Our Team
Our team is composed of a professional staff, accomplished trustees and advisors and a large network of correspondents.
Learn more about us.
MEET OUR STAFF
![Maria Krasinski Maria Krasinski](jpg/236026594_856517321652215_3941217873560420677_n-e1628985926147-300x300.jpg)
Maria Krasinski
Managing Director
đź“Ť Paris, France
Maria joined News Decoder in July 2021 managing operations and partnerships. An ardent believer in the values of global citizenship, she’s worked in experiential education, youth media and cultural diplomacy initiatives for nearly 20 years and has facilitated cross-border exchanges for hundreds of youth and professionals from more than 100 countries.
Previously, Maria served in the Peace Corps in Tbilisi, Georgia, where she worked with a civil society NGO to help hone fundraising and storytelling skills and launch youth citizen journalism programs. As Vice President of WorldChicago, a U.S. State Department partner, Maria convened local and global leaders to share knowledge and build connections, and founded Youth Diplomats to offer substantive global experiences for Chicago teens. She also held positions at Street-Level Youth Media and the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures.
A former Jeopardy! contestant, Maria is a published illustrator of two books, Art Hiding in New York and Art Hiding in Paris, with a third book in production. She holds a bachelor’s and two master’s degrees from the University of Chicago.
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Marcy Burstiner
Educational News Director
đź“Ť Donegal, Ireland
Marcy is the author of “Investigative Reporting: from premise to publication” and was awarded the James Madison Freedom of Information Award in 2018 by the Northern California chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
For a decade, Marcy wrote a popular column on media for The North Coast Journal in Northern California, which in 2015 was named Best Column for mid-sized newspapers from the California Newspaper Publisher’s Association.
For her teaching, the California Journalism Education Coalition named her California Journalism Educator of the Year in 2010.
As a journalist, she covered technology and finance for thestreet.com, legal affairs for the San Francisco Daily Journal and international trade for the San Francisco Business Times.
She has a master’s degree from the Columbia Journalism School and a B.A. in political science from Union College in Schenectady, New York.
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Thea Lacey
Director of Development
đź“Ť United Kingdom
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Joyce Yang
Program Manager
đź“Ť Paris, France
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Andrea Knezevic
Communications Specialist, WePod
đź“Ť Paris, France / Brussels, Belgium
![Sabīne Bērziņa Sabīne Bērziņa](jpg/sabine_berzina-300x300.jpg)
Sabīne Bērziņa
User Experience Manager, ProMS Project
đź“Ť Riga, Latvia
![Amina McCauley Amina McCauley](jpg/amina_mccauley-1.jpg)
Amina McCauley
Program Manager, EYES Project
đź“Ť Aarhus, Denmark
Amina is an Australian journalist with a passion for learning through storytelling and a burning interest in the complicated relationship between humans and the environment. With a tendency towards cross-border work, she has worked as a media analyst for U.S-based company NewsGuard, a tutor in Communicating Sustainability for the University of Tasmania and a proofreader and writer for Danish and Swiss companies. She has also worked as a news reporter, a long-form journalist, a yoga teacher and a private music tutor. She holds a master’s degree from Aarhus University, the Danish School of Media and Journalism and Charles University in the Czech Republic through the Erasmus Mundus Journalism program.
![KajaAndric KajaAndric](jpg/kajaandric-1.jpg)
Kaja Andrić
Editorial Intern
đź“Ť New York City, United States
Kaja is honored to be a part of News Decoder and looks forward to working on reportage that connects the unsung stories among us, in all corners of the world.
MEET OUR BOARD OF TRUSTEES
![ngraves 2022 square ngraves 2022 square](jpg/ngraves-2022-square-300x300.jpg)
Nelson Graves
Founder and President
đź“Ť Paris, France
![Faith Abiodun Faith Abiodun](png/screen-shot-2021-05-17-at-9.26.00-am-1-300x300.png)
Faith Abiodun
đź“Ť United Kingdom
![Elis Estrada Elis Estrada](jpg/elis-estrada-300x300.jpg)
Elis Estrada
đź“Ť United States
Elis Estrada is the Director of Digital Operations for PBS Digital Studios. Prior to joining PBS in 2022, Elis was senior director of PBS Newshour Student Reporting Labs (SRL). In that role, she oversaw operations, strategy, and the development of the national youth media organization providing thousands of educators and students with unique resources and programs to build journalism, media literacy and storytelling skills. During her time at SRL, Elis led numerous content initiatives featured on the NewsHour, local PBS stations and partner organizations including MediaWise, TeenVogue, Snapchat and Instagram. She regularly speaks at conferences and events, and is invested in creating access points for people of all ages to explore how media and information shape their lives. Before joining the NewsHour, Elis helped to oversee program and digital strategy at the News Literacy Project and was a producer at NY1 News in New York.
![Christian Henry Christian Henry](jpg/christian_henry-300x300.jpg)
Christian Henry
đź“Ť United States
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Lauren Heuser
đź“Ť Canada
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Alan Main
đź“Ť South Africa
![Nolwazi Mjwara Nolwazi Mjwara](jpg/nolwazi-mjwara-300x300.jpg)
Nolwazi Mjwara
đź“Ť Paris, France
![SuePhillips1 SuePhillips1](jpg/suephillips1.jpg)
Sue Phillips
đź“Ť France
![Martha Clement Rochford Martha Clement Rochford](jpg/martha-clement-rochford-300x300.jpg)
Martha Clement Rochford
đź“Ť United States
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Carlos Rubio
đź“Ť France
![Sonali Verma Sonali Verma](png/screen-shot-2023-11-29-at-2.57.07-pm-300x300.png)
Sonali Verma
đź“Ť Canada
![Betty Wong Betty Wong](jpg/betty-wong-300x300.jpg)
Betty Wong
đź“Ť United States
MEET OUR ADVISORS
![tagnew original tagnew original](png/tagnew_original-150x150.png)
![Jui Chakravorty news decoder Jui Chakravorty news decoder](png/jui-chakravorty-news-decoder.png)
![Savannah Savannah](jpg/savannah-145x150.jpg)
![Aralynn-McMane-news-decoder](jpg/aralynn-mcmane-news-decoder.jpg)
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