Welcome to my portfolio website. I’m Ayesha Barmania, a journalist-entrepreneur and audio documentary maker. I live, work, and contribute to community in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.
Who am I?
I am Ayesha Barmania – a person working to create stories, art, and journalism that serves my home community. More specifically…
I am the publisher, co-founder and co-owner of Peterborough Currents, a reader-funded media start-up that publishes journalism by, about, and for the Peterborough community.
I am the founder of Peterborough Independent Podcasters, a small not-for-profit enterprise that supports local audio workers and podcasters.
I am a freelance podcast consultant and story consultant. I have guided teams at organizations, like the Sick Kids Foundation, as well as independent producers, like Claude Schryer, towards the successful execution of their podcasts with education, resources, and hands-on guidance.
I am an educator. I am often called upon to teach podcasting workshops for teams, schools and conferences.
I am a freelance writer. I often develop teaching resources for podcasting publications. Less often I will pitch stories to magazines and other outlets.
I am a budding sound artist. I dabble in field recording, sonic landscapes, drone and noise art, and other experimental pieces.
I am also an amateur cook, baker, and pottery-maker. I love reading, playing video games, hiking, canoeing, and backpacking. I’m proudly out as bisexual and non-binary transgender – please use they/them pronouns to refer to me.
Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn and Instagram for professional and personal updates.
Explore my work
Please use this website to explore my work. I’ve collected a few projects that I’m particularly proud of below. (Last updated April 2022)
Peterborough Currents
It’s tough to pick out exactly one sample from Peterborough Currents since I have my thumb in essentially everything we do. We’re endeavouring to create a sustainably funded local journalism outfit, and we’re doing pretty cool work if I do say so myself. Here’s a couple links to our work:
- Our investigation into the four-year long effort to open a safe drug consumption site.
- Our fundraising campaign to create an editorial fellowship program.
- Our well-loved email newsletter.
Sounds Like Life
The show that started my love of podcasting. This podcast is a combination of diary, field recordings and artistic creation. Listen for an ambient experience that helps me breathe a little slower.
Getting Started With Audio Editing in Reaper
Over the last few years I’ve gone all in on an audio production software called Reaper. It’s an affordable and extremely robust program, however, it can be daunting to get started.
The Budget Week podcast
This series was pretty quickly put together to experiment with whether our audience was still interested in Peterborough Currents’ podcasts, and we had an unexpectedly great time making the show!
My colleague Will and I had a great time geeking out about the municipal budget process, asking questions of local political figures, and making a fun show.
I also use this website to archive past work. If you’re interested in licensing any material, get in touch! And if you’re looking for something in particular, use this Search tool:
Land acknowledgement
I make my home as an uninvited settler on the traditional territories of the Michi Saagig Nishnaabeg. Peterborough is built upon land and water that was shared with settlers with an understanding of mutual cooperation through treaties like the Rice Lake Purchase (Treaty #20) and the Williams Treaties.