Ellen Windemuth
Ellen Windemuth is the CEO of WaterBear, a free streaming platform dedicated to the future of our planet. Prior to WaterBear, Ellen was the owner and CEO of the production company Off the Fence, having founded the company in 1994. Ellen is a seasoned Executive Producer and Distributor and has produced over 500 hours to date herself. She executive produced My Octopus Teacher, which won this year’s BAFTA and Oscar for Best Feature Documentary. She is the Chair of the Jackson Hole Film Festival Board, Honorary President of the Sunnyside Doc 2019 festival in La Rochelle, France, and is active in conservation and land development. Ellen was presented with Wildscreen’s Christopher Parson’s Outstanding Achievement Awards 2018.
3 words to describe Nature?
Mother. Protector. Genius
3 things Nature taught you?
There is no waste.
The more carefully you look inside even the smallest habitat, the more fascinating it becomes.
Nature connects humans and animals with their common future.
3 most treasured Nature spots?
South African kelp forest
Okavango Delta
Norwegian fjord outside my house.
When you look at the OCEAN, it makes you feel...?
Vast and open
When you see a FOREST, it makes you feel...?
Protected and understood
When you see a VOLCANO, it makes you feel...?
Awed and excited
When you see a SUNRISE or SUNSET, it makes you feel...?
In harmony with life on earth
When you hear THUNDER, it makes you feel...?
Happy for the rain to fall
When you hear the WIND HOWLING, it makes you feel...?
Wanting a blanket to sit under and listen and tell stories
Are you an OCEAN, MOUNTAIN, FOREST, or DESERT person?
Ocean, Mountain, and Forest
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
10
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
I used to roam outdoors in the fields and the forest nearby, looking for animals in preferably very muddy places. One day I found a pond and discovered how much fun it was to forget the consequences and just jump in in my clothes and immerse. It is my first memory of feeling truly exhilarated from being outdoors
Jay Faires
Jay Faires is an entrepreneur and founder of The Wellness Agency, the first agency dedicated to companies and founders in the $4.2 trillion wellness industry. TWA combines his personal passion for wellness with a proven ability to spot talent, both in entrepreneurs and creatives, at early stages in their career. Jay is recognized as a leading force in the burgeoning wellness industry and advises, drives growth, and connects the dots for the world's leading talent, founders and CEOs, and wellness brands as they together change the future of wellbeing.
Prior to his focus on health and wellness, Jay had a successful career in music as the founder of Mammoth Records, Head of A&R at Atlantic Records, and President of Music at Lionsgate. Jay grew up in Tennessee, holds an MBA from Duke's Fuqua School of Business, and currently spends most of his time between Los Angeles and Asia.
3 words to describe Nature?
Awe inspiring. Powerful. Beautiful. Oh and I must add, unforgiving when she needs to be.
3 things Nature taught you?
The impermanence of things
We are a piece of a much larger whole
The deep interwoven nature of humanity to Mother Earth and subsequent consequences when we ignore this
Can I add one more? That we are here only briefly
3 most treasured Nature spots?
Topanga Canyon, Los Angeles
Powder Mountain, Utah
North Shore of Maui
When you look at the ocean, it makes you feel…?
I breathe deeper. It calms me to look at the broad horizon. And that I want to get back on the waves.
When you see a forest, it makes you feel…?
How can I go deeper into it.
When you see a volcano, it makes you feel…?
Have only been in the crater on top of Maui, looks like the moon. Love the silver plants that only exist up there.
When you see a sunrise or sunset, it makes you feel…?
Like I want to see a lot more of them. LOL
When you hear thunder, it makes you feel…?
I rarely get to hear thunder anymore like I did growing up in the Midwest and south.
When you hear the wind howling, it makes you feel…?
Try and sort what she is trying to tell me.
Are you an Ocean, Mountain, Forest, or Desert person?
I want to say each. But ocean the most.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is Nature to your well-being?
10
Share with us a childhood nature memory?
Camping with my dad in Brown County Indiana at probably around age 7. Pouring rain. We set up our tent and the floor got soaked, an inch of water. It didn’t matter. Earlier that evening before it was raining turning over a rock 10 feet away and seeing a rattle snake, didn’t matter we set up camp there. A lifetime later on my fathers death bed we shared that story naturally finishing each others sentences. We had each remembered it.
