YJI’s Board of Directors

The organization

Youth Journalism International is registered and recognized formally by the U.S. International Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) public educational charity within the United States. We operate globally.

Our board

The Board of Youth Journalism International oversees the strategy and operations of the organization, in line with its vision, mission and values, and principles of good governance. The board is made up of six individuals from around the world. Alongside the founders of the organization, the board includes longtime advisors to the organization and alumni.

Current board members

Steve Collins, Board Member and President. Finance and Oversight Committee, Events Committee, Revenue Committee

Holly Hostettler-Davies, Board Member and Secretary. Finances and Oversight Committee, Revenue Committee, Events Committee

Amanda Lehmert, Board member. Finance and Oversight Committee, Revenue Committee.

Jackie Majerus, Board Member and Executive Director. Finance and Oversight Committee, Events Committee, Revenue Committee

Collin Seguin, Board Member and Treasurer. Chair of the Revenue Committee and member of the Finance and Oversight Committee

Linus Unah, Board Member and Auditor. Finance and Oversight Committee, Revenue Committee

Board member biographies

Linus Unah

Linus Unah is a journalist, producer, and documentary filmmaker with a passion for crafting powerful stories that foster a deep appreciation for wildlife and the environment.

His work has been featured on several media platforms, including Mongabay, Al Jazeera, The Guardian, National Public Radio, the Los Angeles Times and Devex, among others.

Linus currently works with Wild Africa where he leads public awareness campaigns aimed at reducing demand for illegal wildlife products and promoting local support for conservation efforts.

A native of Nigeria, he is a graduate of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism where he co-directed the short documentary, “Split Jury,” for his master’s thesis.

Collin Seguin

Collin Seguin is an Assistant Vice President leader within Travelers’ General Liability Complex Claim organization, leading a team that handles some of the largest liability files in the company. This includes premises liability, product liability, construction liability, construction defect, and oil and gas claims. In his nearly 20 years at Travelers, he has held a variety of roles within Claim Legal and as a leader in the claim organization.

He holds a BS in Print Journalism and BA in History from Boston University, and his JD from the University of Connecticut School of Law. At UConn Law, Collin was a Lead Articles Editor on the Insurance Law Journal, a member of the Moot Court Board, and an evening student representative on the Student Bar Association.

Collin is a proud alumnus of YJI and is excited to contribute to the growth of the organization as a Board member. He was named a “40 under 40” honoree by the Hartford Business Journal in 2019 and a “New Leader in the Law” by the Connecticut Law Tribune in 2014. In addition to his work with YJI, Collin is a Mentor in the UConn Husky Mentor Network, an alumni officer for Kappa Sigma Fraternity, and for the past several years has been a volunteer judge for the US Chamber of Commerce National Civics Bee. 

Jackie Majerus

Working with student reporters, artists and photographers, Jackie Majerus guides young journalists as they tackle serious societal issues such as teen suicide, school violence, politics, war and terrorism through gripping newswriting, gut-wrenching personal commentary and artwork.  She also works with students writing about popular culture, entertainment and everyday teenage life.

Under Jackie’s guidance, YJI provides a platform for the voices of students from many nations and all seven continents.

Before dedicating her professional work completely to YJI in 2011, Jackie enjoyed a successful career as a newspaper reporter at daily papers in Connecticut, New York and Illinois.

She also worked as a freelance reporter for The National Law Journal and United Press International.

A co-founder of Youth Journalism International, Jackie has regularly been selected for prestigious teaching posts and as keynote speaker, and has also served as a judge in high school journalism contests put on by the National Scholastic Press Association, Baruch College in New York City and the Florida Scholastic Press Association. Jackie has also won her own awards. In 2023, she received the gold laureate Global Youth & News Media Prize for news/media literacy, from Global Youth and News Media. In 2024, the Journalism Education Association named Jackie one of four recipients of its “Friend of Scholastic Journalism” honor.

Jackie is a member of the Journalism Educators Association and a graduate of The University of Iowa. She grew up in Iowa and Wisconsin, and also lived in Illinois, New York and Connecticut before moving to Auburn, Maine. She and her husband Steve Collins, a YJI co-founder and journalist, are the parents of a grown son and daughter.

Amanda Lehmert

Amanda Lehmert is an award-winning communications professional with 20-plus years in journalism, public relations and marketing. She is an alumna and long-time volunteer of Youth Journalism International who deeply believes in the power of journalism to change the world.

Lehmert first caught the journalism bug as a member of The Tattoo, a precursor to YJI published in her Connecticut hometown newspaper, The Bristol Press. The Connecticut Journalism Education Association named her Connecticut High School Journalist of the Year in 1999 and she earned numerous awards from the Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists. She graduated magna cum laude from Emerson College with a bachelor’s degree in print journalism.  

She spent more than a decade writing for daily newspapers in Massachusetts and North Carolina, covering politics, police, the environment and more. She was honored by the New England Press Association for her investigative and environmental reporting. 

Since 2015, Lehmert has served private, non-profit and public organizations as a communications and marketing professional. She is known for promoting transparency and accountability as a government communications professional who served the City of Greensboro and the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools. Lehmert is a two-time winner of the NC American Planning Association’s award for community engagement and has been honored for her strategic communications work by the NC School Public Relations Association.

Lehmert resides in Greensboro, North Carolina, with her husband, reporter and editor Joe Killian.

Holly Hostettler-Davies

Holly Hostettler-Davies, from Wales, UK, is a committed gender equality advocate with a keen interest in sexual and reproductive health and rights.

In April 2024, the UK government selected Holly as the nation’s first Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Advisor. In that role she attended and spoke at the United Nations’ Commission on Population and Development conference at the UN headquarters in New York. While there, she took part in sessions with government officials and collaborated with other youth delegates.

Holly has been active with YJI since 2020, attending all three of YJI’s Global Conferences. In the 2023 and 2024 conferences, she took on a leadership role and is a key organizer for the 2025 Global Conference in Cape Town, South Africa.

She is also a qualified Teaching English as a Foreign Language teacher, having taught students aged 6-70 across Europe and with the Chilean Ministry of Education.

Holly is a 2024 graduate of Cardiff University with a first-class degree in English Literature and Creative Writing. She is currently studying a Masters of Law in International Human Rights with the University of Law.

Steve Collins

A journalist since 1987, Steve Collins has worked for daily newspapers in New York, Connecticut and Maine. 

Steve is the political columnist for the Maine Trust for Local News and his work appears in the Portland Press Herald and other daily papers across the state.

He served as the State House reporter for the Sun Journal in Lewiston, Maine until 2025.

Steve was the Maine Press Association’s Journalist of the Year in 2022. Among his other awards are the New England Newspaper & Press Association’s Bob Wallack Community Journalism Award and its history-writing prize in 2022 and 2023, the Society of Professional Journalists’ 2016 Ethics in Journalism Award, the I.F. Stone Whistle-Blower Award in 2015 and scores of state awards in Maine, Connecticut and New York.

Collins is a founder and board president of Youth Journalism International.

Born in Massachusetts, he grew up in a military family that took him to Norway, Ohio and Virginia, where he earned a degree in history from the University of Virginia.

Previous board members:

Pictures of board members over the years

Above at left, Cassie Lloyd Perrin, Steve Collins, Shaina Zurlin, Jackie Majerus and Arooj Khalid at YJI’s 2023 Global Conference in Prague. At right, Mike Soltys and Regina López at ESPN in Bristol, Connecticut in 2022.

Above left: Board members Arooj Khalid and Holly Hostettler-Davies at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, Cape Town during the 2025 Global Conference. At right, board members Susan Millar and Jackie Majerus in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.