ISF welcomes new Communications Manager, Airah Cadiogan
Airah Cadiogan, who joined the International Seed Federation (ISF) in January 2020 as its Digital Media Associate, will take on the role of Communications Manager as of 1 February 2024.
Since joining ISF, Airah has significantly grown the association’s online community and introduced wide-ranging enhancements in its digital ecosystem. She has vast experience in strategic communications for the UN and several development organizations and has a deep understanding of agriculture, food, and environmental advocacy at the international level.
Before joining ISF, Airah ran her own communications consultancy business working with clients including the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP), and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) while based in Mexico City, Mexico and later in Geneva, Switzerland.
Prior to that, she worked for Oxfam GB’s Food and Climate team at their headquarters in Oxford and in her native country, the Philippines, working with a diverse range of stakeholders to help launch the ‘Behind the Barcodes’ global campaign and advance national policies on food and climate justice.
She also worked as Communications Associate for the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office in the Philippines, as Advocacy and Campaigns Coordinator for Plan International Philippines, and as Political Affairs Officer for the first-ever Youth Party representative in the Philippine parliament.
Airah has a background in Communication Research and Development Studies and now calls Switzerland, where she lives with her husband and two young children, home.
Now that the official stuff is out of the way, let’s get to know her better!
- Outside of work and your home, where can we usually find you?
With two young children, it’s not that often that I am not with my family — at home or travelling somewhere — if I am not at work. During those rare chances that I get, I like to prioritize my yoga practice in a local studio here in Nyon, as this is something I value for my mental and physical health. I am also part of a local book club that meets bimonthly, which is my way of forcing myself to keep up the habit of reading fiction and nonfiction, despite all the busyness.
2. What are you reading right now?
I’m always between books and I like to change depending on my mood and how much time I have. Now, I am reading Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein, which is a unique take on cancel culture, conspiracy theorists, the general collapse of trust in ‘mainstream’ news and media, and the interplay of all that in today’s information ecosystems and societies. I’m also finally reading Trevor Noah’s autobiography, Born a Crime, for my book club, and I am still in the middle of Jasmine Chan’s The School for Good Mothers, which I find to be an intelligent work of fiction about the present-day pressures put on mothers and what could happen when some cannot cope.
3. Now that you are transitioning from one role to another within the ISF Secretariat, what are your fondest memories from your previous role?
I think building Channel World Seed is something that I will always look back on fondly. It was a project we started with Francine (Sayoc, previous ISF Communications Manager) in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic to give an identity to our YouTube Channel as we were producing a lot more audio-visual content and hosting more webinars to keep engaging with our audiences and with ISF members. Its evolution into a physical studio that is now present in every ISF World Seed Congress since Barcelona, with sponsored slots and everything, is, for me, an incredible achievement.
4. What are you looking forward to the most in your new role?
ISF’s 100 years! It’s a privilege but also a huge responsibility to lead ISF’s communications work during its centennial because it is a golden opportunity to look back on history and showcase everything the association has accomplished in a century, but more importantly, it’s the perfect stage to highlight how ready we are as an industry to face the challenges of the next 100 years.
I think many of us share the feeling that we are living in uncertain times with the climate crisis, geopolitical tensions, conflicts, and a lack of trust in our institutions and political leaders all having an impact on our day-to-day work but also on the bigger project of sustainably transforming the world’s food systems. And so one big challenge is how, in this context, we can position ISF as a beacon of stability, hope, and collaboration, and celebrate the positive transformative power of seeds. This, as a communications professional, is a daunting but also exciting task to take on.
