Member Spotlight: Katy Atkinson, Co-Founder – The Reporters’ Academy

1. Introduce yourself

Hi, I’m Katy Atkinson, the co-founder of The Reporters’ Academy, based in MediaCity.

I established a not-for-profit media production company, with our Co-Founder Glyn, 12 years ago.We knew we could use the excitement of the media industry to change the lives of young people. Back then it was time to open up a closed and exclusive industry, to allow young people to see what it has to offer and to allow the industry to see what young people can bring to the table.

We now provide high quality exciting training to young people and we use our successful media production arm to fund that training and development. We love working with organisations that value the same things as we do – young people!

2. Career highlight

Have I ever mentioned that we made history? We got young people accredited as journalists to the London 2012 Olympic Games! We set ourselves the challenge to get young people working alongside adults at the Games. We eventually managed to secure journalistic access, with the help of the most incredible nations from the other side of the world.

(You may recognise countries such as Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Cook Islands…but also some of the smallest nations to compete such as Nauru, Palau and the Marshall Islands.)

Our Mancunian young people officially represented the athletes from Oceania. We were producing really fantastic content everyday and sending it back to their home nations, to enable the remote communities to see their athletes on the world stage.

We’ve maintained the relationship to the Pacific region and had the opportunity to provide training to the next generation of Pacific Islanders in their home countries too! We’re all very excited about upping our game in Paris this summer.

3. Name three words that describe your personality

Positive, grateful and inquisitive

4. What’s the best thing about pro-manchester

I love how Pro-manchester brings together such a cross section of industries – people that wouldn’t usually find themselves in the same room are sharing stories and finding out what they have in common that they might never have thought would be the case. Being in a place with people who love the diversity of this city as much as I do is always a great place to be!

5. What are your priorities for 2024

Have a positive impact on more local young people.

Deliver the best Olympic project yet for our Pacific partners.

Find more brilliant local clients that love our ethos and can benefit from what we offer.

6. What do you think are the most important things going on in Manchester at the moment?

There’s some fantastic work going on in Manchester to support young people and I love seeing it in action and being part of it! There are so many incredible young people in Manchester and they are the next generation of business talent in this country – it’s our collective responsibility to support and nurture that talent to make sure everyone, whatever the background, has their place to confidently stand in this amazing city. Some awesome teams we’ve worked with are –

The Proud Trust – who support LGBTQ+ youth and are showing everyone else what good engagement looks like.

Forever Manchester – who are making funding available to community organisations that do good.

and finally our MediaCity Gateway project, which gets young people from its doorstep in Salford and Trafford and introduces them to new career pathways, new role models and gives them new skills to set them apart. We’ve brought together exciting talent across Mediacity who are committed to welcoming new talent into the industry.

7. Favourite meeting place in Manchester

The deck chairs at MediaCity, in the sunshine by the water.

Alternatively, when it’s raining…I always feel inspired in Contact Theatre.

8. Are their any particular types of businesses that you would like to meet

We’d like to meet organisations that we can make a difference with. Businesses that would benefit from some content creation that are also keen to put back into the local community and make a difference to the next generation.

We have lots to offer organisations – we make media content – videos, social media content and provide training to make your own content. We’d love to meet businesses that have a need for this and would also like to make a positive impact on the local community. We are uniquely placed to provide industry standard content creation while supporting the next generation of talent into the industry. Supporting local young people to join us and make an impact across Greater Manchester…and the world!

Get In Touch 

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 07884173778

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katy-atkinson-079a4514/