About Us

Mary co-founded the NGO Youth Media to provide a platform for these and other concerns. Two years later she launched Trendsetters, Zambia’s first publication targeting youth, which was written by youth. The magazine grew to become Zambia’s most circulated magazine and became the definitive guide to being young in the country. Mary served as Executive Director and Editor-in-Chief of Trendsetters for twelve years.

Mary’s success doesn’t stop at Trendsetters; she has consulted with various multinational organizations on a number of issues including: children’s rights, using sports as a tool for HIV prevention, developing life skills and producing training materials on sex education. Mary is currently the British Council’s Climate Change Ambassador for Zambia.

Mary’s extensive knowledge of development issues is coupled with a savvy business know how and understanding of consumer trends.

A recipient of University of Michigan’s Populations Fellows PEAK Fellowship (2002), Mary holds a Postgraduate diploma in Publishing from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. Mary also attended the Johns Hopkins University/Centre for Communication Programs (JHU/CCP) where she completed a course on strategic and multi-sectoral approaches to HIV/AIDS communication. The course is targeted at senior level managers to systematically build HIV programs, enhance advocacy skills, strengthen community mobilization and evaluate programs.

At Media 365, Mary provides clients with new opportunities to achieve high impact campaigns that not only resonate with their audience but achieve results to meet their strategic goal.  Mary is responsible for identify new clients that can benefit from Media 365 services.

Mary is committed to changing not only the way social campaigns are executed but also to ensuring that she helps create a safer environment in which her three children can enjoy their lives and reach their potential.

Cathy is currently Managing Director of Media 365 after serving as Vice President in the Social Responsibility department at MTV Networks International, where she oversaw multi-million dollar projects and the largest HIV prevention communication campaign in the world, Staying Alive. Cathy has experience in strategy, fundraising and television production, having executive produced, among others, the award-winning Xpress documentary at MTV and MTV’s base first talk show on sexual health for Africa, MTV base Uncensored. Most recently she was one of the executive-producers of  MTV base’s (Africa) first three -part drama Shuga, filmed in Nairobi, Kenya.

Prior to her position at MTV Networks (where she worked for eight years), Cathy also worked at One World International as the Editor for their AIDS portal (aidschannel.org). Cathy not only sourced content but also coordinated donor and partner collaborations. During her time at One World, Cathy helped cement the popularity of this website which helped to bridge the digital divide with content from the global south, increasing the number of page views from 1,000 to over 40,000 in just six months. Cathy also helped set up the Spanish version of the AIDSChannel – making it One World’s first multilingual channel.

Cathy received her Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism from the London School of Journalism and is currently pursuing her MBA (Marketing Strategies) from the London Metropolitan University. In 2009, Cathy was awarded John Hopkin’s University/Center for Communication Programs, Gold Medallion for Excellence in Health Communication.

Cathy is passionate about many things, particularly women’s empowerment and sexual health, and while she is a social activist, she also appreciates how business – particularly entertainment media – can contribute to positive social development. Cathy’s experience in using media for social issues coupled with her business acumen helps to run effective and strategically sound campaigns that provide a competitive edge while focusing on a market based approach.

Cathy focuses on the long term strategy of the growth and development of Media 365 as well as working on key client campaigns. Through her network Cathy also has access to some of the best media professionals around the world – many of which are brought in to work on bespoke Media 365 campaigns.

Freddy has over seven years experience of working in the media industry in Zambia and during this time has produced work as a freelance journalist, radio producer, TV and video producer, and scriptwriter. Highlights include producing the popular Trendsetters radio show and writing the award-winning mini-series Club Risky Business.

In addition to his interest in production, Freddy is also very passionate about social entrepreneurship – particularly using entrepreneurial principles to address problems for social change. Freddy was invited to represent Zambia at the Pan African Youth Leadership Summit held by the Global Peace Initiative of Women and the United Nations Development Program in Senegal in 2004. Through this experience, Freddy met like-minded young people, which led to the establishment of the Zambian-Thai Partnership, with young entrepreneurs in Thailand.

With a passion for music, mindfulness and social consciousness, Freddy co-founded the Hip Hop Foundation of Zambia, an organization aimed at promoting Zambian Hip Hop — but more importantly using Hip Hop music and dance as an outlet for young people’s passion and creativity (instead of engaging in detrimental behaviors). Freddy worked with the United States Embassy’s Cultural Affairs Desk to initiate the first every Hip Hop skills building classes with the renowned “Clown” dancers from the popular film, Rize, in 2009.

Freddy gives Media 365 its kick and as Creative Director oversees all production — with involvement from concept stage right through to implementation. Freddy ensures that he spends quality time with clients to get a fully rounded and clear idea of their vision – enabling him to conceptualize highly creative campaigns with real impact.

Undertaking courses in Media and Society, Social Problems and Social Psychology, Natasha developed a passion for behavior change science, and while many media organisations attempt to tackle change communication, it should be done so with the precision and expertise that science demands. This attitude also requires that strategies must be based on evidence and research, which led to Natasha’s attainment of an MSc in Psychological Research at Oxford University.

Natasha has always been passionate about behavior change and improving the quality of life for people. She began her career at Trendsetters, becoming the foremost sexual reproductive health writer and progressed to the HIV Program Manager at Youth Media. Natasha also served as the Zambian delegate to the 3rd Preparatory Meeting for the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Children in 2001.

Always keen to try a new experience, Natasha embarked on a challenging and exciting role as  Business Development Manager for Mobile Services at AfriConnect Zambia. Through this experience Natasha gained experience in using SMS technology to inspire social change and developed the TextforChange solution, which implemented projects such as Society for Family Health’s Male Circumcision SMS Appointment Reminder System and the 2410 Voter Reminder and Election Monitoring System.

Natasha provides new media consultancy at Media 365, initiating ways of employing social networks such as Facebook and SMS technology to strengthen the communication campaigns – especially campaigns working with young people and rural communities as these tools, respectively, are very well suited to. She also leads the research work at Media 365 ensuring that Media 365 engages in strategies that work, and don’t just tick boxes