Past Fellows
2019-2021
01
Tina Carmillia
Tina Carmillia is a producer and journalist focusing on science, health, environment and tech. She has reported for New Straits Times, The Star and BFM Media.
02
Jo Kukathas
Jo Kukathas is an award winning theatre maker and an API Fellow. She grew up and was educated in Malaysia, Australia, Hong Kong, India, and the UK where she studied Politics and Philosophy.
03
Christian Esguerra
Christian V. Esguerra is an anchor and managing editor of ANC’s daily morning newscast, “Early Edition.” He also writes in-depth stories for the ABS-CBN News website, covering issues on politics, elections, governance, human rights, the South China Sea dispute, the peace process, and the armed conflict in Mindanao.
04
Raffy Lerma
Raffy Lerma is a freelance photojournalist and documentary photographer based in Manila, Philippines. For 12 years, Lerma worked as a staff photographer for the Philippine DailyInquirer covering the daily news beat in Metro Manila. He has shifted into working independently to focus on his documentation of the Philippines’ war on drugs.
05
Charis Loke
Charis Loke is an illustrator and editor based in Penang, Malaysia. Once a scientist and schoolteacher, she now evokes wonder and curiosity through images and stories.
06
Ryan Ong
Ryan Ong is an LGBTQ activist who works on building inclusive spaces for diverse genders and sexualities in online and offline. He is the co-founder of People Like Us Hang Out (PLUHO), the recipient of SUARAM’s Human Rights Award 2019 and he is the associate editor of Queer Lapis.
07
Mae Paner
Mae Paner, also known as Juana Change, is a performance artist/activist who has, over the past three administrations of the Philippine Government, eased into the role of satirist, social critic, political loudmouth, public conscience. Perhaps “eased” is the wrong word, for the process has never been easy for her.
08
Alon Segarra
Alon Segarra (Alison) is a freelance artist-manager: a classically trained actress/performer, a production-finance manager, performance-maker, and theater teacher. She’s also co-founder and core member of Sipat Lawin Inc. and an Alumni of contemporary performance collective Sipat Lawin Ensemble (2010-2019).
09
Gayathry Venkiteswaran
Gayathry Venkiteswaran is Assistant Professor at the University of Nottingham Malaysia, where she teaches media and politics. She is also pursuing her PhD and her research focus is on media reforms in Southeast Asia. Prior to this, she was executive director of the Bangkok-based Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) for five years, working on press freedom and access to information in the region.
10
Qyira Yusri
Qyira Yusri did a double major in Communications and Gender Studies at Western Michigan University, USA. She is a believer that society can only improve with access to excellent education & is passionate about elevating the voices and stories of the marginalized youth in Malaysia.
11
Patricia Evangelista
Patricia Evangelista is a trauma journalist and former investigative reporter for the Philippine news company Rappler. Her reporting on armed conflict and the aftermath of Super Typhoon Haiyan was awarded the Kate Webb Prize for exceptional journalism in dangerous conditions. She was a Headlands Artist in Residence, a recipient of the Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant, and a fellow of the Logan Nonfiction Program, the Marshall McLuhan Fellowship, the De La Salle University Democracy Discourse Series, the New America Fellows Program, Civitella Ranieri, and the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma. Her work investigating President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war has earned a number of local and international accolades. She lives in Manila.