Mara Cepeda from the Phillippines was a Fellow in the 2021 Reham Al-Farra (RAF) Memorial Journalism virtual programme. Mara is the Philippines Correspondent of Singapore¡¯s The Straits Times (ST), one of Southeast Asia's leading English broadsheets. She joined ST in 2022 after working for seven years as a political reporter for Rappler, whose CEO, Maria Ressa, won the Nobel ²Ù±ÆÊÓƵapp Prize in 2021. Mara is among 17 reporters chosen for the 2021 Asia Journalism Fellowship of the Singapore-based Temasek Foundation and the Institute of Policy Studies of the National University of Singapore¡¯s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. She specializes in stories on politics, defense, diplomacy and women's rights.