The Tiziano Project | Team

Jon Vidar
Jon Vidar - Co-Founder and Executive Director

Jon Vidar is a freelance photographer who focuses on capturing moments and telling stories through new media and visual imagery.

In 2007, Jon joined Andrew McGregor and Tom Rippe to establish The Tiziano Project's first base of operations in Kigali, Rwanda. He has since led multiple programs in Iraqi Kurdistan and recently secured The Tiziano Project a Knight News Challenge victory and a $200,000 grant to further develop their award-winning 360 platform.

Jon earned a master's degree in Communication Management from the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California where he is currently Adjunct Faculty.

» jvidar@tizianoproject.org

Victoria Fine
Victoria Fine - Director of Programming

Victoria Fine is a new media journalist. She has served as a managing editor for The Huffington Post and her work has been featured both in the U.S. and abroad, including the Chicago Tribune, AOL.com, and L'Officiel, a fashion magazine based in Paris. She is also the managing editor of Modern Overland, a travel guidebook series dedicated to providing tech savvy travelers the information they need to make global exploration socially sustainable and ecofriendly. Fine has authored two books, including "Fundamental Talent," a handbook on top-level management succession. She is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and holds a master's degree in new media storytelling.

» vfine@tizianoproject.org

Grant Slater
Grant Slater - Multimedia and Videography Specialist / Mentor

Grant Slater is a multimedia journalist and writer. He has written for The Associated Press from the Middle East, the former Soviet Union and the United States. His work has also appeared in Chicagoist, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Jewish Telegraphic Agency and publications in his home state of Oklahoma.

He holds bachelor's degrees in journalism and Russian language from the University of Oklahoma and is currently pursuing a master's degree in journalism at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.

Starting in 2007, he worked as a freelance journalist covering the countries of the former Soviet Union, traveling widely across the region. His coverage included the 2008 conflict in Georgia and the local fallout from the global financial crisis.

David Torstenson
David Torstenson - Multimedia and Videography Specialist / Mentor

David Torstenson is a journalist, teacher, and musician based out of Los Angeles. A native of rural Nevada, David earned a degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Southern California. He worked as an associate producer for Good Morning America, MTV News, and ABC-TV's World News Tonight before relocating to northern Iraq in 2005 to teach science, music, and math to Kurdish middle school students.

Since returning to LA in 2007, David has been producing an independent feature-length documentary on the subculture of Volkswagen owners and enthusiasts in America (http://www.circlethewagen.com). He helped usher the Tiziano Project into northern Iraq during the Summer of 2008.

Advisory Board

Andrew McGregor
Andrew McGregor - President and Founder

Andrew McGregor founded The Tiziano Project in 2007 in an effort to answer the moral dilemma of living in a world with YouTube and mass genocide at the same time. As a photojournalist, Andrew has worked in Rwanda and DR Congo for Reuters, AFP, the AP, and the EPA. He is also the founder of the Los Angeles Chessboxing Club and fought in the first sanctioned bout in North American history, which he won by checkmate in the fifth round. He holds a master's degree from the University of Southern California School of Professional Writing and has a B.A. in philosophy from Connecticut College.

Chris Mendez
Chris Mendez - Technology

Chris Mendez is currently a Web Applications Developer for the University of Southern California. He is interested in all areas of usability and experience design, from social interoperability to user collaboration. Chris has contributed to many online projects including multimedia packages for LaTimes.com and ChannelOne.com.

Chris is currently earning a master's degree in Communication Management from the Annenberg School for Communication from the University of Southern California with concentrations in web marketing and management.

In his free time Chris enjoys recording and producing music as well as traveling to remote destinations.

Mara Abrams
Mara Abrams - Business Development

Mara is a social entrepreneur specializing in participatory media, citizen engagement and nonprofit development.

Throughout her career, she has worked in Washington DC and in California to advance the causes of progressive campaigns via press and multimedia. Recognizing the media arts as a critical component of education reform, she and a colleague, international media entrepreneur Sophie Stenbeck, co-founded the Remedee Foundation to "give voice to the voiceless" by teaching documentary filmmaking to marginalized youth locally and globally. She now serves as a consultant on various pro-social initiatives in the civic and for-profit sectors. Mara holds a BA in Communication and Psychology from the University of California at Davis.

Jessica Yurasek
Jessica R. Yurasek - Design & Communications

Jessica R. Yurasek is a Creative Strategist and Visual Communications Designer who has also worked internationally as an art director, designer, brand strategist, and photographer. Among other things, she is interested in social media strategy and transmedia storytelling.

Currently earning her Master's in Communication Management and Brand Strategy from the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, Jessica also holds a double BFA from the University of Michigan School of Art and Design in both Design and Photography with a minor in the History of Art.

The Tiziano Project provides community members in conflict, post-conflict, and underreported regions with the equipment, training, and affiliations necessary to report their stories and improve their lives.

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Through Our Eyes exhibit opens in Washington DC

Last week The Tiziano Project opened our first multimedia...…

The Tiziano Project Wins $200,000 from the Knight Foundation!

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