In December 2022, INMA and Google News Initiative (GNI) awarded their third annual Elevate Scholarship to 50 news media professionals from 31 countries. This series features these impressive media professionals who are shaping our industry.

Mehvish Quadri, digital specialist for India’s Hindustan Times, knew early in his career that he wanted to be in the news media industry. “I have worked at Times of India, Inc42, and now at Hindustan Times,” he said. In his current role, he helps brands engage with their target audience through media solutions and also manages internal stakeholders to build better solutions.

He has worked hard to understand the market in-depth and is always looking for market innovations and trends. That has led him to such achievements as building automated workflows, improving work efficiency through creating new processes, and initiating solutions to improve client retention and reduce inventory costs.

These changes are particularly important in the Indian media industry, which has many legacy brands — each with its own large workforce. Their large sizes have made it difficult for them to enjoy rapid digital transformation or keep up with new media and the ever-evolving consumer and client behaviour.

Quadri wants to play a role in advancing that change.

Quadri’s long-term goal is to find an opportunity where he “can tremendously contribute to and accelerate this digital transformation through customer and client empathy, improved agile processes, and building products that matter,” he said. “More specifically, in the short term, I want to become an empowered product manager where I can take these challenges head-on and create innovative solutions that can significantly impact consumers and clients.”

Through the Elevate Scholarship programme, Quadri wants to gain expertise in customer empathy and data analysis while building a strong product sense through relevant INMA master classes. He believes this will add credibility to his potential and give him access to relevant opportunities where he can build impactful products.

“I can bring about inclusiveness in the news media industry in three ways: acknowledgement, representation and opportunities,” Quadri said. “People have implicit biases, and it is important for us to acknowledge them, and consciously overcome them. This will start with respect and being intentional about it: Acknowledging the need for diversity hiring. Being respectful of cultural and religious differences. And being intentional about offering the flexibility of work, of making mistakes, and even of cultural and religious holidays.” 

Representation is the next step, which he said comes down to making sure that everyone on his (future) team has a voice and a place at the table.

The third pillar is equal opportunities — whether that means opportunities for working on an exciting new project, for learning and development, or for promotions. It even means giving people opportunities to speak up or report situations when they themselves or their colleagues don't feel included or welcomed by others.

“And in doing all this, making sure that I am open to making mistakes, or being corrected for these mistakes,” Quadri said. “I am learning from them.”

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