Gemma Givens leads communications at the Inter-American Dialogue, where she manages the organization’s media relations, digital and social media platforms, editorial production, and public-facing communications.
Before joining the Dialogue, Givens served as a communications specialist at the University of California, Berkeley’s Center for Studies in Higher Education and Investigative Reporting Program. There, she developed multimedia content, supported national film screenings, and contributed to the Frontline documentary Rape on the Night Shift. Her journalism and media training includes fellowships and participation with Vision Maker Media (formerly Native American Public Telecommunications), where she developed end-to-end video, audio, and editorial production skills grounded in Indigenous storytelling and cultural sensitivity. She is also an alumna of the American Indian Journalism Institute and a participant in Native Voices training hosted by the Indigenous Journalists Association, through which she deepened her practice of culturally accountable multimedia production while covering national events, including the White House Tribal Nations Conference. She completed podcasting and animation training through the Berkeley Advanced Media Institute.
Givens is the founder of Next Generation Guatemala, a global network that has connected more than 1,000 Guatemalan adoptees across 20 countries. Her work and story have been featured by the Associated Press, Nómada, Berkeley News, and Telemundo’s Emmy Award-winning documentary, The Lost Children of Guatemala. She has spoken widely on Indigenous diaspora, intercultural adoption, and Guatemalan migration and identity at universities, international conferences, and public forums.
She coedited a peer-reviewed issue of the Maya America Journal focused on Guatemalan adoptee identity and has lectured on Indigenous diaspora and intercultural adoption at UCLA, Vanderbilt University, Boston University, and Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. She is currently a participant in the Diplomado en Educación para la Paz: Liderazgo de Mujeres Indígenas through the Fundación Rigoberta Menchú Tum.
