*about me
Kia Mistilis is an independent Australian journalist, photographer and editor based in Athens, Greece.
Since graduating from the University of New South Wales in 1991 with a Bachelor’s Degree in sociology and photography, Kia has contributed work to a range of media from print and online journalism to film and television; documenting people and places as diverse as New York City and the villages of East Timor.
Growing up in the multi-cultural city of Sydney with parents of Greek heritage, Kia was inspired as a teenager to combine her passion for documentary photography with a keen interest in community projects and causes, particularly with indigenous and ethnically diverse communities. This evolved into 15 years experience in the community sector as a coordinator and photographer for a range of projects and events supporting human rights and social justice campaigns, the performing arts and the environment.
Most notable is her 10 year committment to the campaign for an independent East Timor. Beginning in 1990 as a student at the University of NSW, Kia formed links and worked closely with fellow Australian and international students, the East Timorese community in Sydney and East Timor's representative to the U.N (the now President) Jose Ramos Horta - to raise awareness in Australia of East Timor's plight whilst contributing to the growing international movement for independence. Her diverse contributions included roles as event coordinator, fundraiser, digital artist, photographer, art exhibition curator, street theatre performer and formal lobbyist to the Australian government.
Sharing a strong desire with fellow Australians post independence to contribute to her country's neighbour and the youngest democracy in the world, Kia travelled to Timor-Leste in 2003 to work as a field project coordinator with the Australian aid and development agency Austcare on their sustainable livelihoods program. This involved working together with an Australian permaculure trainer and local NGO field staff to assist Timorese subsistence farmers, recently returned to their villages after being internally displaced as refugees, to re-establish their farms. With hands-on training to directly apply permaculture techniques of organic farming and ecology, local people, including women and children, worked together to establish kitchen gardens, plant food crops, fruit and nut trees and repair their village well; implementing food and water security strategies as a first step towards creating a sustainable livelihood on their own lands.
Living and working with Timorese villagers united in embracing their nation's hard won peace and freedom, and witnessing their determination to create a better future together, was an inspiring and life-changing experience.
Finding her voice as a writer emerged from many years of keeping a focus on the big picture of world events whilst combining grass roots community work, human rights advocacy and documentary photography - all of which laid a foundation for her current path in journalism.
Kia's first article as a freelance journalist was a 1200 word investigative story and photo on the Mutitjulu Aboriginal community at Uluru, published in The Sydney Morning Herald weekend editon, September 2006. This opened the way for freelance journalism in national independent media and Kia's first position as a staff journalist and photographer in regional print media in 2007. It proved an invaluable experience in learning all facets of journalism in the job before Kia re-located to San Francisco in 2008 to further develop her path as an independent journalist whilst working for the first time as an editor in online media.
A move to Europe followed, and in 2011, Kia established herself as a foreign correspondent based in Athens, Greece. Her on the ground reporting includes feature articles and photography for independent U.S media, and live to air interviews for the BBC.