TED Community » Jessica Mayberry
About Me
Jessica Mayberry founded Video Volunteers in September, 2003, after spending a year training rural Indian women in filmmaking as a Fellow of the American India Foundation. A videojournalist impressed with the rapid spread of inexpensive cameras around the developing world, Jessica believes that video technology can empower the poor (women especially) to find voice. She has extensive experience on the ground in India training communities in video production, and has since evolved Video Volunteers to emphasize capacity building, sustainability and community ownership. Prior to that Jessica worked in television in New York at Court TV, the Fox News Channel, and CNN. Video Volunteers has won numerous awards: An Echoing Green Fellowship, TED Fellowship, the Stern Business School Business Plan competition, the Knight Foundation’s News Challenge, a Tech Award, and Development Gateway Award Shortlist. It is this year a finalist for the King Baudouin (of Belgium) International Development Prize. Jessica has spoken about Video Volunteers’ work in numerous settings, including Stanford Business School, the NYU and Berkeley Journalism Schools, and Oxford and Canterbury Universities in the UK. She serves on the board of Free the Children, the world’s largest organization of “Children Helping Children” and on the Advisory Council of Counterpart International. She received her BA in Modern History and Modern Languages from Oxford University in 1999.
- Location:
- United States, Warwick, NY
- Gender:
- Female
- Areas of expertise:
- Community media
- I am:
- Activist, Care taker, Filmmaker, Idea generator, Potential employer, Social entrepreneur, Technologist
- Associations:
- Free the Children
- My website links:
- Video Volunteers, Channel 19
- Universities:
- Oxford University
- TED conferences attended:
- TEDIndia 2009
More About Me
I'm passionate about
I am passionate about bringing out the creativity and intellectual development of the disadvantaged. I'm passionate about ways to reform the mainstream media and make it more inclusive.
Talk to me about
media, NGOs and activists in India, citizen journalism, being a foreigner living in India, having a baby and running an NGO. need advice on the last one!
My TED Story
I'm coming as a TED India Fellow. So excited by this opportunity! have wanted to come to TED for year.
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A comment on Talk: Ethan Zuckerman: Listening to global voices
In my work with Video Volunteers, we've trained a network of 150 full time people from slums and villages who make films on their issues that are screened in nightly village screenings, on Indian TV and online. We are always struggling with how to take this very raw content and make it palatable to an outside audience. What's powerful about community media is it's raw, untranslated quality which shows you new perspectives. But that makes it more challenging to watch. We're trying to bridge this gap -- the authenticity of community voices vs the need for a wider audience outside the villages -- on our new site indiaunheard.videovolunteers.org. I'd love feedback!