Speakers Bureau

Inspire, Challenge, Motivate

National Geographic Speakers Bureau represents the world’s boldest Explorers, scientists, photographers and storytellers. These tailor-made experiences inspire, challenge and motivate audiences — from dynamic corporate keynotes to unforgettable gala evenings. Contact us today to bring the world to your private event.

Available Speakers

Showing 9 of 16 results

Aliyah Griffith

Resilience, Science, Teamwork, Leadership, Climate Change, Adventure

Dr. Aliyah Griffith is a marine scientist passionate about marine science communication and inclusivity. Focusing on coral reef resilience and management, her research experiences have taken her from the reefs of Moorea, French Polynesia, to the Caribbean coastlines of Barbados. In 2022, she became the first African-American to earn a graduate degree in marine science from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. In 2025, she became the first African American to receive a PhD from the same department. As the Founder of Mahogany Mermaids, a nonprofit dedicated to inspiring children of color to engage in aquatic sciences, she has reached hundreds of children nationally with virtual and in-person events and resources. Passionate about inspiring future generations, she has authored a children’s book, My Secret Mermaid, showcasing careers in marine science and ocean exploration.

Anastasia Taylor-Lind

Photography, Resilience, Storytelling, Teamwork, Adventure, Culture, Health

Anastasia Taylor-Lind is a British-Swedish photojournalist who has contributed to National Geographic magazine and other leading editorial publications. She is also an author, poet, TED Fellow and 2016 Harvard Nieman Fellow. Taylor-Lind has worked in Ukraine for over a decade, covering issues relating to women, war and violence. Her first book, "MAIDAN - Portraits from the Black Square," documents the 2014 Euromaidan Revolution and was published by GOST Books the same year. Her poetry focuses on contemporary conflicts and the experiences she cannot photograph. In 2022, her first collection, "One Language," was published in the U.K. by Smith|Doorstop. In 2023, she received the Canon Female Photojournalist Award for her long-term reporting from eastern Ukraine, and over 100,000 people visited her exhibition 'Ukraine: Photographs from the Frontline' at the Imperial War Museum.

Brian J. Skerry

Wildlife, Photography, Conservationism, Science, Adventure, Climate Change, Leadership, Resilience, Storytelling, Sustainability, Teamwork

Brian Skerry is a film producer/director and veteran photojournalist specializing in marine wildlife and underwater realms. His recent documentary film credits include "Secrets of the Whales" and "Return of the White Shark," both currently streaming on Disney+. In 2021, Skerry received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary as a producer of "Secrets of the Whales." Since 1998, Skerry has been a contributing photographer for National Geographic magazine, where he has created and photographed more than 30 feature stories, including seven cover stories. His work has also been featured in publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Paris Match, Esquire, and Audubon. In 2014 he was named as a National Geographic Society Photography Fellow and then named a National Geographic Society Storytelling Fellow in 2017 - the same year he was awarded the title of Rolex National Geographic Explorer of the Year. In 2016, he received the National Geographic magazine's Photographer’s Photographer Award, a recognition bestowed by his colleagues, other National Geographic magazine photographers. Skerry was named the 2025 Nature Photographer of the Year by the North American Nature Photographers Association. Skerry is the author of 12 books including the acclaimed monographs "Ocean Soul," "SHARK" and "Secrets of the Whales."

David Doubilet

Adventure, Climate Change, Leadership, Photography, Resilience, Science, Storytelling, Wildlife, Teamwork

David Doubilet is a photojournalist specializing in ocean environments. He is a contributing photographer and author for National Geographic magazine, producing over 70 feature stories ranging from equatorial coral reefs to life beneath the polar ice. Doubilet enters the sea as a journalist, artist and explorer to document both the beauty and the devastation in our oceans. Over the course of his career, he has spent over 26,000 hours in the sea creating a window into the hidden world beneath the surface. He has spent five decades exploring the far corners of our water world from interior Africa, the marine riches of the coral triangle, temperate seas of Japan, Tasmania and New Zealand, mysterious and misunderstood world of the sharks, the Sargasso Sea, secret life of freshwater eels, ghosts of war WWII shipwrecks and recently life in the polar ice. He has been referred to as the “Audubon of the Sea” and uses photography as a universal voice for a vanishing ocean. He is currently documenting the UNESCO Marine World Heritage Site coral reefs at risk from climate change. Doubilet is a featured presenter for Nat Geo Live, a columnist, contributing editor and author of twelve books. He has been named a Contributing Photographer-in-Residence at National Geographic, a member of the Royal Photographic Society, and has been a Rolex Testimonee since 1994.

Ella Al-Shamahi

Adventure, Culture, Science, Teamwork, Storytelling, Conservationism

Ella Al-Shamahi is an explorer, palaeoanthropologist, and evolutionary biologist turned stand-up and TV presenter, who has fronted science, natural history and archaeology programmes on the BBC, National Geographic, PBS and beyond! With an adventurous spirit and unafraid to get her hands dirty, Ella specialises in expeditions in politically unstable hostile territories like Yemen and Somaliland. In 2015 she was given the prestigious title of National Geographic Explorer. New for 2025, Ella has been announced to present HUMAN, a major 5-part BBC and PBS series. This exciting series uses a combination of archaeology, travelogue and reconstruction to tell the story of how we became, well, ‘us’: modern humans. Ella will follow in the footsteps of our ancient ancestors – visiting historical sites to meet experts who can help her unlock the secrets of our deep past. She is also making her mark in the podcast scene as host of the BBC World Services’s The Conversation – a podcast that brings women together who share an experience or expertise. She is also on her second season of BBC Radio 4’s Why Do We Do That. In 2019 she presented National Geographic’s Viking Warrior Women where during filming she discovered what might be the first evidence of a battle injury on a female Viking warrior! As well as this, Ella has presented multiple documentaries for Channel 4 including ‘What Killed the Whale’ which investigated a 40-foot sei whale washed up in… Edinburgh! In addition to her scientific work, Ella uses comedy as a tool to communicate complex scientific concepts to a wider audience. She has performed stand-up comedy internationally, including at the Bloomsbury Theatre, the National Geographic main stage, and Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She was a TED main stage speaker in 2019 where her talk on explaining dangerous places gained 2.5 million views. Finally her first book ‘The Handshake’ was a Times Book of the Year.

