Q&A with GWC Ambassadors (Part 1)

Back in November 2020, we launched the Girls Who Click Ambassador Program! Our 2021 inaugural year collaboration features 24 talented young photographers/filmmakers from a variety of backgrounds, and from all around the world, with professional women who have been successful in these creative fields. It’s been incredibly inspiring to get to know some of these young women and to see them grow in these past couple months.

We wanted to share this inspiration with you, so we’re sitting down with all of our Ambassadors to learn about their story and the amazing things they’ve been doing. This is part 1 of the series, and we’ll be featuring more throughout the year. Enjoy!

Featured in this blog:

Angelica Mills

1. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I was born and raised in South Africa, with nature all around me. My real passion as a kid has always been conservation. But when I was younger, I thought conservation was a really difficult degree, so I went the opposite way of going into tourism. I studied for a tourism degree in 2015, which landed me a job as a travel consultant for a photographic tourism company.

While working for this company, I got exposed to a program called Children in the Wilderness, and that just sparked everything for me. I call it my passion project. The program promotes sustainable conservation through leadership. They teach the rural kids living in or bordering game reserves about things like why it’s so important to conserve wildlife and exposing them to tourism related jobs. I’ve been volunteering for them since 2017. It’s absolutely incredible working with the kids and realizing the difference you make. That made me want to get back into conservation.

As you can tell, I’ve got an intense passion for Africa, the communities, and wildlife photography has become like a big part of my life. That has all inspired me to make a career out of it.

2.     Why did you apply to the Ambassador Program? What are you hoping to achieve?

So interestingly enough, I actually met Suzi just before I started volunteering for Children in the Wilderness. I was helping one my colleagues in Mashatu Game Reserve in Botswana to manage the photo concession. One morning, I had to go with Suzi into one of the photo hides. We got to talking and I learned about GWC. And last year, my colleague, who is actually one of the mentors Janet Kleyn, encouraged me to apply to the Ambassador Program.

I think what drew me into the program was the community that it offers. I wanted the right kind of guidance and support structure. I want to be a conservation storyteller, but I need guidance. I need constructive criticism. I need somebody who’s going to help push me and connect me with like-minded individuals. 

I also feel like this program will help me make a difference in other people’s lives. Right now, I’m taking all these photos, but I’m not doing anything with it. And I actually want to do something with it. I want to make a difference in programs like Children in the Wilderness. I hope that through this program, I’ll be able to achieve my long-term goal of being an accomplished wildlife photographer, and start making a real difference through my photography and projects that I’m passionate about.

3.     How has the program helped you?

Mary Ann McDonald, my mentor, is incredible. She gives me constructive criticism on my photographs and then she tells me what I need to improve on them. She helps me to focus on technical things like my composition, things that I’m lacking because I’m pretty much a self-taught photographer. It’s invaluable, the information I’m getting from her. And she’s already mentioned these people that she would like to reach out to and connect me with.

4.     What are you up to now? Anything you’re really excited about?

I’m currently busy with my nature guiding qualification! I really want to live and work in the Bush, and I think lockdown kind of forced me now to look within and actually do something about it. 

I’ve been doing classes since the 13th of January. I’m currently doing the theory component, which are online classes that give me a broader understanding of wildlife and the natural environment. I’ve got my exam in March, and if I pass that, then I can go do my practical and then I’ll be a qualified nature guide.

See Angelica’s work here.

Aishwarya Sridhar

1. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I am a wildlife filmmaker and photographer from India. My love for photography started when I saw my first wild tiger when I was 10 years old. My dad is a member of Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), and he used to take me for wildlife trips. I really wanted to do something that would preserve the memories of those trips, and photography seemed the best option. My dad gifted me a camera for my 11th birthday. And after that, it became my favorite toy. I used to carry it to all my adventures. 

After my 10th standard board exams, I felt that I would not be suitable for a desk job and have a routine kind of life. The media and watching National Geographic documentaries was something which I really enjoyed, so I had this dream that one day I wanted my films or my photos to also be on National Geographic. I decided to work towards that more seriously after graduation, and that’s how I got into photography and filmmaking full-time.

2.     Why did you apply to the Ambassador Program? What are you hoping to achieve?

One of my friends, a senior in the industry in India in wildlife photography, sent me the application for the Ambassador Program. I checked out the rules, and I found it extremely interesting. It was something where I could get to connect with fellow wildlife photographers from around the globe, as well as have a dedicated, personal mentor who I could turn to whenever I needed any help. 

