For over 135 years, our Explorer community has been fueled by curiosity, creating storytelling experts who are problem solvers committed to making the world a better place.
Leverage this field-tested mindset to translate your work into stories that shift human behavior and inspire action.
Our Storytelling Superpower: National Geographic Explorers
Each workshop is led by National Geographic Explorers, experts in storytelling for impact. Meet a few of the leaders of our Collective.
Maliaka Vaz
Workshop Leader
Malaika Vaz is an award-winning Indian wildlife filmmaker, television presenter, and National Geographic Explorer focused on conservation, endangered species, and environmental justice.
Pete Muller
Workshop Leader
Pete Muller is an American photographer, researcher, and National Geographic Explorer based in East Africa and the United States. His work focuses on masculinity, conflict and human ecology.
Jahawi Bertolli
Workshop Leader
Jahawi Bertolli is a filmmaker, photographer, and music producer from Kenya who specializes in wildlife and the underwater world, striving to portray the beauty, power, and vulnerability of wild environments.
Shireen Rahimi
Workshop Leader
Shireen Rahimi is a marine scientist, visual media storyteller, director and on-camera presenter. She has traveled across the globe showcasing humanity’s impact on the planet’s rapidly changing waters—from the seas of the Caribbean to the South Pacific and Southeast Asia.
Federico Pardo
Workshop Leader
Federico Pardo is a biologist, photographer, and documentary filmmaker from Bogotá, Colombia. As a filmmaker and cinematographer, he specializes in natural history, environmental, and human stories and has received an Emmy award for Best Cinematography with National Geographic’s "Untamed Americas."
Reyhaneh Maktoufi
Workshop Leader
Reyhaneh Maktoufi is a science communication specialist, social science researcher and National Geographic Explorer who studies how to communicate with empathy. Maktoufi is passionate about communicating the science behind science communication.
What is a National Geographic Explorer?
Award-Winning Changemakers. Disruptors. Solution-Seekers.
Explorers are infinitely curious experts in their field — passionate about making our planet a better place. Explorers receive funding and support from the National Geographic Society to illuminate and protect our world through their work in science, exploration, education, and storytelling. They see the difference between the world as it is and as it could be, and make a choice to do something about it with courage and conviction.