Public Media For All (PMFA) works with public media organizations seeking to create a media system that lives up to the promise of diversity and equity written in the Public Media Act of 1967. Meet the speakers: Sachi Kobayashi, Michelle Faust Raghavan, and JC Polk.
As leaders seek to diversify their teams, it’s important to look inward and recognize that cultural change comes first. In this session, we will talk about how to create an organizational culture that is inclusive enough to sustain the diversity we seek. Hear from them during Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Media – A Roundtable Conversation with Public Media For All lunch plenary on Friday, June 30, 2023 from 12:00p-1:30p.
Sachi Kobayashi
With 20 years of experience in organizational development, Sachi Kobayashi has built a strong background in marketing, fundraising and community building while working for startups, nonprofits and public media organizations. Since receiving her Master’s in Communication Management from USC Annenberg, she has spent the past decade as a full-stack fundraiser at NPR Member stations, including KPCC in Los Angeles, WXPN in Philadelphia and OPB in Oregon, before joining the new Collaborative Philanthropy Team at NPR in 2022. She grew up on public media, and believes firmly in its mission to connect and inspire everyone. That is why she’s committed to developing new content and sustainable revenue models that will ensure public media thrives to serve the next generation of audiences.
Michelle Faust Raghavan
Michelle Faust Raghavan (they/them) is the founder of Claridad Media, a consultancy that works with newsrooms to strengthen their relationships with communities. Last year, Michelle was a John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford examining best practices to create a culture of belonging for BIPOC journalists in the news industry. Prior to that, they worked for the Solutions Journalism Network as the Equity Initiative Manager. Michelle spent about a decade hosting and reporting on policy issues for public media stations across the country. Most recently, Michelle covered health care policy at 89.3 KPCC Southern California Public Radio/ LAist. They were a USC Annenberg Data Fellow in 2018 and a Maynard 200 Executive Leadership Fellow in 2021. Michelle is passionate about mentorship and is actively involved with NPR’s Next Generation Radio project.
JC Polk, II
JC Polk is a native of Durham, North Carolina. He is a Public Media Diversity Fellow from the Riley Institute at Furman University. Along with being a founding coalition member of Public Media for All, he serves as a fundraising production consultant with Trac Media where he works with PBS and NPR stations in non-traditional development strategies. In 2021, he took his more than 15 years of public and commercial media experience to co-found OLAS Media in San Diego, CA – a binational, podcast marketing agency focused on helping content creators “Amplify their Brand”. He’s most passionate about assisting media professionals, the true stewards of information, in reaching audiences often overlooked. JC is a proud alum of Elizabeth City State University, an HBCU in the University of North Carolina System.
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