Name: Mili Semlani
Region of residence: India, Asia Pacific
Gender: Female
Employment: Journalist and Community Manager @Splice Media, founder and leader at Youth4IG
Conflict of interest: None
Reasons for willingness to take on the position:
I have been involved in the IG space since 2014 as a youth ambassador (I was a Netmission awardee). My journey in the IG world as a youth fellow has also given me valuable insights into recognizing and addressing barriers to participation and engagement at regional, local, and international forums IG forums. I joined NCUC right after my first ICANN fellowship to advance my work in capacity building and understanding policymaking to simplify it for those with a greater interest in policy development.
While my strength or education does not lie in policy-making, I understand the processes and structures fully well and I want to leverage my expertise in communication to build a stronger onboarding programme for newcomers to the community and aid the steep learning curve. Along with other EC members and experienced members of the community, I want to re-introduce the buddy/mentorship programme with a robust structure and KPIs.
In the past as EC for APAC, I have tried to revise the mailing list and increase communication at NCUC APAC level but unlike similar constituencies, the regional structures at NCUC/SG are not necessary for participation. Our current challenges include:
- onboarding newcomers (finding new members is not the hard part as the various fellowships take care of it)
- Provide support and beginner-friendly materials for newcomers to get plugged into the discussions
- retention of member interest and participation
Hence I choose to focus my attention on building a holistic solution to address the above instead of plain outreach. And I am aware I can't do this alone. The ICANN ecosystem is complex and things work slowly here, so even while the feasibility of some of these plans has been gaged; rolling them out requires a lot more time, stakeholder buy-in and collective energy; that I hope to continue catalysing.
Qualifications for the position
I am a tech, policy, and business journalist. I have reported in and about the Asian region with work assignments in India, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Singapore and have a good understanding of our diverse region. I hold a master's degree in Journalism and worked as a consultant for the BPF Gender and Access at IGF. This experience also enhanced my knowledge of IG policies and divulged my interest deeper in topics related to gender and ICT with a special focus on how ICT can be used to fight gender issues in developing Asian economies. I started and steered the community for youth in IG the APAC region in 2019 where we collectively submitted workshop proposals to regional IGF, public comments to ICANN, organized capacity-building webinars, strengthened the youth voice in APAC and ran a mentorship program with mentors like Samiran Gupta (ICANN GSE for India) and Donna Austin. I have been a part of the APAC community since 2014 and I know both young and senior IG leaders in our community closely. I have been a fellow at APrIGF 2017 and 2019 and ICANN 63 and 66, in SIG 2018.
Time commitment
I have been part of various IG processes for over 10 years now and know it enough to get used to the workload, volunteer burnout, and working across time zones. I work remotely and that aids my ability to join in meetings and spend the time and energy that is needed to serve on the Executive Committee, especially in such a complex environment as ICANN. Mostly, I am eager to offer my creativity to manage the various tasks in keeping the community active and going strong. I am motivated to make the APAC presence at ICANN not just larger but also more importantly vocal (undoing the shy Asian stereotype) and it will be my pleasure to contribute to NCUC's development and growth in the upcoming year by building something more tangible and longer lasting beyond my term on the EC.
I am open to taking any questions about my suitability for this role and suggestions on my vision for improving NCUC structures. I hope you will support my candidature. Thank you.
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