Brooke Runnette

has been working on how to use media for impact for more than a decade. At Discovery she transformed a sagging Shark Week stunt into the resurgent ratings hit with a comprehensive rebrand that married shark science with groundbreaking camerawork in a new crop of programming, which resulted in “Happy Shark Week,” a record-breaking ratings success. As President of National Geographic Studios, she coordinated a deployment of the full force of NatGeo’s global platforms –a reach of 750m people –to showcase Bryan Christy’s undercover investigation, Warlords of Ivory, which put pressure on governments around the world for stronger laws and enforcement against illegal ivory trade. She launched the Okavango Wilderness Project by funding Explorer Steve Boyes for an expedition & film exploring the little-known headwaters in Angola in an effort to protect them, bringing the vision to Angolan broadcast TV and government officials, and elevating the profile of a young Angolan scientist, Adjany Costa, who went on to become a UN Young Champion of the Earth and later the Minister of Environment for Angola, in charge of managing the region she helped explore. She founded Change Agency Collective to broaden and advance her work of changing big narratives to make big change across multiple fields including nature, science, medicine, technology, energy and climate collapse, and works with friends at Emerson Collective, Nia Tero, The Polynesian Voyaging Society, and many others.