Founder and Director
Nowruz Media
Faisal Karimi is an award-winning journalist, media entrepreneur, and journalism educator with more than 24 years of experience across Afghanistan, Europe, and the United States. He is the founder and director of Nowruz Media, a California-based civic and community-driven media platform empwering Afghan immigrant communities, and the founder of the Afghanistan Women’s News Agency (AWNA), which continues to operate in exile amplifying the voices of Afghan women under Taliban rule.
A 2024 John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University, Faisal focuses on building resilient, community-driven newsrooms that serve underrepresented audiences. His work centers on immigrant media sustainability, civic engagement, and journalism under the authoritarian rule. Under his leadership, his newsroom has pioneered multilingual reporting, community listening initiatives, and innovative trust-building models designed for communities often excluded from mainstream media.
Before relocating to the United States, Faisal was a journalism professor at Herat University and founding director of Afghanistan Institute for Research and Media Studies, where he trained a new generation of Afghan journalists. He has also worked with San Jose State University, Internews, IWPR, and the Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD). Currently, he teaches multimedia storytelling at California State University, Sacramento while continuing to develop sustainable models for local, exile, and startup newsrooms.
Building Resilient Newsrooms Without a Safety Net: Lessons from Exile, Immigrant, and Startup Media
Tuesday, March 31, 2026
2:30 PM - 3:30 PM CT