Jen Hayes

Adventure, Climate Change, Leadership, Photography, Science, Storytelling, Teamwork, Wildlife

Jennifer Hayes is a contributing photographer, author and speaker for National Geographic Partners. She is a scientist turned storyteller submerging 12,000 + hours beneath the surface from interior Africa, freshwater ponds to the Pacific and to both polar regions.

Keith Ladzinski

Photography, Wildlife, Adventure, Climate Change, Teamwork, Resilience

Keith Ladzinski is a photographer and filmmaker based out of Boulder, Colorado. Known for his unique visual aesthetic and wide range of eclectic story telling, over the past 2 decades Keith has traveled widely throughout the seven continents to many of the planets most remote and formidable locations documenting high altitude climbing expeditions, rare wildlife, scientific discoveries, climate change and sever weather events throughout tornado alley. From Mt Everest, interior Greenland, free diving with alligators, to the Icy waters of Antarctica, it’s here, in these raw environments, where he finds himself most at home. His passion for story telling has earned him over 20 National Geographic Assignments and an Emmy nomination. Keith is a contributing photographer at National Geographic Magazine, a founding member of the Sea Legacy Collective, a Canon Ambassador and has worked for clients globally including Apple, Disney, Google, Oprah Network, Toyota, Adidas, Discovery, Nike, Red Bull, The North Face, The New York Times, and National Geographic TV. To see more of Keith’s work please visit www.ladzinski.com or on Instagram at @ladzinski

Kenneth Broad

Adventure, Climate Change, Culture, Leadership, Resilience, Sustainability, Teamwork, Technology, Wildlife, Conservationism

Kenny Broad is an environmental anthropologist who studies the relationship between humans and their environment. He received his Ph.D. in anthropology from Columbia University in 1999 and in 2011 he was chosen as the Rolex National Geographic Explorer of the Year, with the late Wes Skiles. Broad was selected as a National Geographic 2006 Emerging Explorer and was elected a Fellow National of the Explorers Club in 2009. He is a licensed U.S. Coast Guard captain and commercial helicopter pilot. Since 1992, he has participated in over 20 National Geographic expeditions, including extreme scientific and filmmaking projects on every continent - from studying cocaine distribution patterns to tracking venomous snakes to exploring the deepest caves on the planet - to gather information that sheds light on little known environmental and cultural subjects. He has published dozens of interdisciplinary papers on social and natural science topics, and he regularly collaborates with ecologists, climatologists, hydrologists, psychologists, and a host of other scientists across unique disciplines. He served on the National Geographic Society Expeditions Council, is on the Nat Geo Live Speakers Bureau, and has traveled as an expert on many Nat Geo Expeditions travel excursions. Broad served as co-director of Columbia University Center for Research on Environmental Decisions for over 15 years. He is currently a professor of environmental science and policy and director of the Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy at the University of Miami.

Krithi K Karanth

Leadership, Science, Storytelling, Resilience, Conservationism, Climate Change, Sustainability, Technology, Wildlife, Teamwork

Krithi Karanth is Chief Conservation Scientist and Director of the Centre for Wildlife Studies at Duke University. She has a Ph.D. from Duke (2008), a M.E.Sc from Yale (2003), and B.S and B.A degrees from the University of Florida (2001 ). Karanth’s research in India and Asia for the past 23 years is on the human dimensions of wildlife conservation. She has conducted macro-level studies assessing patterns of species distributions and extinctions, impacts of wildlife tourism, consequences of voluntary resettlement, land use change, and understanding human-wildlife interactions. She has published 100+ scientific and popular articles in English and Kannada. Karanth served on the editorial boards of journals Conservation Biology, Conservation Letters, and Frontiers in Ecology and Environment. She has mentored over 200 young scientists from India, US, Chile, UK, Australia, Indonesia etc. and engaged 750 citizen science volunteers in her research and conservation projects. As a conservationist, she has designed the Wild Seve, Wild Shaale, and Wild Surakshe programs. Karanth has collaborated with painters, illustrators, film-makers, and photographers. Her conservation and research work has been featured in three award-winning BBC Series and in documentaries by CBC and PBS. She has co-produced 4 documentaries Wild Seve, Humane Highways, Wild Shaale, and Flying Elephants. In 2020, she co-starred with Kevin Pietersen in Save This Rhino: India by Disney Hotstar and National Geographic. She has written a bilingual children's book with artist Raghava KK. Karanth’s work has been covered by over 250 international media outlets and has garnered her more than 40 awards and recognitions. In 2019, she was chosen as one of the five Rolex Award for Enterprise Laureates. In 2020, she became an Eisenhower Fellow and in 2021, she was recognized as a WILD Innovator, Ananta Aspen fellow, and featured by the Government of India’s Invest India.

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