History
SembraMedia was founded in 2015 by Janine Warner, who is based in Los Angeles, and Mijal Iastrebner, who is based in Buenos Aires. Both have experience as journalists and entrepreneurs. The two first met in a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) that Warner taught through the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas in 2014. After working with more than 5,000 students from across Ibero-America and watching many journalists launch digital media projects in countries as challenging as Venezuela and Honduras, they were inspired to create an organization that could provide ongoing support and training.

An international team
Their work is driven by an all-star team of entrepreneurial journalists, consultants, and academics with deep knowledge of the political, economic, and media markets in Latin America, Spain, and the U.S.

SembraMedia has a small operations office in Buenos Aires, Argentina, that supports a virtual team of contractors from more than 15 countries. They are guided and supported by an Advisory Board whose members contribute their expertise as journalists, media executives, professors, and consultants.

Building SembraMedia as an agile virtual organization has enabled us to have a broad regional impact with relatively low overhead. This model lets them respond to fast-changing market conditions by adding or expanding the hours and hire additional contractors when we launch new initiatives or need special expertise.

Non-profit organization
Institute for Nonprofit NewsSembraMedia is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that operates under the fiscal sponsorship of the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN) in Los Angeles, California.

Their financial records are managed and audited by INN, but they operate as a separate organization with their own management team and Advisory Board who are responsible for all of their activities.

SembraMedia has received support from the International Center for Journalists, Institute for Nonprofit News, Luminate, Omidyar Network, The Lenfest Institute, The Cook Family Foundation, The National Endowment for Democracy, The U.S. State Department, The Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, Mark and Linda Jenkins, Patricia Torres-Burd, Ariadna Coto, David LaFontaine y Janine Warner.

What inspires them
Throughout Latin America, digital media startups are harnessing the power of the Internet to launch new and innovative media projects.

From Tijuana to Panama, from Bogota to Buenos Aires and beyond, entrepreneurial journalists are using big data to expose corruption, harnessing social media to increase citizen participation, and designing interactive websites that are forcing governments and big businesses to be more transparent.

Despite some inspiring success stories, however, many entrepreneurial journalists are isolated and struggling to develop sustainable business models.

Their mission at SembraMedia is to improve their chances of success by creating an online community where digital media entrepreneurs can network, share resources, learn business skills, and draw on the expertise of others who are facing similar challenges.

They focus on projects in Spanish in the U.S, Latin America, and Spain, and they are always delighted when their work encourages new projects anywhere in the world.