THE TRAILBLAZER

I’m a founder. Producer. Writer. Director. Creative. Trailblazer.

Case studies in how I discover unparalleled opportunities and create good things:

Proplaya

Chile’s beaches had a serious trash problem. I saw an opportunity.

Trash was piling up on Chile’s coastline and no organization existed to address this growing threat to the ocean and beaches. This challenge — and opportunity — led me to spearhead the founding and creation of Proplaya in 2004, making it Chile’s first nonprofit organization dedicated to tackling coastal environmental issues with grassroots action. I built a team of founding directors, engineers and creatives. Together we generated media, education campaigns and tools for Chile’s citizens to confront coastal pollution. Through Proplaya events we collected tons of beach trash, created water quality monitoring programs, advocated for the coastal environment, and inspired thousands of people. 

Our work quickly attracted the attention of the President of Chile, Ricardo Lagos, who joined us for our first beach cleanup at Ritoque Beach in 2004. Through Proplaya I led collaborations with numerous international nonprofits and businesses including Greenpeace, Oceana, Patagonia, Lowe Porta and many more. 

Nearly 20 years later Proplaya is now enjoying a renaissance with young Chileans who continue to hold periodic beach cleanups and other activities to protect the coastal environment.

Save the Waves Film Festival

Film as activism: innovate fearlessly and joyfully, share widely.

Save the Waves Coalition had a collection of great films produced in-house and a robust network of activist-filmmakers, but there was no compelling outlet for this original new content or its causes. With the blessing of the organization’s board I created this unique traveling film festival and cultural event, collaborating with international brands and artists across multimedia platforms in film, music, advertising, print, digital, and event spaces. 

The film festival and its accompanying events serve as fundraising platforms and a major source of brand engagement for the nonprofit organization Save the Waves Coalition. Through corporate sponsorship, ticket sales and entertainment production the film festival reaches tens of thousands of people while elevating the brand to new and iconic levels of recognition and engagement. These annual events continue to visit dozens of cities across the planet. 

This was some of the most complex and varied work of my career as a creative director, producer and project manager. 

Tsunami Disaster Relief: Fuerza Chile!

One of the largest earthquakes in recorded history was followed by a series of catastrophic tsunamis. We took immediate action to help.

My work as a water protector in Chile was headquartered precisely in the tsunami zone. In a few minutes it became a devastated disaster zone — hundreds of miles of destruction in the Maule, O’Higgins, and Itata Regions. This natural disaster jolted me to sacrifice everything to help the local communities. My friends and colleagues were deep in survival mode, in an epic mess, in our backyard.

Managing a diverse team of relief workers, including Paul Walker and his team of medics, firefighters and doctors at Reach Out Worldwide, I traveled throughout the disaster zone in Chile to deliver medical attention, comfort, and basic supplies. Within 2 weeks we raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations through Save the Waves Coalition. This led to a complex 2-year project to help rebuild the region and its local people. We developed innovative new forms of sustainable economy to replace destroyed livelihoods; we cleaned up the beaches littered with debris from the tsunamis; together with the Chilean Armed Forces and Waves for Water we distributed hundreds of water filters and other material goods for displaced refugees. 

This was the most rewarding and inspiring work of my life and it still gives me goosebumps every time I think about it!

Marlin Ray

Creating a truly unique apparel brand that is free of plastic in the midst of humanity’s Age of Plastics.

We were inspired to create an apparel brand that is plastic-free, produced ethically and sustainably, and is as environmentally sound as possible for both people and the planet. Marlin Ray is a small apparel brand that produces surf and beach goods out of the world’s only carbon-neutral clothing factory. 

I created the brand’s identity, storytelling and voice while producing marketing materials, unconventional events and multimedia campaigns to support the launch and growth of Marlin Ray. 

Waterkeeper Alliance

The Maule-Itata Coastkeeper is the first of its kind in Chile.

A dedicated full-time local activist was needed as a water protector to tackle coastal conservation challenges in the Maule-Itata region of Chile. 

With the support of Chilean environmental law firm FIMA (Fiscalia del Medio Ambiente) and in close collaboration with Save the Waves Coalition I developed and pitched a program to become the first Waterkeeper Alliance in Chile, the Maule-Itata Coastkeeper. 

We created this local nonprofit organization from scratch as a re-imagining of what small-scale local environmental activism can be. Fifteen years later the original Coastkeeper who we hired for the job, Rodrigo de la O, is still a prominent voice for the region’s coastline. Rodrigo has earned numerous hard-fought victories and won several awards for his coastal activist work. 

I am proud to be the spark that ignited this great work. Read more: Oversized Coffins, Massive Rallies, Big Wins

Save the Waves Chile

A local mission-driven organization with international clout was sorely needed.

Iconic coastal destinations in Chile were under threat from development, overuse, and construction. So I imported California-based Save the Waves Coalition to Chile. For 5 years I designed, promoted, and directed the nonprofit’s activities in the country while serving as a coastal activist, environmental ambassador and filmmaker-storyteller. 

Working closely with environmental scientists I enabled numerous water quality studies in critical study areas. With economists I commissioned academic papers and economic surveys studying the impact of coastal tourism and watersports on local economies. With marketing executives I shared the results of these studies with politicians, policy makers, and the general public. With artists and educators I created a series of ad campaigns and innovative events promoting coastal conservation and a love for the Chilean coastline. 

Over 15 years later, Save the Waves Chile program is still a bellwether for innovative environmental protection and community empowerment. 

“And that calm sea it bathes you.” - an excerpt from Chile’s national anthem, Canción Nacional.

~

Copyright 2024 by Josh Berry. All rights reserved.