[NCUC-DISCUSS] Nominating Mili Semlani for Asia Pacific Regional NCUC Rep

[Mili Semlani]

Thank you for the nomination Ken and for supporting Letitia.

I am happy to accept as I would like to advance some of the ground work the
current EC members have laud down for the mentorship programme and similar
engagement efforts much needed for the community at this time.

Below is my candidate statement for a deeper look at my skills, experience
and vision if I were to be elected as the EC APAC representative.

*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.
--
With gratitude
*Mili Semlani*
Community specialist
Instagram <https://www.instagram.com/theuntraveller/> | LinkedIn
<https://www.linkedin.com/in/milisemlani/>



On Fri, 17 May 2024 at 03:56, Letitia Masaea <masaea.l at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> Support the nomination of Ms Mili Semlani as regional AP representative
> for another term.
> Regards,
> Letitia
>
> On Friday, May 17, 2024, Ken Herman <ken at kherman.com> wrote:
>
>> Fellow NCUC Members
>>
>>
>>
>> It is my pleasure to nominate Ms. Mili Semlani to serve another term as
>> the regional AP Representative to the NCUC. Mili has proven to be a
>> reliable and knowledgeable colleague on the Executive Committee. She has
>> extensive background in contributing to internet governance communities,
>> not only recently as the regional rep to NCUC but as the creator of the
>> Asia/Pacific based Youth for Internet Governance (Y4IG) community and as an
>> ICANN Fellow. I have no doubt that she can continue to add value to the
>> executive committee.
>>
>>
>>
>> Ken
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
> _______________________________________________
> Ncuc-discuss mailing list
> Ncuc-discuss at lists.ncuc.org
> https://lists.ncuc.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/ncuc-discuss
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.ncuc.org/pipermail/ncuc-discuss/attachments/20240517/c111602f/attachment.htm>