I thought of becoming a journalist out of my desire to be heard. That may sound self-centred but when I started doing journalism in 2019, I found that my desire was not in line with my mission.

Soon after graduating from Indian Institute of Mass Communication, I worked briefly for a project for the Bill Gates Foundation. I also worked with a new media house for more than two years as a multimedia producer and the editorial coordinator.

Although generating empathy had always been the objective of producing stories, a part of me was also seeking to address divisions in our society.

At Newsreel Asia, my vision is to promote respect for human dignity and help audiences cross all the barriers – of gender, caste, class, religion and race – to be able to empathise with each other.

Currently, I am hosting a docuseries called 'The Dinner Table,' which features India's persecuted communities. The Dinner Table won the 2022 EPPY Award in the U.S. in the Best Community Service Reporting category, and a runner-up in the Best Investigative/Enterprise Video category. It was also a runner-up in 2021 EPPY Awards in the ‘Best collaborative’ and ‘Best news or event feature video’ categories.

I can be contacted at Harshita@Newsreel.Asia.