About Ami Vitale
Ami Vitale’s career stands as a testament to her deep dedication to documenting and addressing global crises. As an acclaimed National Geographic Explorer at Large, award-winning photographer, writer, and documentary filmmaker, as well as the founder of Vital Impacts. Ami has consistently spotlighted critical issues affecting our world.
Ami Vitale’s career stands as a testament to her deep dedication to documenting and addressing global crises. Ami Vitale is a National Geographic Explorer at Large, award-winning photographer, writer, documentary filmmaker, and the founder of Vital Impacts. Her work explores the vital connections between people, wildlife, and the planet. With nearly three decades of experience working in over 100 countries, Ami uses storytelling as a tool for conservation, empathy, and action.
Her career began in conflict zones, where she witnessed firsthand how environmental degradation—including resource scarcity, displacement, and climate instability—profoundly affects human lives. These early experiences shaped her conviction that environmental and social issues are inseparable, guiding her toward long-term, solutions-focused work that highlights resilience, collaboration, and possibility.
Vitale’s work focuses on the stories of individuals living on the front lines of war, climate change, and extinction, who refuse to let cataclysm define their futures. Through her compelling journalism, she highlights stories of resilience and innovation, emphasizing the delicate balance between humanity and wildlife and the urgent need for conservation. Vitale’s work connects viewers to critical local conservation issues of global importance, underscoring our interconnectedness with one another and the natural world.
In addition to her journalism and filmmaking, Vitale is the founder and Executive Director of Vital Impacts, a non-profit organization that leverages the power of art to inspire and mobilize youth as agents of change. Vitale and her non-profit have raised over $5 million to support vital conservation projects.
Ami is a Royal Photographic Society Honorary Fellow and a recipient of the prestigious Lucie Humanitarian Award, the Missouri Honor Media for Distinguished Service, and an inductee into the North Carolina Media and Journalism Hall of Fame. She has also received the Daniel Pearl Award for Outstanding Reporting, the Global Peace Photo Award, been named Magazine Photographer of the Year at the International Photographer of the Year awards, and is a six-time recipient of World Press Photo awards. Instyle magazine featured her alongside Jane Goodall and Ruth Bader Ginsburg in its series “Fifty Badass Women,” celebrating women who exemplify courage and action. Ami served as Conservation International’s 2023/2024 Lui-Walton Innovators Fellow. A sought-after speaker, she continues to share her experiences and insights with audiences worldwide, featured on the National Geographic Channel Explorer TV series and awarded the distinguished title of National Geographic Explorer at Large in 2026.
Based in Montana, Ami can be reached at info@amivitale.com.
