The entire team at the next media accelerator (NMA) contributes to the EU Projects, STADIEM and MediaFutures, the NMA is involved in. Yet when it comes to the coordination of MediaFutures, two women run the show: Fernanda Rojas Aizpuru and Dr. Tanja Deuerling. They are the faces behind the EU Project coordination of the next media accelerator.
MediaFutures recently closed its applications for the first Open Call and is looking into kicking off the program for three different tracks Startups, Startups and Artist as well as artists in April 2021. Stay tuned on the upcoming events! STADIEM is in the hot phase of the first Open Call still - innovative startups and scales ups can still apply until March 31st.
Today, we would like to introduce you to them. So, give it up for Fernanda and Tanja!
Innovation Expert Tanja is the Coordinator for the EU Projects at NMA
Tanja’s passion is media innovation and curiosity has driven her since she was a kid. She started her career as a journalist and worked in different leading roles in the TV business: She was a head author, format developer, producer, editor in chief and head of organizational development.
"I have always been excited when new things came around and always wanted to be part of it. That's why I stepped out of her corporate career and did my doctorade on "Innovation Management for New TV”
She started her own business as an innovation and change management consultant and helps media organizations in handling the digital transformation. Being a freelance consultant gives her the chance to only jump into projects where innovation happens. So it was only a matter of time for her to be joining the NMA team.
“Here radical innovation happens virtually every day.”
Tanja’s Role at the NMA: Managing the EU Projects and fostering Acceleration
As hinted upon above, Tanja joined the NMA team to coordinate the EU projects. For MediaFutures she is responsible for the project management and helps the startups successfully complete the acceleration program. In this role she works closely together with NMA newbie Fernanda Rojas Aizpuru. In the past six months, they developed the framework of the program and how they want to manage it.
“After about 100 remote meetings and many more pages of paperwork, we are now very happy to finally have the first MediaFutures cohort kicking off in April. Especially matching artists with startups is really exciting and I am super curious about the projects they will develop.”
One thing she knows for sure: They will be innovative!
Audiophiles, listen up!
For all the audiophile German Speakers amongst you: Here is the NMA Weekly podcast episode in which Tanja shares her career milestones and explains her tasks in both MediaFutures and STADIEM.
Welcome NMA’s most recent team addition, Fernanda.
>Fernanda recently joined the NMA team and moved to Hamburg City just recently as well. She is originally from Mexico and came to Hamburg to pursue her career in business, currently she is studying an MSc Business Development at the HSBA. She has been working in the startup industry for the past four years and had the opportunity to interact closely with founders from the US, Canada, Mexico, and now Germany!
“Working with entrepreneurs has been extremely enlightening and has helped me to discover her biggest passion which is to collaborate with different cultures and help them to grow and connect.”
Fernanda’s Role at the NMA: Building the Bridges for the EU Projects
Her role as Junior Project Manager is to improve the networking connections, engage in collaboration, interact directly with the startups and help them connect with the appropriate mentors as well as introduce them to the NMA network and being their contact person.
“Working together with Tanja for the past weeks has been an extraordinary experience and has opened her mind to a new and exciting sector: Media and Art. I am really looking forward to starting the work with the selected MediaFutures applicants in April and watching them succeed in the media industry.”
Happy to have you on board and very much looking forward to innovating on EU level with you, Fernanda and Tanja!