Jina Chung, Executive Director (she/her)
Jina joined Frequencies of Change Media as the Executive Director in 2022. She was previously the Senior Director of Development & Partnerships at the International Documentary Association. As an independent fundraising consultant, Jina has supported numerous media arts organizations nationwide.
Amy Gastelum, Producer + Audience Development (she/her)
Amy is a registered nurse turned journalist with bylines in NPR News, Guernica Magazine, and PRI’s The World. In addition to her reporting, she teaches audio storytelling and creative nonfiction to aspiring journalists and writers. Amy joined Frequencies of Change Media in 2022, focusing on health, gender, and caregiving.
Salima Hamirani, Producer (she/her)
Salima is a journalist and producer based in Puerto Rico. She honed her skills at KPFA’s Apex Express and as the Friday host and producer of their morning drive-time show, “UpFront.” She joined Frequencies of Change Media in 2017, covering labor, economics, and the environment.
Lucy Kang, Producer (they/she)
Lucy is an award-winning producer and editor based in Berkeley, California. They previously created the KPFA Storytelling Project to train emerging journalists in narrative storytelling and produced KPFA’s news program “UpFront.” Joining Frequencies of Change Media in 2022, Lucy covers political and corporate accountability on “Making Contact.”
Anita Johnson, Producer (she/they)
Anita is an award-winning journalist and joined Frequencies of Change Media in 2016. She co-founded KPFA’s “Hard Knock Radio,” a public affairs program focusing on news, views, and hip-hop. Anita covers the intersection of race, health, and incarceration on “Making Contact.”
Jeff Emtman, Engineer (he/him)
Jeff Emtman is a Berlin-based podcaster and artist. He makes documentary podcast Here Be Monsters and generative daily podcast “Neutrinowatch.” He also sound designs and mixes on limited audio series, including Audible’s “The Sun King”, Maximum Fun’s “The Outer Reach”, and Crooked Media’s Another Russia. He also produces free video tutorials, Reaper for Radio. He’s a long-time mentor with the Association of Independents in Radio (AIR) and teaches at universities and community organizations. Jeff joined “Making Contact” as a contractor in March 2023.
Adwoa Gyimah-Brempong, Story Editor (she/her)
Adwoa Gyimah-Brempong is a freelance story editor, reporter, and producer, specializing in scripted narrative podcasts as well as non-narrated projects. An alumna of KUOW, NextGen Radio, as well as VONA/Voices, IDEO’s Storytelling and AIR’s Edit Mode fellowships, Adwoa holds a Master of Fine Arts from Mills College in Oakland and a Bachelor of Arts from New College of Florida. She joined “Making Contact” as a contractor in September 2023.
Over 40 freelancers file segments for Making Contact from around the country and across the globe. See our Submission Guidelines if you are interested in joining our network of freelancers. See our Community Storytelling Fellows.
Board of Directors
Cassidy Dimon, Director
Cassidy Dimon (she/her) is a filmmaker and event producer with over 15 years of experience producing film events across the US. She has produced over 200 film screenings, numerous award shows and film festivals, as well as two iterations of the esteemed Getting Real Documentary Film Conference. Cassidy is also the founder of the Film Event Accessibility Working Group (FEAW), an initiative that harnesses the collective power of event professionals to help exhibitors across the country develop and execute accessible events and is the creator of the Film Event Accessibility Scorecard launched in July 2022. Cassidy joined the board in September 2023.
Paige Nguyen, Treasurer
Paige is currently a consultant at EY, advising financial services companies on financial reporting. Prior to her advisory role, she worked in corporate accounting and internal controls auditing. As a huge advocate of volunteer work, she has continuously given time and skills to various community events and nonprofit organizations. She is eager to explore opportunities that enable her to integrate her professional experience with nonprofit endeavors. Paige graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in political economy. Her academic journey afforded her the privilege of participating in events that underscored Berkeley’s rich history of activism, like the Occupy Movement. Holding active licenses as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) in the state of California, Paige maintains an engaged role in her field. Beyond the professional undertakings, Paige indulges in a wide array of activities instead of designating a singular favorite pastime. She appreciates a terrible or excellent pun once in awhile, and relishes the acquisition of new knowledge, whether through solitary exploration or in the company of others, indoors or outdoors. Paige joined the board in July 2023.
Former Executive Directors
Sonya Green
Sonya is an award-winning journalist and community media leader committed to telling the stories of historically excluded communities. She received her Masters of Science in Organizational Leadership from Mercer University with a thesis focusing on the experiences of journalists of color receiving fellowships, “Inclusion in Fellowships But Exclusion In The Industry?”. Sonya was awarded the prestigious Knight-Wallace Journalism Fellowship from the University of Michigan, where she researched how language, attitudes and approaches in journalism narratives can perpetuate stereotypes about race, class and identity.
Sonya has served as Engagement Coordinator at the Center for Collaborative Journalism at Mercer University, as News Director and Interim Assistant General Manager at 91.3 KBCS in Bellevue/Seattle WA, and as a news producer at ABC affiliate television stations in Seattle and Denver. Sonya serves as the Board President for the National Federation of Community Broadcasters.
Lisa Rudman
Lisa brings over 30 years of experience in production and management in community radio and public television. Her video documentaries on political prisoners in the U.S. have won several awards, and the team she led at Making Contact consistently garnered awards from the Society of Professional Journalists.
At Making Contact Lisa expanded the program’s reach to new audiences, increased the organization’s funding base, sustained the paid-fellowships for community activists and forged collaborative partnerships with community groups and media outlets. Lisa built a staff and freelancer pool representative of the diverse communities that Making Contact serves. She initiated the transition process to Executive Director Green as part of that work.
Lisa has served Making Contact in a variety of capacities including Women’s Desk Director, Co-Director of Live Wire Independent News, and production trainer. She also served on the coordinating committee of The Media Consortium, a network of 80 print, TV, web and radio outlets. Lisa believes in “practicing journalism for justice.” Lisa’s insights, passion and humor make her an edu-taining speaker, strategic thinker and collaborative partner.
Founders
Peggy Law, Founding Director and Development Advisor Activist, organizer, visionary. Peggy is a journalist with broad experience in non-profit management. She is an organizational consultant and a Board Member of the Institute for Public Accuracy and IF (a social change organization). Peggy is an Executive Committee member for the MediaWorks Initiative, and has also had a career as a mental health professional.
Norman Solomon Nationally syndicated author and columnist on media and politics; Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) associate; Founder and Executive Director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. A collection of Norman’s columns won the 1999 George Orwell Award for Distinguished Contribution to Honesty and Clarity in Public Language. He has authored ten books, including “The Habits of Highly Deceptive Media and The Power of Babble,” “Target Iraq: What the News Media Didn’t Tell You” (co-authored with foreign correspondent Reese Erlich), and his latest book, “War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death.”
David Barsamian Author, lecturer, founder and director of Alternative Radio. David’s interviews and articles appear in The Progressive, The Nation, Z and other journals and magazines. David is author of numerous books with Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Eqbal Ahmad, and Edward Said. His series of books with Chomsky, America’s leading dissident, have sold in the hundreds of thousands and have been translated into many languages. David’s latest books are “Propaganda & the Public Mind: Conversations with Noam Chomsky” and “The Decline & Fall of Public Broadcasting.”
