Hi there! I’m Ekatha Ann John, the Global Health Policy and Advocacy Manager at Results Canada.
I was born and raised in Chennai, a sunny, coastal city in the Southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
I’ve always been fascinated by people and their stories – I found them in books, bustling markets, and the boundless open paddy field behind my family’s ancestral home.
These interactions also initiated me early into discourses around caste and inequity. I saw people break their backs to put food on tables they weren’t allowed to sit at; people who weren’t allowed to draw water from certain wells just because they belonged to a certain social group.
Growing up in a middle-class family I was shielded from, but not blind, to the struggles of people branded as pariahs based on their caste, ethnicity, and class.
I had so many questions, but few answers.
My entry into journalism felt like a natural progression. It was a powerful medium for what I really wanted to do: share stories from communities that have been historically marginalized. I worked as a health and social justice reporter for the Press Trust of India and later on with The Times of India, an English language daily newspaper.
I made it my mission to cover stories that rarely make headlines in increasingly click baits-driven newsrooms. Some of the stories I’m most proud of are an undercover investigation on unlicensed child care institutions in India, and a six-part series, titled ‘Up in Alms – Inside Chennai’s Begging Industry’, which gave a rare glimpse into the structural, systemic and social factors that push communities into begging.
In 2018, I did a Master’s in Migration and Global Health from Queen Mary University of London, UK, as a Chevening Scholar and moved to Canada in 2020. In 2022, I joined Results Canada as the Global Health Policy and Advocacy Manager. Results was, again, a natural choice for me given my experiences working with communities we advocate for and with.
My role involves a bit of everything – speaking truth to power, analyzing policies, ensuring people with lived experience are at decision-making tables, and pursuing my passion – story-telling.
Outside work, I read, travel, watch plays, dance, play the piano, and compose my scream song.
