Laxmi Parthasarathy is the Chief Operating Officer of Global Press, an international news organization that trains and employs female reporters in the world’s least-covered media markets. She leads worldwide operations across more than forty news bureaus around the world and recently launched news bureaus in Mongolia, Mexico, Nepal, and Puerto Rico. She also leads Global Press News Services, which helps global organizations transform their workplace culture and operations.
Over her career, Laxmi has led initiatives at the intersection of media and development in more than a dozen countries. Prior to Global Press, Laxmi served as Director of Global Media Partnerships at Ashoka, the world’s largest association of social entrepreneurs. From 2013 to 2018, Laxmi served on the board of Crossroads International, a leading Canadian international development organization, concluding as vice-chair. In 2019, Laxmi was appointed a Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Mentor.
Her articles and interviews have been featured by Atlantic Media, the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Forbes, the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, and other outlets. In 2018, Laxmi authored a pioneering study, “The Bottom-Up Media Revolution: How Social Entrepreneurs Are Building Trust Between Communities and the Media,” that analyzed data on 200 media innovators across 22 countries. She has lectured widely on social entrepreneurship, media development and the future of journalism, including at Harvard, Oxford, and Georgetown University. Laxmi holds a Master’s degree from the London School of Economics and did her undergraduate studies at Carleton University.
Twitter: @laxmisarathy
