Hi! I'm Nikita, a senior journalist, filmmaker, content strategist and media trainer currently based in India. My work has appeared in The Washington Post, BBC News, NBC News, AJ+, Vox.com, USA Today, and Business Insider. I specialise in producing and editing short documentaries, developing platform-specific news and feature videos, and building audience-first storytelling strategies, particularly for younger and female audiences. I also run in-person and online training workshops on all-things-video and audience engagement. ​

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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What I'm doing now:

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I've spent the past two years directing documentaries, reporting on gender and social justice, training journalists and producers across Africa, Asia, and Europe, advising newsrooms on audience development and digital storytelling, and contributing to policy conversations on technology and inclusion. I've also continued leading breaking-news video coverage for BBC News on major news days. I enjoy moving between editorial, strategy, filmmaking, and teaching, and working with organisations that are rethinking how journalism reaches and serves people.

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Recent collaborations include BBC News, BBC Learning English, BBC Media Action, the Skoll Foundation, the Video Consortium, Restless Development, and Aspen Institute Germany.

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Previously at the BBC:

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Until August 2024, I was a Senior Video Producer at the BBC where I launched a new YouTube channel for BBC's Indian audiences from ground up. I led a team of video journalists and producers to drive the overall news and feature video coverage for the BBC's website and social platforms from India. In this role, I won a Bronze in WAN-IFRA 2023 under the Best Use of Video category for a short documentary series that I directed and produced. I also founded In Sync, a column for the Video Consortium, exploring creativity and innovation in non-fiction video.

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Before then, I worked with the BBC's 42 World Service language teams to produce digital and social videos. I ran trainings on video journalism for journalists and producers around the world and launched new storytelling formats for different digital platforms. 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.

 

Earlier career:

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In 2017, I worked as a Video Producer at The Washington Post in Washington DC. 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 daughters of immigrants in the US. 

 

I worked at Vox.com and USA Today in Washington DC where I covered the 2016 US presidential elections among other general news and feature assignments as part of internships. 

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Fellowships and education:

 

I was an Asia fellow for the Solutions Storytelling Project 2025 as part of which I directed and edited a short documentary on India's frontline healthcare workers. I was also chosen to be a part of Aspen Institute Germany's Go Glocal 2025-26 cohort, to help advance policy on social justice & digital inclusion.
In 2017, I was one of six recipients of CNN's Diversity Fellowship, and one of 15 journalists selected for Poynter's Minority Writers' Workshop. I have reported from and worked in different parts of India, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Kenya and Zambia. 
 

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.

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Outside of work: 

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I spend a lot of time reading books, practising yoga, knitting, solo travelling, making bookmarks, and finding new obsessions (the most recent ones being indoor climbing and strength training). I'm a PADI certified Open Water Diver and have been stung by sea urchins in Zanzibar. 
 

Here's my showreel and my resume. ​Email me at nikita.md@gmail.com if you want to know more about my work or if you'd like to collaborate on future projects.