The EngageMedia Team
Nikholas Borang – Content and Training Coordinator (Yogyakarta)
Borang Yerry Niko is an independent journalist based in Yogyakarta. While studying in university in 1998, he joined the student democracy movement and produced several propaganda bulletins. From 1999, working with publishers in Yogyakarta, he helped translate several English books on politics and literature into Indonesian, including Orwell's Animal Farm.
In 2004 he participated in early meetings to rebuild Indymedia Jakarta. He worked as a radio/web/video journalist for more than six years at vhrmedia.com. During that time, he also worked with community radio and media networks.
Languages: English, Indonesian + Javanese, Manadonese, Japanese (conversational)
Nica Dumlao – Digital Rights Coordinator (Manila)
Nica is a feminist activist who has been involved in the social justice movement since she entered the University of the Philippines in 2002. She started to work on the intersection of human rights and information and communications technologies in 2008, organizing a series of discussions among workers in the business process outsourcing industry.
Nica led the crafting of the Philippine Declaration on Internet Rights & Principles and the convening of the Future of PHInternet, the first ever Philippine multistakeholder forum on internet governance, human rights, and development when she was the Internet Rights Program Manager of the Foundation for Media Alternatives. She currently sits in the steering committee of the Philippine Internet Freedom Alliance (PIFA), the broadest nationwide alliance of Internet freedom advocates in the country, that challenged the unconstitutional provisions of the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 before the Supreme Court. She is also Board Secretary of the ASEAN SOGIE Caucus.
As Digital Rights Coordinator in EngageMedia, Nica oversees its initiatives to expand and strengthen the digital rights movement in Southeast Asia.
Languages: English, Filipino
Andrew Lowenthal – Co-Founder and Director of Strategy and Development
Andrew has been working in the field of media and technology activism since 1998 when he joined community television show Access News in Melbourne, Australia. His work traverses the fields of organisational development, video production, network building, research, software development, and project and event management.
Andrew was active in the Indymedia network from 2000-2006. From 2006-08 he worked with the UK based Tactical Technology Collective as their Participatory Media Project Lead, editing the NGO-in-a-box and Message-in-a-box open source communications toolkits.
Andrew was previously a Fellow at Harvard's Film Studies Center and Berkman Center for Internet & Society, and MIT's Open Documentary Lab. In 2015 he was a Ford Foundation JustFilm's Fellow.
Languages: English, Spanish + Italian, Indonesian (conversational)
Seelan Palay – Communications Manager (Singapore)
Born in Singapore, Seelan Palay is an artist, filmmaker and activist who has campaigned on human rights issues in Southeast Asia, with a focus on Singapore and Myanmar. He has produced over 100 videos, and was one of the first contributors to EngageMedia. He has organized numerous screenings, exhibitions, demonstrations, forums and workshops to raise awareness and encourage action to bring about positive change in the region. He is also currently the Programme Director for the Freedom Film Festival in Singapore.
As Communications Manager at EngageMedia, he is working to broaden public access and communication on critical human rights and environmental stories from Southeast Asia.
Languages: English, Tamil + Thai, Malay, Indonesian, and Mandarin (conversational)
Kartika Pratiwi – Operations and Project Management Coordinator (Yogyakarta)
Tika was born in Indonesia. She has been an independent researcher with an interest in narrative discourse on the 1965 Tragedy in Indonesia, Chinese-Indonesian issues and alternative pedagogy.
Since 2008, she has been a part of kotakhitam forum, an independent organisation focuses on research, workshops and documentary movie production for social change. During that time, she has produced three documentary films and several video archives on Indonesian political history and collective memory. She has also led various workshops and training sessions to encourage history teachers to use popular media for teaching in schools.
As Operations and Project Management Coordinator at EngageMedia, Tika works to lead operations system of EngageMedia and oversee project management in Indonesia.
Languages: English, Indonesian, Javanese + Dutch (conversational)
Airani Sasanti – Administration and Program Assistant (Yogyakarta)
Born in Indonesia, Airani started working in 2008 as a content writer and journalist in the Visit Indonesian Year event. In the same year, she worked as an administration assistant in kotakhitam forum, an independent organisation which focuses on research, workshops, and documentary film production for social change in Indonesia.
In 2015, she joined documentary production house Banjarsari Film, where she worked as an assistant producer, responsible for pre-production design and planning, and as an administration coordinator for the film, ‘Di Kaliurang’.
As Administration and Program Assistant at EngageMedia, Airani’s role is to support the work of the Finance and Administration Coordinator, Operations Coordinator, and to provide logistical support to project managers.
Languages: English, Indonesian, Javanese
Kyal Yi Lin Six – Editorial and Outreach Coordinator (Yangon)
Kyal Yi Lin Six is a filmmaker best know for her documentary 'The Open Sky', which was banned in Myanmar due to pressure from religious extremists.
She started her career as a reporter at Myanmar People Magazine in 2005, and has had more than eight years of experience working as a journalist for various media outlets in Myanmar.
Kyalyi studied filmmaking at Myanmar Motion Picture Organisation, British Council and Yangon Film School. She is also associated with the Human Rights and Human Dignity Film Institute as a student and a filmmaker. Also a technology enthusiast, she has previously worked as a web specialist for local celebrities in Myanmar. She is also a published novelist with five books under her belt and won the Gender Equality Award at the 2017 Human Rights Human Dignity Film Festival.
As Editorial and Outreach Coordinator, Kyalyi works to support EngageMedia's communications and outreach work in Myanmar through content curation, outreach and partnership building.
Languages: English, Myanmar + Malay (conversational)
Apriliyani Sory – Finance and Administration Coordinator (Yogyakarta)
Apriliyani (Linie) graduated in 2006 from the English Department of UKSW in Salatiga, Jawa Tengah and started working as a translator for Plan International in the same year. Ever since, she has worked for various international non-profit organizations (Plan, Care, Save the Children, Handicap, Hivos), government institutions, and the United Nations (FAO), mostly providing support in administration, finance, logistics, procurement, translation and interpreting.
An effective communicator, Linie is experienced in organizing project events and working with different kinds of accounting software used by non-profits, possessing the ability to quickly adapt to new systems.
As Admin and Finance Coordinator, Linie’s main role is to manage the administration, human resources and finance/accounting of Engagemedia under the direct supervision of the Executive Director and the Master Accountant in Australia.
Languages: English, Indonesian
