The AutoEthnographer Is Excited to Empower Young Women through Unique Digital Mentorship
For women’s history month, The AutoEthnographer supported “Her Story Leads: Amplifying Women’s voices through digital storytelling.” This was an initiative by students of Bangkok University’s Doctor of Communication Arts in Global Communication, cohort 2022. Aimed at empowering young women & gender equity allies studying digital storytelling, the 3/25 event included women from Thailand, Asia, and beyond. The webinar discussed the importance of women’s voices in digital storytelling, birthed from an idea that “leaders are good storytellers”.
The Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The AutoEthnographer himself, Dr. Marlen Harrison, graced the event as he discussed the mentorship opportunities offered by the award-winning global digital literary & arts magazine. The AutoEthnographer’s Editorial Board Member & Executive Director of Media Development, Lina Fe Simoy, was part of the organizing group.
The webinar’s panel included the students of Bangkok University along with keynote speaker, Asst. Prof. Chanya Hetayothin, Animation Lecturer at King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Bangkok, Thailand. The webinar included multidisciplinary specialties in digital storytelling. These included stories about women leaders who are global storytellers and digital skills training. There was also a workshop to help participants own their voices through storytelling.
“The winning participant will receive mentorship opportunities from author Dr. Edoardo Monaco and educator/publisher Dr. Marlen Harrison.
Organizers presented a “Digital Storytelling Challenge” for participants. Panelists chose Joan Cordero, a participant from the Philippines, as the winner. She will receive mentorship opportunities from the panelist, Dr. Edoardo Monaco (Asia-based Italian author, “Global Trends Compendium: An Essential Guide to Socio-Economic and Environmental Change”), and Dr. Marlen Harrison (the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The AutoEthnographer).
The webinar was part of their course project (COS 903 Integrated Approach to Communication Theory and Research). Her Story Leads was developed under the supervision of faculty member Dr. Kamolrat Intaratat. The event gained support from Bangkok University Graduate School and the Programme Director of BU-DCA at Bangkok University, Dr. Ratanasuda Punnahitanond. Additional support was provided byThe AutoEthnographer led by Dr. Marlen Harrison, and IAMCR Ambassador in Thailand. The programme was also graced by the Dean of the Graduate School at Bangkok University, Asst. Prof. Sasiprapa Phanthanasawee, PhD, to welcome the participants to the event.
“The webinar discussed the importance of women’s voices in digital storytelling, birthed from an idea that “leaders are good storytellers”.
The event was timed for Women’s History Month in March. It also coincided with World Storytelling Day on 3/20 and the World Poetry Day on 3/21. Additionally, the 2023 UN Theme for International Women’s Day was: “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality”.
The BU-DCA cohort 2022 are Zhixu Feng, Yuxing Hao, Jingrong Luo, Lina Fe Simoy, Rosana Surojwanichkul, Brian Wahl, Fei Wang, and Xian Ying.
Credits
Screenshot of Dr. Marlen Harrison by Lina Fe Simoy
Edoardo Monaco‘s book from Springer
Featured Image by Antonino Visalli for Unsplash
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Executive Director of Media Development & Editorial Board Member at The AutoEthnographer.
Currently pursuing a PhD in Global Communication at Bangkok University, Lina obtained a master’s degree in Development Communication and a bachelor’s degree in Communication Arts from the University of the Philippines. Her research interests include sustainable communication, autoethnography, dramaturgical framing, women’s leadership development, social media environments, and development communication. She currently serves as the Asia Pacific Regional Director for a global executive search firm, and as a Leadership Development Mentor & Interview Leader at Wedu – a non-profit organization supporting young women from Asia in their leadership development. She recently collaborated with “WERise x SheDisrupts Philippines 2022” and "SheDisrupts Indonesia 2023" – an annual venture competition, mentorship and pre-acceleration program for women-led, social-impact startups. Her project on digital training and work-from-home readiness was awarded with seed funding at the 2021 U.S.-ASEAN Innovation Circle Grassroots Competition (“Sustainable Human Capital Supply in the Digital Economy” category). Lina is passionate about theater arts, which she practiced for 15 years. She is currently serving as PhD Ambassador in Thailand for the International Association for Media and Communication Research (www.iamcr.org). She recently got admitted to Jönköping University taking a doctoral course in Sustainable Communication. She lives between Thailand and China with her husband, Edoardo.
