Women Shine In The Fiji Sun
The Fiji Sun shines in many areas. But when it comes to Women in Leadership we are especially proud as we celebrate our 21st anniversary today.
No other news organisation in Fiji – or the region – can Walk the Talk on Gender Diversity and Development as well as the Fiji Sun.
Here’s eight of the many women who shine in the Fiji Sun. We’re proud of them all and the challenges they overcome as part of a 24/7 news organisation.
- Rachna Lal is Advertising and Business Development Manager. She drives the revenue crucial for an independent newspaper to succeed.
Rachna is an award-winning University of the South Pacific journalism graduate recruited from a Government job in 2011 to build our Business news section.
She became Managing Editor Business, built the section and earned an MBA. She drove to Lautoka and back every Saturday to take a class not available in Suva. This so she could get that MBA quicker.
Now she is driving the business side. But she also keeps her hand in writing and editing, something she excelled at as a journalist.
- Jyotishna Chand is Finance Manager, a key role in any business. She is the first woman to hold the position at the Fiji Sun.
Jyoti brings vast experience. She joined the Fiji Sun in early 2005 as a circulation debtors clerk. She worked her way up through various Finance roles, gaining experience in all. She understudied the expatriate Finance Managers. and became accountant. In 2018, she was appointed to head the department, where she excels in figures and interpreting them.
Her Gospel High School classmates from the 1990s would not have been surprised. Back in the day Jyotishna was a dab hand in the Australian Mathematics Competitions.
- Jyoti Pratibha is our Managing Editor News. In a daily newspaper there are not many roles bigger than that. She runs the key team who produce the news. She leads staff in our Suva newsroom and our Labasa, Lautoka and Nadi bureaus. No other Fijian news organisation has such reach.
Jyoti stepped up into the Managing Editor role after a successful spell as our West Editor.
She is an accomplished political analyst, writing five columns a week.
No surprises there. She honed her skills reading the Indian newspapers and studying Indian politics while earning an honours degree at the prestigious Delhi University.
- Ranoba Baoa is Managing Editor Production. That means she runs what we regard as the “Engine Room” of our news operations. She leads and manages the subeditors who edit and lay out the news pages. Every day they toil largely out of the limelight the reporters enjoy.
But they are our last line of defence. And daily save their reporting colleagues from blushes as they edit and check stories.
Every night is a firestorm of deadline and accuracy pressures. Ranoba has a reputation for being the calm in the eye of the storm.
Ranoba joined us in 2012, a University of the South Pacific BA graduate majoring in Journalism and Literature and Language. She has done her own time as a reporter, notably as part of our strong Business team.
She is also a pioneer. She is the only Banaban journalist in the mainstream media, following in the footsteps of her famous father Aren Baoa.
- Rosi Doviverata is our Managing Editor Digital and Readership Development.
Rosi was a champion athlete, a South Pacific Games medal winner. Now she is a winning editor.
She led the way breaking through into news in the Internet era. She pioneered the development of our e-edition. She led initiatives as diverse as live streaming and Facebook interaction. She works to the maxim: “We need a newsroom that will deliver content worth paying for.”
Rosi was an early University of the South Pacific journalism graduate and is now about to complete her MBA. She joined the Fiji Sun in 2013 after spending five years in Japan with her rugby-playing husband.
- Maraia Vula is Managing Editor Business. She has even further developed the strong business journalism foundation laid by Rachna Lal. The 16-page Business liftout Maraia produces every Saturday is a must-read in the C-suite.
Maraia is a University of the South Pacific BCom graduate and nearing completion of her own MBA.
She has built the region’s leading team of business and finance journalists. They produce more and better business news than any other news media in the region. When Maraia’s not doing that she’s playing an increasing role in training.
Her work has won recognition in regional and international organisations.
- Joana Bueta is our Walu Bay Print Centre Manager. She has overall charge of the production and dispatch of the Fiji Sun.
She oversees our prepress section, the first in Fiji with computer-to-plate technology. She oversees our press, a leader in the region with four-high color towers and glossy printing capacity. She oversees our dispatch area with its Alpha liner inserting machine.
All are groundbreakers in the Pacific Islands. So too is Joana, a pioneering woman printer. She rose to her current leadership role after a series of training and development stints in New Zealand. She so impressed the Kiwis that they unanimously supported her promotion to boss at Walu Bay.
- Shratika Naidu is now our North Editor/Manager. But she is much more than that.
Shratika joined us in 2009 as a reporter in the North office in Labasa while halfway through a USP degree. She impressed so much that she was one of our first journalists sent to India for further studies.
There she excelled, gaining a BA in Political Science with First Class honors from one of India’s biggest, the University of Pune. She added a Diploma in International Relations, Human Rights and Role of International Law with an A grade pass.
Back home she continues to excel as a journalist, manager and student. She has now added postgraduate certificates and diplomas in business administration, human resources and general management.
