Cristi Hegranes

Cristi Hegranes (pronounced HEG-ruh-ness) is the CEO of Global Press, a nonprofit news organization she founded in 2006 to train and employ local women journalists in some of the world’s most challenging places. At a time when many people have lost trust in the media, she is working to rebuild it by connecting readers with diverse local journalists who have the proximity and access to tell their communities’ stories in dignified and precise ways.

Cristi has been recognized many times for her innovative approach to combating inequities in journalism. She has received the Society of Professional Journalists’ Journalism Innovation Prize, the Ida B. Wells Award for Bravery in Journalism, the Women Who Dare Award, the Jefferson Award for Public Service, and the Grinnell Prize for Social Justice Innovation, among others. The innovative Duty of Care program she created to protect local journalists received the Chester M. Pierce Human Rights prize from the American Psychiatric Association in 2020 and was named a Fast Company World Changing Idea in 2022. She is the author of best-selling book Byline: How Local Journalists Can Improve the Global News Industry and Change the World (September 2023 |Forbes/Advantage Media).

Cristi has taught journalism courses nationwide, most recently at Georgetown University. She is an Ashoka Fellow, an Emerson Collective Dial Fellow and was a Social Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Stanford University. Originally from Santa Fe, New Mexico, Cristi now lives in Washington D.C. with her toddler son Henry.

Website: http://cristihegranes.com