Native and Everyday Projects Mentorship Program (2018-2020):
As part of our mission to nurture and amplify the voices of emerging photographers from underrepresented communities, Native and The Everyday Projects launched their inaugural series of long-term educative mentorships by regional and international professionals in the field of documentary and editorial photography.
The Mentorship Program offered mentees a cost-free learning opportunity to develop skills that helped them foster a unique visual language and build their career with the ultimate goal of helping create an industry that more accurately reflects the diversity of the world and the people whose stories we document.
Over the course of the two-year program, each mentee produced a personal project on a shared theme, which for the inaugural series was “Territory.” Mentees received feedback on this project and others that they were shooting, and received additional instruction on business practices, promotion, and other topics to help them navigate the media industry.
Our mentors:
The Native and Everyday Projects mentors were award-winning professional photographers and editors from around the world. The team included industry experts working and shooting for publications and organizations such as National Geographic, The New York Times, the Washington Post, TIME, the Associated Press, and many others. They include recipients of World Press Photo awards, POYi and POYLatam awards, Days Japan International Photojournalism awards, the Getty Instagram grant, Magnum Foundation grants, Pulitzer Center grants, and numerous other awards, as well as members and co-founders of NOOR and VII.
Our 2018 - 2020 mentors were:
Adriana Zehbrauskas, Alice Gabriner, Allison Shelley, Andrew Esiebo, Andrew Katz, Brent Lewis, Donald Weber, Edward Echwalu, James Estrin, Jennifer Samuel, John Stanmeyer, Michael Robinson Chavez, Nick Kirkpatrick, Olivier Laurent, Oscar B. Castillo, Peter DiCampo, Ricci Shryock, Shahidul Alam, Shaminder Dulai, Stephen Mayes, Tanya Habjouqa, and Walter Astrada.
The inaugural class of The Native and Everyday Projects were emerging photographers from 20 countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America.
Our 2018 - 2020 mentees were:
Johis Alarcón (Ecuador)
Enayat Asadi (Iran)
Cynthia Santos Barrios (Puerto Rico)
Girma Berta (Ethiopia)
Amrita Chandradas (Singapore)
Marissa Chen (Singapore)
Barry Christianson (South Africa)
Daouda Corera (Mauritania)
Victor Zea Diaz (Peru)
Yagazie Emezi (Nigeria)
Thana Faroq (Yemen)
Fabiola Ferrero (Venezuela)
Néha Hirve (India)
Heba Khamis (Egypt)
Angela Ponce (Peru)
Miora Rajaonary (Madagascar)
Christina Rizk (Egypt)
Zied Ben Romdhane (Tunisia)
Tom Saater (Nigeria)
Manuel Seoane (Bolivia)
Ley Uwera (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Biko Wesa (Kenya)