How I Got Featured on BBC, $100,000 Opportunity and more

Hey there,

Before we dive in today, I want to share some good news with you. Our community has grown massively since last time. WE ARE NOW 59,681 people on here!! Tbh, I still can’t believe it- that’s like a whole stadium. With that in mind, I have decided to quit my previous venture and go full time on Leaders of Today. I have one mission with this - create the most value-driven weekly newsletter for young people. And I promise to you, I will do that.

What to Expect:

• Opportunities: $100,000 Fellowship, National Geographic and more

• Deep Dive: How to get featured on mainstream media

• Resource: Press Release Template

• Internships: 1000+ Internships and New Grad Opportunities

read time: 6 mins

Opportunities This Week

In addition to these, here’s the full list of 50+ Youth Leadership Opportunities.

How I Got Featured on BBC

When I think about a pivotal moment of building For The Menstruator, one thing that stands out to me is my interview with BBC.

Picture this: It’s June 2019, I am in grade 11 and it’s been just over a year since I launched my organization.

We have a team of around -10 volunteers, have empowered -350 people and worked in -5 countries (for context, we are now 150+ volunteers, 25,000+ people empowered in 10 countries).

I have just found out that I won The Diana Award: the most prestigious award a young person can win for social impact.

But what do I do next?

Step 1: What is “The Story”?

Before doing anything, it is important to figure out what is “The Story” you will be pitching.

Based on my experiences, I created the MINT framework for a compelling media story:

• Match: How does your story align with the interests of the media company you’re pitching to?

  Example: BBC ran a series called “What’s New?" to highlight stories of young Africans across the continent.

• Important: Why is your story important for people to know about?

  Example: Period Poverty was a stigmatised issue in Kenya and Africa as a whole

• New: What is unique about your story and how will it generate eyeballs?

  Example: It was unique for people to see a 17-year old boy in Africa work on menstrual health as an issue

• Timely: How is your story relevant to ongoing issues around the world?

  Example: People around the world were going to celebrate Princess Diana’s birthday and legacy in July

Step 2: Writing a Press Release

This is probably the most important step.

A press release is a 1-2 page doc that outlines all the information media will need to run a story.

Guess what? I am sharing the template that I used here.

Here’s 6 things you want to make sure you always have:

1. Headline: Think of this as “Breaking News” on the front page of a newspaper. Make sure it is clear and attention grabbing.

2. Introduction: Your first paragraph should include the 5 W’s (Who, What, Where, When and Why)

3. Body: Go into more detail here to give more context to the audience. Use numbers, research and statistics here. Use the inverted pyramid style (most important to least important)

4. Quotes: Include 1-2 quotes. This can be from yourself or a testimonial from a relevant stakeholder to give the story a human voice.

5. Media Collateral: create a drive and include a link of pictures, logos and videos of you work. This is something they will ask for at some point, so it’s better to have it before hand.

6. Contact Info: press releases are usually circulated among people and platforms in the industry. A lot of people usually forget this. Include your/ your teams info at the start/end of the doc

Step 3: Start at “Home”

At the time (just like most of us here), I didn’t have any connections with people in the media.

But I didn’t let that stop me from sharing my story.

So I reached out to the communications team at my school.

In the early days, you can reach out to the marketing department at your school, university or even work. Consider also reaching out to people like me who you know have already had some media engagement in the past.

The comms teams decided to post the press release on the school website and sent it to some of their local media connections.

But how did the BBC find out about our story?

Step 4: Building Momentum

A couple local outlets covered the story.

That led to national outlets writing pieces.

And then global outlets in Europe, Asia and North America were writing about it as well.

The story had caught fire. I was having my “15-seconds of fame”.

And this is when it landed on BBC’s desk.

It was a random Tuesday evening, I get a call from the comms team - “Ziyaan, BBC just called. They are flying in tomorrow from Nairobi, prepare your team and we will inform your teachers, you will be missing class”.

And the rest is history.

Lesson: Media works really fast. You will have no traction for a long time. But when someone picks up a story, it moves fast. When you’re in this stage, make sure you build momentum and leverage the early features. Post them on socials, reach out to more connections, etc.

You can watch the interview here

Step 5: Maintain Relationships

This is something I wish I knew earlier.

You see, people in media are super hard to access. People are always pitching them something.

So when you do have an opportunity to engage with them - it’s important you maintain a long-term relationship.

Here’s some ways you can follow up:

• Thank them: after the story is released, send them a personal note thanking them for the opportunity. Share with them feedback and what you liked about working with them speifically.

• Engage: follow them on socials, and engage with their content (like, share, comment, you know the drill).

• Leads: if they liked your story, they will probably like similar ones to yours. Share it with them, it will make their work so easy (don’t be spammy though)

• Update: keep them updated once/month about progress since your story. They love to keep tabs and see impact of their work.

• Meet: Try meet them (preferably in person) once/ quarter. Use this as an opportunity to get to know them more personally and understand their “pain points”.

To summarise the above, here’s a quick cheatsheet you can always reference in the future:

1000+ Internships and New Grad Opportunities

I know a lot of you in the community are currently looking for internships. Although we don’t have our own list for now, here’s 3 lists of summer opportunities you should check out:

• 500+ Summer Tech Internships by Simplify

• 500+ New Grad Opportunities by Simplify

• 475+ Internships by Fetti

My friend, before I go - I just wanted to share some gratitude. I was on my flight back to Vancouver last morning and I couldn’t stop dreaming about what it would mean to build the largest community of young people. This community has grown massively over the last couple of weeks and it wouldn’t have been possible without people like you who inspire me. I am so so excited to go on this journey with you as I continue to fulfill my life mission of helping 1 billion people around the world. 

Sending you lots of good vibes as you start your year, my friend,

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