����������ý

Recent graduate is leaving USF with a master’s in mass communications, a passion for research, and a motivation to empower women around the world that now fuels her work on a PhD at the University of Georgia.

Smith came to USF after working as a journalist and began looking for an outlet for her interests. “I was working as a rural journalist for a very small town in North Carolina. I loved it, but I was ready for something new,” Smith says. “While I was at USF, I realized how much I love doing research.”

That journey led Smith to become a research fellow for —a nonprofit designed to elevate and educate girls through an after-school journalism program founded by USF alumna  a decade ago. Martinez is USF World’s former assistant director of international community relations and worked to build global alumni networks from 2021 to 2025.

“While I was at USF, I realized how much I love doing research.” — Grace Smith, USF alumna

In 2016, Martinez’s passion for education and international engagement led to her founding Girl Reports, a nonprofit on a mission to give girls an opportunity to build their own voices and perspectives, while providing them with journalism skills to express their ideas. The nonprofit also trains local women as teachers and mentors for the students as they work on their stories.

“In a place like Nepal, where girls are not encouraged to speak or ask questions, I thought having a framework that actually encourages and empowers them to do that would be incredible,” Martinez says. “I wanted to create a safe space for them to really feel like they can say and write whatever they want.”

“My favorite moment is always after the girls’ very first publication. It’s so incredible to see the joy and the immense pride, from both the girls and their parents,” Martinez says. “My ultimate goal is to establish what I like to call our ‘ecosystem of empowerment.’ By bringing in a research program and social entrepreneurship alongside the education program the organization will be sustainable.”

In 2025, Smith was brought on to the Girl Reports team to work on research projects, drawing on her own experience in journalism to produce projects that enhance the service of the Girl Reports organization through the lens of teaching English as a second language. During her time at Girl Reports, another goal was to present her work on international conferences to share work with local and international communities. 

“One of my projects was about fitting our journalism education framework into something called genre-based learning,” Smith explains. “Basically, it’s about teaching second language learners English by teaching them practical skills through genre. In our case, our genre is journalism.”

Smith and her research colleague realized that the Girl Reports curriculum fits the traditions of genre-based learning, which focuses on using genres as tools, contextual learning, and having students analyze texts and provide their own opinions. “But our curriculum has a lot of unique components because of the empowerment aspect, which led to us arguing for an addition to the tradition of genre-based learning,” Smith says. “We ended up calling the addition values-based pedagogy because the empowerment aspect was so ingrained in the program and curriculum.”

To meet Girl Reports’ goal of reaching international communities through conferences, she and Johansson applied to present at the International Communication Association Conference in South Africa. In May, Smith graduated from USF with a Master of Arts in mass communications, with a concentration in media literacy and analytics, from the Zimmerman School of Advertising and Mass Communications and a month later was in Cape Town presenting her research.

“Presenting in Cape Town was so incredible,” Smith says. “ICA is one of the biggest mass communication academic conferences in our industry, and we meet amazing and inspiring people.”

“I think one of the things I love the most about the work I do is having the opportunity to work with students at so many different levels. Grace did such an incredible job, and it’s been so enjoyable to see her progress,” Martinez adds. “I love working with faculty, with students, volunteers, and anyone who is passionate about making a positive impact in the world.”