The IIJ 2025 Freelance Journalism Conference

Beyond Surviving: a Conference on Taking Big Swings and Building Resilience in Tough Times

Feb 27 - Feb 28, 2025

12 live sessions, delivering 15 hours of learning for just $59 early bird!

Freelancers of all backgrounds welcome!

Recordings will be available to watch until March 31, 2025.

Register now!

DO YOU WANT TO

Hear what top editors want in pitches?
Learn insider secrets to landing fellowships, diversifying revenue, and creating a portfolio of meaningful work?
Connect with a community of creators who make a good living while telling stories that have an impact?

Register for the Institute for Independent Journalists 2025 Freelance Conference!

12 live sessions, delivering 15 hours of learning for $59 early bird!

Recordings will be available to watch until March 31, 2025

Register today for access to:

Our incredible bonus bundle, which includes IIJ-created pitch guides with rates and contacts for outlets featured in our previous webinars, including the Atlantic, the New York Times, Salon, Marketplace, CNN, Wired, the Guardian, the Emancipator, the Wall Street Journal, the Verge, Prism, Essence, PCMag, MIT Technology Review, Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Health Magazine. In addition to these essential resources, you’ll find expert guides covering a range of topics, from recovering from layoffs and negotiating contract terms to tracking freelance income and applying for grants and fellowships.

Featuring 45+ diverse writers and editors from:

Schedule

Thursday, Feb. 27 (10 am - 7 pm ET)

10:00 am - 11:15 am ET

Session 1: Rethinking the Value of Labor

A panel of journalists from worker-owned collectives and those challenging capitalistic frameworks for labor will discuss ways to rethink the value of journalists’ labor. As a community of independent workers, IIJ members are well-positioned to make values-aligned choices of how we spend our time and which organizations make use of our skills. At this time of disruption, do we have anything to lose? These experts will help show us the way!

Speakers:

Julianne Escobedo Shepherd

Co-Founder, Hearing Things

Ann Marie Awad, Moderator

Editorial Director, The IIJ

11:30 am - 12:45 pm ET

Keynote Speaker: Celeste Headlee

Keynote speaker Celeste Headlee will share stories and advice from her life and career, including her time anchoring public radio programs including 1A, Tell Me More, Talk of the Nation, Here and Now, All Things Considered, Here and Now, and Weekend Edition. She will be in conversation with Deepa Fernandes, an award-winning journalist, two-time first-generation immigrant, and co-host of NPR and WBUR's Here and Now, heard on 500 stations nationwide.

Celeste is a journalist, professional speaker, and author of the books We Need To Talk, Do Nothing, and Speaking of Race. Her TEDx Talk, 10 Ways to Have a Better Conversation, viewed nearly 40 million times, is one of the 10 most-watched talks. Celeste hosts the Conferences for Women’s “Women Amplified” podcast and is the president of Headway DEI, a non-profit that works to bring racial justice and equity to journalism.

Deepa Fernandes is an award-winning journalist, a two-time first-generation immigrant, and a citizen of three countries. Deepa is currently the co-host of NPR and WBUR's Here and Now, heard on 500 stations nationwide. She began her career in Sydney, Australia at community station 2SER. In her 20s, Deepa lived and freelanced across Latin America, including Cuba, Ecuador and Mexico. Arriving in New York, Deepa found a home in the public radio community, and founded a nonprofit aimed at diversifying journalism. While running People's Production House and hosting a three-hour morning show on WBAI, Deepa also got her master's in journalism from Columbia University. That work landed Deepa a prestigious JSK fellowship at Stanford, and subsequent jobs at KPCC in Los Angeles and as the immigration correspondent for the San Francisco Chronicle.

1:00 pm - 2:15 pm ET

Editors Panel

Learn directly from editors how to report a pitch that will be noticed, accepted, and published, and what to expect during the editorial process. This roundtable of top editors will share what it takes to make them open your email, read your pitch, and give it the green light. They will discuss best practices, conflicts of interest, and answer your questions to help you ace the pitch – and land follow-up assignments.

Speakers:

Chris Rovzar

Editor, Bloomberg Pursuits

Pavlina Černá

Senior Features Editor, Hearst

Joseph Hernandez

Associate Director, Bon Appétit

2:15 pm - 2:45 pm ET

Lunch / yoga / stretch break

2:45 pm - 4:00 pm ET

Session 4: Strategic Marketing to Land New Clients

More important now than ever: This panel will cover how freelancers can effectively get in front of new clients and win business. Learn about letters of introduction, efficient social media tactics, networking to decision makers and more. You'll leave with a slew of new ideas and strategies for leveling up your marketing game.

Speakers:

Jeffrey Yamaguchi

Author and marketing expert

Mallory Carra

Freelance Journalist and Podcast Producer, Part-Time Lecturer of Journalism at USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism

4:15 pm - 5:30 pm ET

Session 5: The New Reality of Audio Journalism

With layoffs at NPR, Vice Audio, iHeart Media and public radio stations from coast to coast, audio journalism has been transformed. A panel of experienced audio freelancers will share real talk about thriving in the business in 2025, from pushing back against unfavorable contracts and spotting exploitative gigs to where the industry is going. You’ll learn which compromises to make – and where to hold firm.

