustainability, and women's issues extensively. She has co-hosted episodes for BBC's World Hacks and CrowdScience and she's a frequent presenter on PRI's The World, BBC's Health Check and several Deutsche Welle programs.

She listens to podcasts while exercising, doing chores, and also when she's felled by migraines.

Graduating from 3A School of Business and Development, Nina was first involved professionally in humanitarian work as a trainer and manager in France and abroad. Her research in the field questioning engagement and altruism conducted her to work as an editor, writing articles. From 2011 to 2015, she worked in Russia as the web chief editor of a French newspaper. She’s now based in France and works as a freelancer on several projects, including writing, and trainings on Solutions journalism or Media decoding. She’s representing the Solutions Journalism Network in Europe since October 2016, which conducted her to train journalists in Denmark, Moldova, Poland, France, and Belgium, and give presentations to several newsrooms.

Jodie Jackson is a conscious news-consumer-turned-author, of the book "You Are What You Read". Jodie has been researching the psychological impact of the news for the last 7 years and campaigns for the greater inclusion of solutions-focused news stories in the mainstream media. She holds a Master’s Degree in Applied Positive Psychology from the University of East London (UK) and is a Partner at The Constructive Journalism Project. Jodie is a regular speaker at media conferences and universities.

Malia Politzer is the executive editor of piqd.com, and an award-winning long-form journalist based out of Spain. She specializes in reporting on migration, international development, human rights issues and investigative reporting.

Originally from California, she's lived in China, Spain, Mexico and India, and reported from various countries in Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Her primary beats relate to immigration, economics and international development. She has published articles in Huffington Post Highline, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, Vogue India, Mint, Far Eastern Economic Review, Foreign Policy, Reason Magazine, and the Phoenix New Times. She is also a regular contributor to Devex.

Her Huffington Post Highline series, "The 21st Century Gold Rush" won awards from the National Association of Magazine Editors, Overseas Press Club, and American Society of Newspaper Editors. She's also won multiple awards for feature writing in India and the United States.

Her reporting has been supported by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, The Institute For Current World Affairs, and the Global Migration Grant.

Degrees include a BA from Hampshire College and MS from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where was a Stabile Fellow at the Center for Investigative Journalism.