NIKITA MANDHANI
MULTIMEDIA JOURNALIST
(Video|Writing|Audience Engagement)
I make videos of all sorts...
Covered an Indian state election using six Instagram Reels for BBC News Hindi (Directing, Editing, Format Development, Training)
Modern women read vintage reasons they shouldn't vote - for USA Today (Full service)
"How one Syrian refugee tailor began a new life in the Netherlands" for Vox (Production and editing)
And I write...
"They grew up in countries where they could drive. Then they moved to Saudi Arabia" for
The Lily (Washington Post)
And take pictures!
This is me, in a nutshell
Hi! I'm Nikita, a journalist and producer currently based in New Delhi. My work has appeared in The Washington Post, BBC News, NBC News, AJ+, Vox.com, USA Today, and Business Insider. I specialise in daily news and human interest reporting, reaching underserved audiences, and developing new digital video formats for multiple platforms including YouTube, Snapchat and Instagram. I also write In Sync, a monthly column for the Video Consortium, exploring creativity and innovation in the non-fiction video space.
Currently, I'm a Senior Video Producer at the BBC where I led the launch of a new YouTube channel aimed at reaching young English-speaking Indians. I manage a team of video journalists and producers to drive the overall news and feature video coverage for the BBC from India. And a lot of times, I make my own videos with a special focus on target audience and platforms. I recently won a Bronze in WAN-IFRA 2023 under the Best Use of Video category for a short documentary series I directed and produced.
Previously, I worked with the BBC's 42 World Service language teams to produce digital and social videos. I
won a Silver in WAN-IFRA 2022 for my Instagram reels project covering an Indian state election. I also won a BBC award in December 2021 for my work on increasing BBC's female audience numbers using new ways of digital storytelling. I want to make news more inclusive, in every way possible, and most things I do are rooted in that passion. When I first joined the BBC in 2018, I worked as a Digital Journalist to report on, write and produce stories from India.
Before joining the BBC, I worked as a Video Producer at The Washington Post in Washington D.C. Most of my time at The Post was spent on the Emerging News Products team, working on bespoke projects for Snapchat and Apple News. I spearheaded the "Between two cultures" video series for Post's millennial women publication, the Lily News, as part of which I told stories of five daughters of immigrants in the U.S.
I worked at Vox.com and USA Today in Washington D.C. where I covered the 2016 U.S. presidential elections among other general news and feature assignments as part of internships.
I was one of six recipients of CNN's Diversity Fellowship 2017, and was one of 15 journalists selected to attend Poynter's Minority Writers' Workshop in November 2017. I have reported from different parts of India, the United States, East Africa and Germany.
I have a master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University's Medill School, specialising in social justice and documentary filmmaking. Before venturing into journalism, I worked as a software engineer for two years.
I spend a lot of time reading books, practising yoga, knitting, traveling, making bookmarks, trying different cuisines and finding new obsessions (the most recent ones being badminton and indoor climbing). I'm a PADI certified Open Water Diver and have been stung by sea urchins in Zanzibar and sea anemone in Thailand.
Check my resume here!
CONTACT
Majed Abdulraheem is a Syrian chef at Foodhini. This picture was one of a series of pictures published with the lead story on the front page of Washington Post's Metro Newspaper on Sep. 9, 2017
Melissa “Mem” Frabotta’s nam khao lettuce wraps are stuffed with crispy rice and rolled in lettuce leaves at Foodhini in Washington. Published in Washington Post.
Karma Kitchen D.C. Coordinator Krishna Desar serves a meal for a guest during their October operation.
A still from the women's march in Washington D.C. in January 2017. Published in The Mary Sue.
Overlooking the Indian Ocean from a cafe in Bali. Published on my personal blog: Read Stuff With Me.
One of a series of pictures of La Perla, Puerto Rico. Published in Medill Reports.
A still from the women's march in Washington D.C. in January 2017. Published in The Mary Sue.