Evi Mariani, ​​Co-Founder and Executive Director of Project Multatuli, Indonesia

Today’s episode is with Evi Mariani, ​​Co-Founder and Executive Director of Project Multatuli based in Indonesia. Evi was the former managing editor at The Jakarta Post. Her collaborative projects won the 2020 Public Service Journalism Award from the Society of Publishers in Asia and the 2020 Tasrif Award from the AJI.  Evi and 3 other fellow journalists started Project Multatuli, a media organisation dedicated to carrying out the ideals of public journalism by giving a voice to the voiceless, spotlighting the marginalized, and reporting on the underreported. Multatuli comes from Latin meaning “I have suffered much.” In this episode, we talk about how a crisis led Evi to start something that truly spoke to her heart - social justice. She said she was never raised to be political - all she wanted was to travel and see the world as a journalist. As an Indonesian Chinese with a Catholic upbringing, social journalism wasn’t the path she was supposed to take. However, her first taste of political activism began in earnest when she entered Gajah Mada University which opened her eyes to diversity, pluralism, gender equality and so much more.  Evi started her media organization during the pandemic which also pushed her to return to her Chinese business roots so to speak. She had to figure out the best model for her media business because she didn’t care much for the advertising model that most media defaulted to.  As the only woman among the 4 founders of Project Multatuli, she is known as Ibu Dir. Evi is a woman who called herself an underachiever but today, she is the one who is pushing for greater change through the medium she knows best.  Today’s conversation is a little deeper and more thoughtful but I know that Evi and Project Multatuli are exactly what we need to change the game.  For links and other info, go to womenpreneurasia.com Take our survey and tell us how you like our podcast: tinyurl.com/asianpodcast