Jessica Buchleitner

Jessica Buchleitner is a media and communications innovator, journalist, and CEDAW policy expert. As the author/curator of the award-winning 50 Women anthology series and a lead editor of "Stories from Girls and Women of Mogadishu," her features and books tell the stories of global unsung heroes while attacking hard-hitting issues of sexual violence, armed conflict, diplomacy structures, and the impact of emerging technology on society. Her work appeared in Harvard Nieman Foundation, Women News Network, Smithsonian, Publisher’s Weekly, Reveal/Center for Investigative Reporting, L'Atelier Insights, and photogrammetry for journalism Northwestern University Knight Lab study, among others.

For 10 years, Jessica has served in United Nations interfacing roles as an NGO delegate, NGO permanent representative, and liaison. She collaborated with diplomats, politicians, and civil society stakeholders in the “Cities for CEDAW” campaign, encouraging U.S. city mayors to adopt the CEDAW ordinance, the international women’s bill of rights. Jessica also brought CEDAW to the private sector by creating a framework to implement its provisions.

As a communications innovator and advisor, she designed solutions for 16 multinational companies, startups, and NGOs using an approach known as “brand journalism,” where communications are designed as thought-provoking and informative, leading with insights and research versus the traditional corporate “propaganda” approach. Her projects spanned M&A, regulatory matters, digital transformations, dissolutions, and international campaigns.

Buchleitner was Journalist of the Month for the International Journalists’ Network in May 2015 and a 2016 Medill Editorial Scholarship recipient for her Master of Science in Journalism/ Media Innovation from Northwestern University. She studied the application of agile innovation methods to media companies and technologically driven cultural shifts in news reporting. She was a 2017 European Union External Action press visitor, where she witnessed “Brexit Day” unfold; a 2020 recipient of a Media Lab Bayern scholarship for the inaugural CUNY Entrepreneurial Journalism Creators Program; and a 2023 ICFJ Newscorp reporting fellow.

Using her film and voice-over acting background, Jessica delivered powerful speeches and panel discussions at United Nations official sessions, universities, NGOs, conferences, and think tanks.