Caroline Bennett is the Communications Director at Amazon Watch, a nonprofit organization working to protect the rainforest and advance the rights of indigenous peoples in the Amazon Basin. Prior to diving into communications strategy, Caroline worked as a photographer and multimedia journalist telling award-winning stories that shed light on social justice, cultural and environmental conservation, and the human condition. She believes storytelling and design are powerful tools that have been under-leveraged in the social change sector and is on a mission to empower NGOs, social entrepreneurs and other organizations working for the common good through access to high impact visual storytelling, cutting edge digital communication strategies, and an innovative and practical sphere for implementing interactive advocacy journalism that inspires action.
From producing and shooting stories in the field to strategizing distribution through websites, social media, online actions and traditional publications, Caroline uses a variety of tools to demystify stories from the Amazon and beyond for a diversity of audiences.
Caroline participated in the January 2014 MediaStorm Methodology Workshop. She had the following to say about her experience:
The methodology workshop is an unparalleled, transparent look at the guts of MediaStorm and its own origin story masterfully debunked. You get to hang out with a tribe of folks who unapologetically believe in the power and value of a great story, and spend the week validating it—a sort of strange and empowering group therapy for visual journalists in some sense, greatly enriched by the diversity of cherry-picked participants. Brian manages to live somewhere in the crack between right and left brains, balancing creative drive and passion with a levelheadedness and business savvy that is rare in this industry. I came looking for new ways to empower organizations and influencers working for the common good by providing innovative strategies and a practical sphere for implementing authentic, high-impact storytelling that goes beyond raising awareness to spur action. I left with a mandate to collaborate with the best of the best (who wants to play?..!), clarity around my own mission and a keener eye for the tiny, simple essence of things that instantly connects us all.