Creative work
Marina has produced and created stories in written, audio and video formats. In more than a decade of working in the sports media industry, she created digital stories, podcasts and video interviews. In her journalism work, Marina tells many human interest stories, where she often explores a theme of what drives an individual to make life-changing decisions. She loves telling stories that lie at the intersection of sports, gender and human rights.
This article on a boxer from Dagestan produced for the Olympic Channel during Tokyo-2020 tells Zenfira Magomedalieva’s who had to fight traditional gender stereotypes and her own family’s disapproval just to compete professionally in boxing.
A story of one family (mother and daughter hockey player) who competed 20 years apart from each other for Russia and Kazakhstan. Lyubov Vafina’s experience at Salt Lake City Olympics inspired her daughter Sasha’s journey in hockey. The two women even competed on the same team for six years.
This story is a part of a bigger storytelling project Mesto47 that Marina executed in collaboration with photographer Georg Wallner and psychologist Anuta Prokhorova. It is a collection of written and audio stories of people’s lives along the Trans Siberian railroad told in the first person. This article is a story of an 18-year-old Oleg the team interviewed on the streets of Ekaterinburg.
An international story of two Danish speed skaters falling in love produced for Valentine's Day’s special episode of the Olympic Channel podcast. The story starts at 4:10.
During Tokyo-2020, Marina interviewed bronze medal-winning wrestler Artur Naifonov who survived the horrors of the 2004 Beslan terror attack.
Stolbi nature sanctuary is a national park near Krasnoyarsk. Marina met 60-year-old Stolbista (Stolbi climber) her Trans Siberian journey. At her age, Irina climbs with impressive skill and absolutely no sense of fear. She shared stories about climbing friends she lost to the mountains, what climbing is for her and what the culture of Stolbisti is about: rebellion, freedom and climbing – without ropes.
A story of an ex-cop in Russia who shared her perspective on being a woman in such a male-dominated field of work. While she would not recommend any woman to join the police force in Russia, she feels like it’s important to have female representation.
An audio and photo story of Putin’s Impersonator Vasily who Mesto47 team interviewed during their Transsiberian journey. Vasily is struggling to make ends meet and poses for Chinese tourists at the Red Square.
Get in touch
If you would like to collaborate with Marina on a story idea or are interested in booking her for a freelance opportunity.