Malkia Amala Cyril grew up believing that “everyone deserves a public voice”.  With a mother that worked both as an editor of the Black Panther’s newspaper and as a long-time educator, Cyril recognized the power of media and culture work at an early age.  Today, Cyril is founder and Executive Director of the Center for Media Justice (CMJ) and co-founder of the Media Action Grassroots Network, national network of 175 organization working to ensure media access, rights, and representation for marginalized communities.  A prolific writer and public speaker, Cyril’s articles and quotes– on issues from Net Neutrality to the communication rights of prisoners to new strategic communications approaches– have appeared in Politico, the Huffington Post, Essence Magazine, and dozens more, including documentaries including Outfoxed, Broadcast Blues, and MissRepresentation. Cyril is Prime Movers fellow and in 2012 received the prestigious Donald H. McGannon Award for work to advance the roles of women and people of color in the media reform movement.