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Soila Kenya on Muck Rack

Soila Kenya

Verified
(She/Her)
Kenya
As seen in: Medium, Quartz, Poynter Online, openDemocracy, The Star (Kenya), Sixth Tone, Mail & Guardian, International Journalists Network, The Elephant, The International Center for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) and
Covers:  Culture, gender, health, science, tech
she | 🇰🇪 🇳🇬 | 🏆 data journo | comms | 🎓 @MundusJourn | 👩🏾‍🔬 @africansffhype @coldtakegeeks | 📝 @thecontinent_ @IJNet @debunkdotmedia @JAY_Literature +

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Soila Kenya’s Biography

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Soila Kenya is an Africanfuturist womanist award-winning data journalist from Kenya. She currently helps women journalists across the continent find, clean, analyse, visualise and use data to enrich their stories as the Data Team Lead at the Africa Women Journalism Project (AWJP). She started her career at Code for Africa, Africa's largest data journalism and civic tech lab. She holds a Joint Erasmus Mundus M.A. in Journalism Media and Globalisation from Aarhus University, the Danish School of…

Soila Kenya’s Journalist Portfolio

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Amplifying Change: How Media Can Advance Gender Equality and Social Development - GFMD

Amplifying Change: How Media Can Advance Gender Equality and Social Development - GFMD

Authors: Catherine Gicheru, Director; Felista Wangari, Editorial Lead; and Soila Kenya, Data and Research Lea…

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Esther Kimani: Outstanding in her field pg.28

Esther Kimani: Outstanding in her field pg.28

On the farm in Kenya’s Nyandarua county where Esther Kimani was raised, her family used to lose as much …

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The Real Deal on Vaginal Detox Pearls and Powders

The Real Deal on Vaginal Detox Pearls and Powders

Dr. Biko warns against using the pearls and powders because they are likely to cause infection and damage to …

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Cover story: No vaccine, no access

Cover story: No vaccine, no access

The trouble of a vaccine mandate on an unvaccinated continent: To accelerate Covid-19 vaccination rates in th…

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Force fields and fake cures: Cashing in on the Covid-19 pandemic

Force fields and fake cures: Cashing in on the Covid-19 pandemic

iProtect 24/7 is not the only product being touted as a 'cure' or preventive measure for COVID-19. As of Octo…

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Fumes pupils inhale akin to smoking two cigarettes in a day

Fumes pupils inhale akin to smoking two cigarettes in a day

It all began when Elizabeth* (not real name), a four-year-old girl, moved with her family from her rural home…

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Articles

The Elation and Anxiety of Reading Fic in Your Native Tongue

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By Soila Kenya Verified
| Fansplaining Verified
The Elation and Anxiety of Reading Fic in Your Native Tongue There are currently only three fanfics on the Archive of Our Own written in Swahili. They are all in the Supernatural fandom and written by one author. As a 30-year-old Kenyan fangirl who’s been devouring fanfiction for more than half my life, it had never even occurred to me that there was anyone writing fanfiction in my native language. Even though I’m not in the Supernatural fandom, I clicked on the most recent one.
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From Kitchen to Gram Sabha: The Netri Movement and the Power Up! Journey in India

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By Soila Kenya Verified
| genderatwork.org
Soma standing in front of a banner created by the Chhattisgarh team on Jal Jungle Jameen- the poster reads- Gaon Chorab Naahi, Jungle chorab Naahi (Won’t leave the Village, won’t leave the Forest) We were all transfixed. We were physically tired, but we were absolutely present because her story was simultaneously terrifying and incredibly inspiring. Just before Anju* (name changed), CK had finished.
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Organising from the Ground Up: How Women Food Workers Built Collective Power in South Africa

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By Soila Kenya Verified
| genderatwork.org
In a community hall in Evaton, south of Johannesburg, South Africa, women gathered to talk about work that is often invisible. They travelled long distances to be there. Some arrived tired from early morning routines. Others came straight from the schools where they cook, clean, and serve meals to children.
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Awards

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The Annual Journalism Excellence Awards - Media Council of Kenya (Finalist)

2021 - COVID-19 Reporting Award

I was nominated for a new category, the COVID-19 Reporting Award, at The Annual Journalism Excellence Awards 2021 for my print story 'Force fields and fake cures: Cashing in on the Covid-19 pandemic' in The Star Kenya.

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African Climate Change and Environmental Reporting award

2018 - Environmental Journalism

Out of 315 entries, I scooped the 2018 African Climate Change and Environmental Reporting (ACCER) Award in the print category for penning a piece that focused on the impact of air pollution on children in Kenya’s capital city, Nairobi. The article titled “Fumes pupils inhale akin to smoking two cigarettes in a day” was published in The Star Newspaper in early June 2018.

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Best African fact-check (shortlisted)

2018 - Fact-checking

Out of 150 entries from over 20 countries, I was shortlisted for the 2018 Best African fact-check of the year by AfricaCheck for a fact-check on the comparison between shisha smoking and cigarette smoking.

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