Aisana Ashim is a Kazakh journalist and civil movement activist. She is the founder and head of the independent media agency The Village Kazakhstan, and the co-founder of Masa Media, a political education project. In 2021, Aisana launched Batyr Jamal, an independent media platform aimed at empowering women and girls in Kazakhstan, with educational resources focused on their rights, safety, and self-worth. Get ready to learn more about Kazakhstan and Almaty, the city I was born in, through one of its most prominent voices today. What you’ll learn in this episode: Aisana’s path to founding independent mediaLearning about Kazakhstan's history and geographyThe legacy of colonization in KazakhstanThe state of women’s rights in Kazakhstan and the parallels Aisana sees in the USCan journalists be activists too?How our work can fit into the current landscape in the world Aisana’s favorite places in Almaty and Kazakhstan Featured on the show:Watch Qazaq Tili, a documentary about the Soviet erasure of the Kazakh language and culture (English subtitles)Learn more about the ancient Kazakh warrior queen, TomirisLearn more about the unrest in Almaty in 2022Learn more about the role of radio in Rwanda's genocideRead Yulia's BBC Travel article about KazakhstanFollow Aisana on InstagramFollow Village Kazakhstan on InstagramFollow Masa Media on InstagramFollow Batyr Jamal on Instagram Get more information at: Going Places website Join our Going Places newsletter to get updates on new episodes and Yulia's travel storytelling work. Subscribe at goingplacesmedia.com/newsletter! For more BTS of this podcast follow @goingplacesmedia on Instagram and check out our videos on YouTube! Please head over to Apple Podcasts and SUBSCRIBE to the show. If you enjoy this conversation, please share it with others on social and don’t forget to tag us @goingplacesmedia! And show us some love, if you have a minute, by rating Going Places or leaving us a review wherever you listen. You’ll be helping us to bend the arc of algorithms towards our community — thank you! Going Places with Yulia Denisyuk is a show that sparks a better understanding of people and places near and far by fostering a space for real conversations to occur. Each week, we sit down