United Nations General Assembly 2023
Power of Collaboration: Shifting Culture Through Media, Art and Storytelling to Drive Change at Scale
Our Executive Director, Krista Kleiner, moderated the closing panel of the two-day UN Global Compact SDG event during the United Nations General Assembly on September 15, 2023. This led into an impact drone show The One Heart Movement co-produced, demonstrating the power of this subject at work immediately after.
"Given my lifelong passion for the arts and career in media and storytelling, which I’ve been infusing into my current focus of environmental and social impact, I was absolutely thrilled to have the honor of inviting and moderating a discussion with this group of powerhouse panelists. We dove into their minds and hearts to better understand the magic behind their crafts, while exploring their creative approaches to drive change at scale. This process also included discussing the tangible value that the audience could take away and apply to their own lives and organizations." - Krista Kleiner
The panelists included:
LOUIE PSIHOYOS
NAIANA MIRANDA
DIEGO CASAES
HEIDI NEL
LUANA LOBO
Louie Psihoyos is an Oscar-winning director, a world renown photographer, and the co-founder and Executive Director of Oceanic Preservation Society, which uses media and groundbreaking projection events to scale social change.
His first film, The Cove, became one of the most award-winning documentaries and inspired the reduction of dolphin and porpoise slaughter in Japan by over 93%.
He has directed projection events for his film Racing Extinction on iconic buildings including The Empire State Building, The United Nations, and The Vatican received over 5.4 billion media views and led to laws that protect some of the earth’s most endangered species.
75% of global interest to switch to a plant-based diet since 2004 has been attributed to his film, The Game Changers. His most recent film, Mission:Joy, has been seen by 10’s of millions of people and is used as a teaching tool in the U.S. prison system.
Naiana Miranda is Chair of the Amazon Bioeconomy Chamber, the first international chamber dedicated to enhancing the potential of the Amazon bioeconomy in global markets. Born in a small Amazon town in Brazil and immigrating to the United States, she leverages network access to bridge cross-sector partnerships and attract more resources to the region. She is also Principal of MSH Partners which invests at the intersection of climate and inclusion. Previously, Naiana was the Founder and CEO of Raise the Bar, a leadership development company advising organizations from startups to Fortune 500s — training thousands of executives globally to leverage their human capital. Naiana holds an MBA from Babson College and serves as a board member of the Center of Sustainable Finance and Private Wealth North America.
Diego Casaes is a Campaign Director at Avaaz. He has over a decade of experience in advocacy, campaigns and mobilization, using media, social media, and advocacy to create positive change in the world. He has ample experience in global environmental talks, having worked in partnership with environmental, grassroots and Indigenous Peoples organizations around the world, but in particular in Latin America and Africa. In Brazil, he is a leading voice in the non-profit and political sectors, having worked in several campaigns on issues such as anti-corruption, transparency, digital rights, environment and climate change, and human rights. This includes over a decade of experience in Public Sector relations, particularly with the Brazilian Congress and government bodies.
Heidi Nel is a strategist and operator whose experience spans entertainment, government, and finance. As Chief Operating Officer at New Theory Ventures, a venture firm investing in women and diverse founders leading purpose-driven brands, Heidi leads key business and impact verticals, and is accountable for the ESG portfolio. She also serves as COO of Wild Elements, a New Theory portfolio company, which aims to restore the balance between humanity and nature.
Previously, Heidi was a Principal at The Raben Group and led the Impact Entertainment division. There, she also served as the Executive Director of Represent Justice, the public engagement campaign of Warner Bros.’ Just Mercy.
Heidi was a Partner at Picture Motion, and has served as an adjunct instructor at Duke University in the Sanford School of Public Policy. She has been featured in Fast Company, Forbes, and Variety.
Luana Lobo is a producer, partner and Co-CEO at Maria Farinha Films (MFF).For more than 15 years, MFF has been a leader in impact entertainment in Latin America, focused on stories that resonates with the hearts of many and deliver measurable results. As a member of the UN Global Compact initiative, each of MFF’s projects is designed to be a film-based movement committed to the UN’s SDG (Sustainable Development Goals). The fiction TV Series "Aruanas" S1 and S2 (Globoplay), reached an average of 35 million viewers per episode, becoming a worldwide Twitter trending topic. Among other productions are the franchise "The Beginning of Life" 1 and 2 (Netflix). Luana oversees company-wide business operations, articulates and co-creates strategies together with platforms, activists, artists, socio-environmental organizations and other businesses engaged in social change, in a network with more than 100 impact partners worldwide. Luana also co-created with the indigenous activist Val Munduruku, the afro-Brazilian storyteller Flavia Borges and the psychoanalyst Mazi Rodrigues, an analytical methodology of sensitivity reading to point out script sensibilities, from development to marketing distribution campaigns, strengthening narratives that includes all diversity in our society.
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