5 female news founders you should know
In 2021, Masuma, who’d previously worked for CNN and the Washington Post, wrote a book documenting the lives of teenage girls around the world. This became the launching pad for Girlhood, a community-powered site by girls that tells their stories. “This kind of space didn’t exist when I was growing up, and I hope more girls can see themselves reflected in the stories we publish on Girlhood,” Masuma says. “ I think a lot about the power of narratives, and of stories — the stories we tell ourselves, the stories that shape our cultures and communities, the stories that are codified in our textbooks. There is so much space, so much potential and so much need for girls’ voices to be included in all of these spaces!”
The hardest part of her job is that she doesn’t see a lot of models out there. “As a woman of color, as an immigrant who’s building something that’s inherently international and centers girls and as a startup founder in general, I don’t necessarily have a well-trodden path to follow.”
To learn more about the Google News Initiative’s work and our news partners, visit newsinitiative.withgoogle.com.