Project Matriarchs

Project Matriarchs is a short documentary exploring the parallel experiences of grief in humans and orcas, revealing how loss shapes, connects, and transforms both species—and how healing is something neither can do alone.

As a featured voice in the film, I share my personal story of losing my father at 17 and how that formative loss reshaped my life’s trajectory. That grief ultimately led me back to the ocean, where I co-founded The Seabirds Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to connecting people to marine life through joy, wonder, and stubborn optimism. The film traces how personal loss can become a catalyst for purpose, and how the natural world can serve as both teacher and refuge.

Impact: Project Matriarchs illuminates the profound emotional lives we share with other species, challenging the illusion that humans exist apart from nature. In an increasingly digitized and disconnected world, stories of interspecies empathy remind us of our place within—not above—the living planet. These moments of connection have the power to reawaken care, responsibility, and belonging. By helping audiences feel alongside another species, the film makes conservation personal—grounding people in the relationships that inspire us not just to witness the natural world, but to protect it.

Produced by Reel Earth Films, the film will raise funds to support the work and mission of the Seabirds, helping them to bring more nontraditional explorers to the wildest and most important places on our planet.