This week we are excited to be joined by Yulia Boyle, Senior VP of international media, image collection and content operations at National Geographic. Yulia is also FIPP's first every female chair.

Nat Geo really needs no introduction. It’s is one of the most widely read magazines of all time with a total readership of around 43 million. In the last seven years it has won seven National Magazine Awards, two Webby Media Company of the Year honours and has been a Pulitzer Prize finalist three times. 

The publishing power house now has a podcast, a TV channel, live events and more, and is constantly evolving and developing its content to suit its broad audience and meet the demands of a constantly changing industry.

Yulia has been instrumental in launching National Geographic magazines and books across 52 countries around the globe. She is also passionate about encouraging diversity within the media, and this partly comes from her somewhat unconventional path into publishing.

In this fascinating episode, Yulia not only speaks about her own personal journey, but also of the most important macro-level issues facing the industry today.

Yulia talks about: 

• Coming of age in soviet Armenia when there was a war, a devastating earthquake and then the collapse of the soviet union. 
• Learning to speak English when "everything was collapsing around me, no electricity, no running water..."
• Winning a scholarship to study in the US
• National Geographic’s media strategy 
• How teaming up with Disney has been an exhilarating process but daunting process, which has pushed her out of her comfort zone
• The exciting possibilities of NFTs for publishing as well as their potential pitfalls. 
• What she hopes to bring to the FIPP, as it’s first female chair

We really enjoyed speaking to Yulia and hope you enjoy listening to this podcast. If you did, please don't forget to like and subscribe!