Speakers:

Myron Kaplan

Freelance podcast producer

John Asante

Independent Podcast Showrunner, Senior Producer & Consultant

6:00 pm - 7:00 pm ET

Session 6: Networking (Not recorded)

After a full day of learning, join your freelance colleagues for an interactive networking session. Connect with IIJ leaders and other independent journalists in the main room and breakout groups organized by subject area and topics you‘d like to explore. This popular IIJ session has led to accountability buddies and writing groups, and we guarantee camaraderie!

Friday, Feb. 28 (10 am - 7 pm ET)

10:00 am - 11:15 am ET

Session 7: The Power of the Pivot

At a certain point in freelancing, the routine gets old, your pitches aren’t landing, and you start to wonder: is it me? This session will explore how to know it’s time to change gears. Journalism recruiters and career coaches will share stories of a hard pivot: from one beat to another, out of journalism, or into a completely different field. Bring your soul-searching questions and wild ideas: we’ll get you started toward answers.

Speakers:

Phoebe Gavin

Career and Leadership Coach, Better With Phoebe

Sari Botton

Bestselling Author, Editor, and Educator

11:30 am - 12:45 pm ET

Keynote Speaker: Gina Chua

Keynote speaker Gina Chua is Executive Editor at Semafor, a new global news startup. She was previously Executive Editor at Reuters, Editor-in-Chief of the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, a Deputy Managing Editor of The Wall Street Journal, Editor of the Journal's Asia edition and a Journal correspondent in Vietnam and the Philippines. A native of Singapore, she majored in math at the University of Chicago and has a masters in journalism from Columbia University.

1:00 pm - 2:15 pm ET

Editors Panel

A panel of national and regional editors will talk about how to pitch their publications, what they want from freelance contributors, and how to get on their radar. We’ll cover rates, project scope, contract terms and the editorial process. Have you ever wondered what you're doing wrong? Bring your questions -- this session has answers.

Speakers:

Amy McKeever

Senior Digital Editorial Manager, National Geographic

Nicole Pasulka

Senior Features Editor, Cosmopolitan

Deborah Jian Lee

Independent journalist and senior editor, Economic Hardship Reporting Project

Tami Abdollah

Senior editor, Noema Magazine

2:15 pm – 2:45 pm ET

Lunch / yoga / stretch break

2:45 pm - 4:00 pm ET

Session 10: Ethical Use of AI

Artificial intelligence is here to stay. Yet we know it’s putting creators out of business and demands earth-destroying levels of energy to run. How do journalists use AI ethically in reporting, storytelling and running a business? If you feel a tinge of ambivalence at letting Otter.ai transcript interviews or ChatGPT help you write pitch letters, this session is for you! Experts in journalism and ethics will help you frame the questions to ask and find a path that’s right for you to navigate the AI revolution.

Speakers:

Alex Mahadevan

Director of Mediawise, Poynter

Benjamin Toff

Associate professor, University of Minnesota

4:15 pm - 5:30 pm ET

Session 11: Show Me the Money: Fund Your Next Journalism Project

With funding and travel budgets for stories getting squeezed and slashed, there’s no better time to tap grants and fellowships to fund your ambitious journalism project. This panel of grant and fellowship directors will explain how to craft a winning proposal and the best way to position yourself as a candidate for the many funds out there in journalism. You’ll learn how to prepare and where to find resources to make your application shine. Sponsored by the O’Brien Fellowship in Public Service Journalism.

Speakers:

Marina Walker Guevara

Executive Editor, Pulitzer Center

Bernice Yeung

Board member, the Fund for Investigative Journalism and Managing Director, Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley Journalism

6:00 pm - 7:00 pm ET

Session 12: Networking (Not recorded)

Keep the energy of the conference going in a networking session with IIJ leaders, speakers and other independent journalists. Share your favorite learnings, ask a follow-up question or maybe meet an accountability buddy to help you with conference-inspired freelance goals. This is a live session that will not be recorded. Even if you're an introvert -- you won’t want to miss it.

Thank You to Our Supporters!

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation supports creative people, effective institutions, and influential networks building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. MacArthur is placing a few big bets that truly significant progress is possible on some of the world’s most pressing social challenges, including advancing global climate solutions, decreasing nuclear risk, promoting local justice reform in the U.S., and reducing corruption in Africa’s most populous country, Nigeria. In addition to the MacArthur Fellows Program and the global 100&Change competition, the Foundation continues its historic commitments to the role of journalism in a responsive democracy as well as the vitality of our headquarters city, Chicago.

Since 2013, the O’Brien Fellowship in Public Service Journalism has supported 9-month reporting projects by 30 journalists based in the U.S. Reporters selected for this Milwaukee-based Fellowship at Marquette University get: a $70,000 stipend, student interns as reporting partners, and funds for housing and travel. In service of the Fellowship’s mission to identify problems and potential solutions, O’Brien projects have tackled issues around environmental and racial justice, inequities in education and health care, criminal justice and more. This is your chance to tell a story that can change policy or even change lives. For more information see the O’Brien website and application page, and contact O’Brien Director David Umhoefer via email.

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation supports democracy by promoting informed and engaged communities, including projects in the arts and journalism that lead to transformational, sustainable change.

The Association of Independents in Radio is a growing talent network of audio industry professionals integral to public media, journalism, podcasting and narrative storytelling.

SoundPath is a digital training platform for peer-inspired learning, brought to you by the Association of Independents in Radio (AIR).

The IIJ Foundation is a fiscally sponsored project of Players Philanthropy Fund, providing free education, training and community to support freelancers of color.