Kathy Eldon
Born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and a graduate of Wellesley College, Kathy has worked as a teacher, journalist, author and film and television producer in England, Africa and the United States. In 1998 Kathy launched Creative Visions Foundation, inspired by the life of Kathy's son, Dan Eldon – artist and photojournalist- killed at the age of 22 in 1993, while on assignment for Reuters in Somalia. Since 2004, the organization has acted as an incubator, accelerator and agency for more than 360 projects and productions by artists, filmmakers, playwrights and leaders of social movements. Creative Visions, which has impacted more than 100 million people, has been recognized as a United Nations Non-Governmental Organization (NGO.)
In 1990, Kathy founded Creative Visions Productions to produce films that would inspire action. Her first feature, Lost in Africa, brought alive the horrors of ivory poaching in Africa. Since then, the company has produced many award-winning films, including Dying to Tell the Story, an Emmy-nominated TBS special about frontline correspondents; Soldiers of Peace, a Children's Crusade, a CNN documentary focusing on the Children's Peace Movement in Colombia, and Global Tribe, a cutting-edge PBS series featuring grass-roots global creative activists. Global Tribe inspired the development of Creative Visions Foundation’s Rock Your World, a free online human-rights based program that inspires and empowers middle and high school students to create media campaigns about local and global issues that matter to them. RYW has touched more than one million students in 72 countries.
Kathy is the executive producer of Extraordinary Moms, a special about the power of mothers to transform the world, for the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN). The film features actress Julia Roberts, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, correspondent Christiane Amanpour, talk show host Rosie O’Donnell and three lesser known (but extraordinary), mothers. Together with Nelson Mandela’s grandson, Kathy produced The Journey is the Destination, a feature film about Dan, directed by Bronwen Hughes (Harriet the Spy, Forces of Nature, Stander) which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival with actress Maria Bello playing Kathy. Journey also screened at the United Nations and is now on Netflix. Kathy is the Executive Producer of Youth Unstoppable, an award-winning film that shares the ten-year journey of climate change activist and filmmaker Slater Jewell Kemker, who began the project at the age of 14.
Kathy is the author of 17 books, including Angel Catcher, Soul Catcher and Love Catcher (Chronicle), a series of popular self-guided journals written with her daughter Amy. Kathy, editor of a best-selling collection of her son Dan's journals, The Journey is the Destination: The Journals of Dan Eldon, has also written popular cookbooks, travel and eating out guides and children's social history books. Harper One published her memoir, In the Heart of Life.
Kathy has been profiled in a number of books, including Arianna Huffington's On Becoming Fearless, Those Who Dare; Real People, Real Courage; Fearless Women and 200 Women. The PVBLIC Foundation chose for her for their Media for Social Impact Award at the United Nations. Los Angeles Confidential Magazine named Kathy and Maria Bello as one of “Los Angeles’ Most Influential Female Power Duos.” On Nelson Mandela's Birthday in 2013, Kweku and Ndaba Mandela nominated Kathy for the George H.W. Bush "Points of Light" award. Kathy also received a grant of $25,000 for Creative Visions after winning Unite4Humanity's Inspiration Award in the Arts. She also received the Euro-American Women's Council Award for her work with young creative activists.
Kathy, a popular speaker (with two TEDx talks including “The F-Word Transformed” - about Forgiveness), has been featured on countless television and radio programs globally, including several appearances on Oprah and a segment on Oprah's "Producer's Favorites."
Kathy lives in Malibu with her husband, designer Michael Bedner, next to her daughter Amy Eldon Turteltaub and her family, a few steps away from the Dan Eldon Center for Creative Activism, a vibrant hub for individuals who want to help change their bit of the world for the better.
See more at: www.kathyeldon.com