Mariam is a veteran journalist with over 10 years experience under her belt. She is passionate about gender equality and workers’ rights. Despite now being shackled behind a desk for most of the time, she can never sit still when something is happening and always goes to report from the ground. Mari lives with her cat Willie, who she is training to be a dog.

Dominik has worked in journalism since 2015, following a successful career in peacebuilding and project management. If he could quit everything and write textbooks for Caucasian minority languages he would, but he can’t afford to so he sticks around. At OC Media he’s responsible for organisational development and fundraising. He’s passionate about peace and specialises in training in conflict-sensitive reporting.

Before joining OC Media as an editor at its founding in 2017, Robin worked in Georgia’s NGO sector. He is passionate about human rights and social justice and is a big believer in giving voice to marginalised people and tackling tough subjects head-on. Robin enjoys hiking, KFC, and the Oxford comma.

As a diaspora Circassian driven by his undying passion for the Caucasus and fascination with functional public transport, Yousef returned home to join OC Media as an editor. With three years of experience in journalism under his belt, he juggles his time between keeping up with the chaos of the region, podcast production, and gushing over specialty coffee.

Following a series of increasingly dispiriting office jobs, Anna set everything on fire and moved to Georgia, drawn by the promise of polyphonic song, a language unlike any other, and a vibrant activist scene. The pandemic put at least some of those dreams on hold, but their passion for mountain harmonies and queer activism made it through four (?) lockdowns undiminished. Anna’s enthusiasm for good writing and social movements in the Caucasus have been put to great use at OC Media.

Luiza is an editor with a degree in journalism from Tbilisi State University. Despite being the youngest member of the OC Media team, she has a wealth of experience, including an internship at Caucasian House where she took part in various peacebuilding projects. When she’s not reading about developments in Chechnya (a rare occurrence), she likes to spend time taking care of stray animals and treating herself to some fast food. In her everyday life, Luiza looks like a character from ‘Men in Black’.

Salome loves the diversity of her role — how some tasks are research and management-driven, while others are more about communications and engagement. Holding degrees in International relations and European studies, she is interested in European politics, gender equality and elections. She is fluent in Georgian, Russian, English, and most importantly, Friends quotes.

After fleeing a not-so-promising academic career and a disastrous attempt at being a bisexual activist, Shota is now a grumpy staff writer covering Georgia-related topics at OC Media. He is still interested in nationalism, far-right, and gender and queer issues, and still pretends to keep an eye on the wider Eastern and Central Europe region. Shota’s on every social media platform but his true home is Twitter @shotakincha.

Ani was writing stories and photographing for four years before moving into the world of facts and numbers, first working as a data journalist, then as a fact-checker. Open-source investigations and data visualisation are her passions. Ani is interested in everything South Caucasus, politics, and 20th century world history.

Ismi has worked as a journalist for over 5 years and is passionate about multimedia journalism. He is interested in peacebuilding and human rights. Ismi speaks five languages and has a particular love for his academic knowledge of Arabic. He thinks volleyball makes him hyper and social, and since these are two of his favourite conditions, he considers volleyball his favourite sport.

Before joining OC Media as a reporter, Tata worked as a journalist in Georgian newspaper Resonance for over 2 years. She is interested in politics, and especially everything related to the North Caucasus. Writing is Tata’s outlet to relax and she believes she has found her dream profession in journalism.