HOME REDISCOVERED
Home has long been a symbol of security and safety. Explore how the future of home is changing by watching: Home Rediscovered.
Home has long been a symbol of security and safety. Explore how the future of home is changing by watching: Home Rediscovered.
Andrés Ruzo
Host, National Geographic Explorer
Andrés has realized throughout this past year that human beings as species have survived many crises, both environmental and social. He’s realized that humanity’s superpower is actually family. Andrés has tapped into this first hand by moving to Dallas to be with his family and will continue to explore that powerful family connection.
Andrés Ruzo is a geothermal scientist, conservationist, educator, host, author, and science communicator best known for his work at the Boiling River of the Amazon. He holds degrees in Geology and Finance, and will soon finish his Ph.D. in Earth Sciences focusing on Geothermal Studies. Ruzo is a National Geographic Explorer and has been on multiple Society funded grants. He is the host of an award-winning NatGeo Latin America television show, Misterios del Inframundo (Mysteries of the Underworld). His work has been featured on various National Geographic Media outlets. Ruzo grew up between Peru, Nicaragua and the United States, and is currently based in Dallas, Texas.
Ruzo is the Founder and Director of the Boiling River Project, a nonprofit aimed at understanding, protecting, and bringing value to the Boiling River, the Amazon, and unique geothermal systems across the globe. Through the Boiling River Project he works to turn the Boiling River area into a Mecca of scientific investigation and has played active roles in research from various fields of geoscience, botany, biology, microbiology, anthropology, linguistics, ethno-history, shamanism, conservation economics, wildlife trafficking, and sustainable tourism. He is also heavily involved in indigenous and local empowerment work in the Central Peruvian Amazon, through educational and sustainable economic initiatives.
Beyond his Amazonian work, Ruzo is heavily involved with K-12 and university level education. He serves on boards a high school and university in Costa Rica, is a high-school level Student Independent Research Teacher at schools in the United States, and supports girl’s K-12 education initiatives through groups in Nicaragua and Peru.
Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant
Host, National Geographic Explorer
Rae’s specialty in large animal ecology and her recent experience as a new mother has drawn her focus to the evolving role of the female and mothers during the pandemic. She’s extremely interested in exploring the emerging mother/matriarch dynamic and how it has shifted and will adapt into the future.
Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant is a wildlife ecologist with an expertise in uncovering how human activity influences carnivore behavior and ecology. In particular, she focuses on the ecological and social drivers of human-carnivore conflict. Her current field system encompasses the central coast of California where she is studying the unique ecology of carnivores in coastal zones, as well as the role of protected areas in connectivity of high quality habitat for large carnivores. Her previous research questions surrounded the ecological drivers of human-carnivore conflict with grizzly bears in the Northern Great Plains, black bears in the Western Great Basin, African lions in rural Kenya and Tanzania, as well as grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
A native Californian, Dr. Wynn-Grant attributes her interest in wildlife and conservation from the television shows she watched as a child. She was introduced to the field of conservation biology as an undergraduate and is unapologetic about her passion for studying charismatic megafauna. Dr. Wynn-Grant serves on the Board of Directors for NatureBridge, where she largely aids the organizations in their equity, inclusion, and diversity strategies.
Dr. Wynn-Grant received her B.S. in Environmental Studies from Emory University, her M.S. in Environmental Studies from Yale University, and her Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolution from Columbia University. She completed a Conservation Science Research and Teaching Postdoctoral fellowship with the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation at the American Museum of Natural History. She is currently a Research Faculty member at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management leading carnivore research on the Jack and Laura Dangermond Preserve. She maintains a Research Fellow position with National Geographic Society focusing on carnivore conservation in partnership with the American Prairie Reserve and a Visiting Scientist position at the American Museum of Natural History.
Celeste Sloman
National Geographic Photographer
Celeste, born and raised in New York City, is a Brooklyn-based photographer whose renowned portraiture intimately connects audiences to the emotion and nuance of the human condition. Her recent portraits of families who lost loved ones due to Covid-19, shot on an iPod in her home, were featured in a nationalgeographic.com cover profile. During the pandemic, she purchased her first home, a studio loft in Brooklyn. This experience was transformational for her as an artist and a true milestone, fulfilling a lifelong dream. Now, with this project, she will be traveling across the country on assignment photographing families who have also changed their living situation during the pandemic to get a better understanding of the change we have collectively experienced what the future might hold.
Celeste Sloman is an American photographer and director born and raised in New York City. After completing a degree in Art History at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, Celeste returned to New York to pursue photography. Celeste's work has been published nationally and internationally in publications including National Geographic, The New York Times, Time Magazine, NPR, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, The Wall Street Journal Magazine, The Washington Post, Elle Magazine, Variety, W Magazine, Refinery 29, WWD, Bloomberg Markets, Fortune Magazine, Outside Magazine, Harvard Business Review, the Village Voice, Surface Magazine, Psychology Today, WWD, People Magazine, Der Spiegel, Zeit Magazine, Out Magazine, and more.