ABOUT MEDIA GIRLFRIENDS
Media Girlfriends is an award-winning podcast production company led by journalists of colour. We honour, respect and centre historically misrepresented voices through audio storytelling done with care. We aim for joyful creativity.
Our core talent represents over half a century of award-winning journalism and storytelling experience with the CBC, The Globe and Mail, Hot Docs, The Walrus Lab, Huffington Post, MuchMusic, RBC, Historica Canada and more. We’ve taught at universities including the University of Western Ontario, the University of British Columbia, and Carleton University’s School of Journalism. We’ve led workshops for leading organizations like Hot Docs Podcast Festival, the Rotman School of Management, Artscape Launchpad, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and the Toronto International Film Festival, among others.
Media Girlfriends worked with Historica Canada to produce Strong and Free, or Fort et Libre in French, a Black history podcast and video series. Led by Garvia Bailey and Hannah Sung, the series features pioneers including Black abolitionist Mary Ann Shadd, the first woman newspaper publisher in North America. Available now.
OUR STORY
Media Girlfriends started in 2016 as a podcast created by Nana aba Duncan, who interviewed her girlfriends working in news media about their lives, accomplishments, feelings of inadequacy, making money, intersectionality, Beyoncé’s work ethic and what it’s like to navigate Canada’s journalism industry. It brought a group of friends even closer together. We ended up becoming each other’s Personal Board of Directors™. This is when you gather people who will help steward the business of YOU. Work can be challenging—especially in Canadian media where lack of inclusion and representation is a problem. We found a lifeline in each other and are each other’s biggest supporters.
In 2019, Media Girlfriends and The Walrus’ executive director Jennifer Hollett had an idea to fulfill a collective goal of supporting a new, inclusive generation of media makers. Through crowdfunding, we launched an annual $30,000 scholarship for women and gender-diverse students looking to study journalism, communications, media or tech. We are grateful to everyone who contributed to these very special scholarships.
In 2020, we began our first media production for Historica Canada. We assembled a talented team of animators, designers, and post-production audio engineers in English and French for a Black history podcast and video series. Strong and Free/Fort et Libre launched October 2021.
The Media Girlfriends mission is to create a space where women and gender-diverse people in media can connect, encourage each other, and share in their success.
OUR TEAM
Nana aba Duncan
Founder
Nana aba Duncan is an associate professor and the inaugural Carty Chair in Journalism, Diversity and Inclusion Studies at Carleton University. In 2016, Nana aba launched Media Girlfriends as a podcast featuring women journalists discussing their lives, accomplishments, feelings of inadequacy, making money, intersectionality, Beyoncé’s work ethic and what it’s like to navigate working in Canadian media. She was a 2020/2021 William Southam Journalism Fellow at the University of Toronto's Massey College, where she launched her research into the experiences of racialized leaders in Canadian media. Nana aba worked as a host and producer at CBC Radio One for 14 years, including her role as host of Fresh Air, the weekend morning show for Ontario. Previously, she was country director with Journalists For Human Rights in Ghana. In 2020, Nana aba won the Influencer Award at the International Women of Diversity Awards and was a delegate at the Poynter Institute's Leadership Academy for Women in Media.
Garvia Bailey
Co-founder
Garvia Bailey is a co-founder of Media Girlfriends Inc. Garvia’s career in media spans close to two decades as a producer, host and columnist for the CBC and JazzFM. Garvia is a 2023/2024 William Southam Journalism Fellow at the University of Toronto’s Massey College where her work will center on shifting attitudes towards the use of personal narrative in journalism. Garvia is a jurist for the prestigious Canadian Hillman Prize for investigative journalism. Garvia is the recipient of the 2019 RTDNA award for opinion writing and a 2017 Silver Medalist at the New York Radio Awards. Garvia is currently working on a book project, My Mother’s Memoir. She is represented by the Transatlantic Literary Agency. Garvia is also engaged in completing an immersive multimedia exhibit on the subjects of home, diaspora and belonging, in collaboration with her partner, photographer Justin Morris. Garvia’s work is centered around inclusion, care and excellence in journalism.
Hannah Sung
Co-founder
Hannah Sung is a co-founder of Media Girlfriends. Her previous work includes producing award-winning podcasts for The Globe and Mail and the Globe Content Studio, including Colour Code, a podcast about race in Canada, and Stress Test, a podcast about personal finance in the pandemic. She executive produced award-winning podcasts at TVO and The Walrus Lab on social issues, politics and current affairs. In 2020, she was the Asper Fellow at the University of Western Ontario’s Faculty of Information and Media Studies, where she led a post-graduate journalism class in narrative podcasting. Hannah began her career in music television at MuchMusic, where she was the host of shows including MuchNews and the live red carpet at the MuchMusic Video Awards.