Ilya Krasilshchik

After dropping out of university at 21, Krasilshchik became the editor of the then most influential Moscow entertainment and city life magazine Afisha. During his 5-year tenure, Afisha published more the 100 issues, including specials like “The Oral History of the Russian Media” and “The Oral History of the Russian Internet”. He stepped down in 2013 to become the Product Director at Afisha publishing company, launching three separate web-based media and а TV streaming service in one year. In October 2014, he finally left Afisha, and together with two partners launched Meduza, a groundbreaking Russian language web news outlet based in Riga, Latvia. By December 2015 the monthly readership of Meduza exceeded 3.5 million unique visitors, with 320,000 app downloads and more than 500,000 followers on social media.