06/09/2026
Did you catch our interview with Kade Krichko , founder of Ori Magazine and Executive Director of Ori Artists Collective?
He shares about the life lessons that led him to this work. The magazine shares stories from around the world, written and photographed by the people rooted there. The nonprofit is piloting a high school journalism program that encourages young people to report on stories from their own backyards. Visit our blog at the link in bio to learn more!
For nearly a decade, Kade traveled to vulnerable communities all over the world on the edge of crisis or undergoing massive change to tell their stories. That work found its way into newspapers and magazines.
Along the way, he was always guided by fixers, field reporters, and translators—people who were experts on their home communities. At the end of long reporting days, over dinner, Kade would ask what they did when they weren't leading foreign journalists around. Seven out of ten times, they said they were journalists themselves, or professors, or tour guides.
That always stuck with me…why am I the one telling this story? And so, I walked away and had some time to think over Covid, when we were all grounded a bit, and really kind of had a…self-reckoning. Am I the one who should be telling these stories? Is there a way to get more local voices involved?
These lessons led to Kade’s founding of Ori, a travel magazine with what he calls "a conscience," and as executive director of Ori Artists Collective, the nonprofit umbrella it now lives under.
Instead of parachuting into places to extract stories, Ori centers and elevates the voices and lived experiences of the people rooted there.
