BIO:
Born in an underserved part of Chicago, Natalie and her siblings were raised by two hard working parents who had to moved from city to city to find work. No stranger to adversity, Natalie was determined to make something great out of her life.
At 17, Natalie saw the documentary Invisible Children: The Rough Cut, a film exposing Africa's longest running war. Compelled by this story, she applied to be a volunteer or "roadie" for Invisible Children, using her voice to help end this war.
She quickly stood out among the other interns, and was given responsibility to help lead Invisible Children's largest project to date; an event in 100 cities worldwide called "The Rescue." Through her determination, tens of thousands of people came out to the event, sleeping in the streets for up to six days in order to raise the profile of this war.
Her efforts paid off when Oprah Winfrey invited Invisible Children, and Natalie, onto her show to add her voice to the numbers. The event was then highlighted on Larry King Live, CNN, and countless other news outlets. Natalie's natural charisma, and astounding leadership qualities were not going to stop there.
Following the Rescue event, she worked for Invisible Children for over 3 years. Those years were spent touring the country speaking to thousands of youth, planning events, and working in Invisible Childrens film department where she realized her passion for filmmaking. She worked in Rwanda as a production assistant for many months then moved to Los Angeles in 2011 to continue pursuing film.
That same year she was asked to share her story at TEDxTeen in New York. Her Talk quickly became one of the most viewed TEDxTeen Talks from that year and because of the great response it was featured on TED.com. Since then her talk has received over 400,000 views from around the world, she has been asked to use her story to inspire and challenge youth in the importance of their role to make change, and through all of this is still working hard to pursue her dream of becoming a filmmaker, to continue to share stories of injustices.
THANK YOU FOR ANY HELP
Born in an underserved part of Chicago, Natalie and her siblings were raised by two hard working parents who had to moved from city to city to find work. No stranger to adversity, Natalie was determined to make something great out of her life.
At 17, Natalie saw the documentary Invisible Children: The Rough Cut, a film exposing Africa's longest running war. Compelled by this story, she applied to be a volunteer or "roadie" for Invisible Children, using her voice to help end this war.
She quickly stood out among the other interns, and was given responsibility to help lead Invisible Children's largest project to date; an event in 100 cities worldwide called "The Rescue." Through her determination, tens of thousands of people came out to the event, sleeping in the streets for up to six days in order to raise the profile of this war.
Her efforts paid off when Oprah Winfrey invited Invisible Children, and Natalie, onto her show to add her voice to the numbers. The event was then highlighted on Larry King Live, CNN, and countless other news outlets. Natalie's natural charisma, and astounding leadership qualities were not going to stop there.
Following the Rescue event, she worked for Invisible Children for over 3 years. Those years were spent touring the country speaking to thousands of youth, planning events, and working in Invisible Childrens film department where she realized her passion for filmmaking. She worked in Rwanda as a production assistant for many months then moved to Los Angeles in 2011 to continue pursuing film.
That same year she was asked to share her story at TEDxTeen in New York. Her Talk quickly became one of the most viewed TEDxTeen Talks from that year and because of the great response it was featured on TED.com. Since then her talk has received over 400,000 views from around the world, she has been asked to use her story to inspire and challenge youth in the importance of their role to make change, and through all of this is still working hard to pursue her dream of becoming a filmmaker, to continue to share stories of injustices.
THANK YOU FOR ANY HELP