Newsroom Advocacy
PEN America – Jeje Mohamed
Jeje Mohamed has over a decade of experience working on human rights issues, journalism, and safety and security in the Middle East and internationally. Before joining PEN America as senior manager for digital safety and free expression, she was a Next-Gen Safety Trainers fellow with the International Women’s MediaFoundation, developing more inclusive and trauma-informed safety and security training. She managed several campaigns and programs focusing on sex trafficking, racial disparities, and human rights violations in Egypt and exile. She led and took part in the production of documentaries focusing on social issues and founded Witness Magazine that covered human rights abuses in Egypt and the Middle East. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the American University in Cairo in multimedia journalism and international relations, and completed a graduate degree in international media focusing on human rights and democracy in areas of conflict as an OSF Civil Society Leadership Award Fellow at American University.
Platforms Advocacy
International Media Support – Colette S. Wahlqvist
Colette Simonne Wahlqvist is the Global Safety Advisor for IMS (International Media Support) based in Copenhagen. She leads research, evidence-based advocacy and the advancement of strategic partnerships to implement the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity with a focus on the development of national journalist safety mechanisms. She has co-facilitated the Safety of Journalists Coalition since 2020, which brings together civil society organizations to advance collaboration and maximize impact of activities in the target countries and on thematic issues. Colette is a human rights lawyer licensed to practice in New York and is specialized in the promotion of press freedom. Previously, Colette was a researcher at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law in Lund, Sweden and interned for the UN Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights. She has a B.A. from Ithaca College, J.D. from Suffolk University Law School and an L.L.M.from Lund University.
International Media Support – Emilie Helene Holm
Emilie Helene Holm is a political anthropologist from the University of Copenhagen and is currently the Programme Coordinator at the Department for Eastern Europe and Global Response at International Media Support, a global nonprofit media development organization. Her work focuses on human rights, particularly freedom of expression.
Research & Knowledge Sharing
Rural Digital Resilience Project – Dana Coester
Dana Coester is founder of the Murrow award-winning digital outlet 100 Days in Appalachia and director of the Rural Digital Resilience Project. Coester’s research examines online and offline extremism, media manipulation, and disinformation campaigns with a trauma-informed approach.Coester has long focused on the intersection of technology, media and communities, with an emphasis on susceptibility and resilience in rural community members. Coester directed and co-produced the documentary film Raised by Wolves, a deeply reported feature length documentary that peers into online youth culture in Appalachia and reveals the risk of radicalization through exposure to weaponized misinformation and extremism. Coester has been an invited speaker on these topics at the Aspen Festival of Ideas, Newsgeist North America, the Council on Foreign Relations, Our Body Politic, among others, and her work has been cited in testimonies before two congressional committees. Coester received her Master’s degree from the University of Missouri School of Journalism.
Legal/Regulations Advocacy
Free Press Unlimited – Emma Bergmans
Emma Bergmans is a safety specialist currently focusing on issues relating to the online harassment of (women) journalists, legal intimidation of media workers, and the importance of media in exile in Free Press Unlimited’s Policy & Advocacy team. Previously, Emma coordinated their Safety & Emergency Assistance programme, providing rapid support to journalists worldwide facing a situation of distress and developing new interventions to improve the safety of journalists. She holds a Master’s degree in Conflict Studies & Human Rights and worked on the rights of refugees before joining Free Press Unlimited. Emma recently relocated back to Amsterdam after being based in Nairobi, Kenya for the past few years to expand FPU’s safety work in East Africa.
Free Press Unlimited – Flora Schulte Nordholt
Flora works at Free Press Unlimited in the Policy & Advocacy Team, where she focuses on issues relating to the online harassment of (women) journalists and legal and digital threats to journalists. She is a lawyer by background and started off her career as a lawyer at DLA Piper focusing on privacy and IT. Prior to joining Free Press Unlimited, Flora worked for Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the Embassy in Beijing, where she focused on political and digital developments in China. She holds a Masters Degree in Law from the University of Amsterdam and the Free University in Amsterdam, where she specialized in ICT, Internet and PrivacyLaw. Flora is Dutch by nationality but has lived in the US and China for most of her life. Currently she is based in Amsterdam.
Assistance
Brent Jolly
Brent Jolly is a Canadian journalist, who currently serves as the president of the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ) and is also the managing director of the National News Media Council of Canada. In addition to these roles, he also serves as the chair of the Investigative Journalism Foundation, represents the CAJ on the board of governors of Canada’s National Newspaper Awards, and is a director with the Canada Press Freedom Project. He holds a Bachelor of Journalism degree from Ottawa’s Carleton University and a graduate degree in political science from the University of Toronto. He is an alumni junior fellow at Massey College.
CAOV Founding Organization
IWMF – Juanita Islas, Director of Programs
As the Director of Programs, Juanita Islas oversees the IWMF’s global fellowships, grant-making initiatives, safety training, and emergency funds. She also supports the work of the Coalition Against Online Violence, a collection of global organizations collaborating to find better solutions for journalists facing digital attacks. Juanita joined the IWMF in 2015 to launch their $5 million multi-year reporting initiative in Latin America, where she worked with international and local journalists in Colombia, Mexico, and the Northern Triangle. In the past seven years, she has led the design and implementation of national and international programs, totaling over $12 million and reaching journalists in 124 countries. Juanita holds a bachelor’s degree in Latin American Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s degree from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.
Past Advisory Committee Members
