Jim Stenman knows a good story.  And it also happens he can tell a good one. Which shouldn’t be surprising, considering he is a media entrepreneur and broadcaster, which includes  stints at WarnerMedia and CNN International, where he worked for close to a decade.  He’s  created digital content and covered stories across the world  and interviewed some pretty fascinating people including  Daily Show host Trevor Noah. 

And as interesting as that may sound,  his own story starts just as fascinating. It starts in a town outside of Stockholm,  where he grew up with a Swedish father and an Ethiopian mother (who moved to Sweden as a refugee).  And as you will hear, the influence of those merged backgrounds has shaped how he perceives  identity, culture and class. And just importantly, has had an impact on the kinds of stories he seeks to highlight. 

In this episode,  from his current location in Dubai, he shares his experiences growing up mixed race in Sweden, his young adult years  living in the United States and the United Kingdom and the benefits of not fitting prescribed societal boxes.  Jim also deconstructs the challenges of trying to tell stories that are often overlooked  and the struggle in changing a resistant system.

As Jim, will tell you, he’s known from a young age that he wanted to work in media. But in this episode, I get to put him in the spotlight.