I’m someone who’s learned photography from the internet, so I’ve had no formal training in this whole world of photography and filmmaking. I felt that the program would definitely help in my career’s progress. If I have a person mentoring me who could help me achieve this dream of working with National Geographic, and I could get to connect and network with a lot of senior professionals in this industry, it would be a great opportunity.

3.     How has the program helped you so far?

My mentor, Jennifer Leigh Warner, she’s also a wildlife photographer. She’s based in the US and she’s very sweet. In fact, we’ve had four meetings up to now and she’s extremely helpful. I can put any queries anytime that I have to her either on WhatsApp or email. We also have this little community on her website, where she has a chat room for both of us. She posts stuff that I need to look at there. She’s given me some assignments as well, and she’s helping me build my portfolio and teaching me how to put together a conservation story.

4.     What are you up to now? Anything you’re really excited about?

My film is releasing! It’s called “Tiger Queen of Taru”, and it’s coming on Nat Geo Wild (not in North America unfortunately). So that’s something I’m really excited about.

See more of Aishwarya’s work here.

Kate Vylet

1. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I’m an underwater photographer and videographer based in Monterey Bay, California. I’ve been into photography for a very long time, and have had a love for photographing birds and bugs since when I was a little kid that just kept developing as I grew up. 

I discovered scuba diving in college, and it was just game over after that. It was just underwater photography and nothing else. I love underwater photography because it’s just this world that no one sees, and so being able to photograph that and bring that to the surface for people to experience is pretty cool.

So I’ve just been shooting like that for the past decade now. Mostly focusing on the kelp forest that we’re lucky to have right here in our backyard.

2.     Why did you apply to the Ambassador Program? What are you hoping to achieve?

I met Suzi a while back before Girls Who Click started. We had the same professor at UC Santa Cruz and he introduced us. She was really nice and she invited me to her home to talk about photography. That moment still means a lot to me.

After that, I watched Girls Who Click develop and I was like “Oh, I wish I was young enough to do that. I’m a bit too old now.” And then the Ambassador Program came along, it was just like a no-brainer to get involved in that.

I’ve been doing photography for a long time, but I’ve been kind of lost, I guess, in how to enter it professionally. I know it’s possible. We all see like these professional photographers, but there isn’t a clear entryway into that. So when I saw the program, it just seemed perfect as an opportunity to learn how to get into professional photography.

3.     How has the program helped you?

My mentor is Michele Westmorland, who’s a very talented underwater photographer. She’s been awesome. She has a lot of experience in underwater photography and travel, where she has a big project about Papua New Guinea. She’s been kind of guiding me with starting a story that’s based in the kelp forests of Monterey Bay, which is what I’m working on now.

4.     What are you up to now? Anything you’re really excited about?

I’ve never done a full photo story, so I’m pretty excited to be working on that. I have a few side things too, which are kind of on the back burner right now. But I think just getting in the water to get those pictures, and putting a real complete photo story together for the first time, is what I’m excited about right now.

See more of Kate’s work here.

Alice Sun

1. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I’m a visual storyteller based on the west coast of Canada. I started photography when I was 11 years old, where I found immense joy in photographing and learning about birds. I photographed all throughout high school and I got accepted into the NANPA High School Scholarship Program. It changed my life, because I never thought nature photography and visual storytelling could be an actual career. 

I then went on to study wildlife biology in university, hoping to first make a path in science. But during that, I realized the gap between science and the rest of the world. So I went back into school to pursue visual storytelling as a career, for real this time, first by studying in the Environmental Visual Communications program in Ontario, and now as a science communicator.

2.     Why did you apply to GWC? What are you hoping to achieve?

I started out as a blog writer at GWC at the beginning of 2020 (yes I am the one writing this blog. Hello dear reader!). That’s when I got connected with Suzi, who recommended that I apply to the Ambassador Program.

I’ve only started taking visual storytelling more seriously as a career in the past year, so I’m hoping that this program will help guide me on how to take my hobby to a career. Mostly, I hope to, one day, pitch and publish my own conservation story, and break into the photojournalism world.

3.     How has the program helped you?

My mentor Mary Ann McDonald has been a great help to me. She pushes me to go after my goals and keeps me accountable (especially important when you’re self-employed). I’m also someone who has a lot of interests, so having someone in the industry that you can talk to about your choices and plans, and get validation, is incredibly empowering.

4.     What are you up to now? Anything you’re really excited about?

Photography has been tough with things on lockdown, so at the moment, I’ve been focusing on building my writing and design skills. Writing this blog post, working with Impact Media Lab as a designer, along with some other exciting future posts/side projects, has been one of the ways I’ve been doing that.

See more of Alice’s work here.

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Thanks for reading!

Responses have been edited for length and clarity