Use your curiosity and creativity to change the world. One video at a time.
The Flip the Lens (FTL) Culture Correspondent Program offers high school & university students the opportunity to build digital portfolios by creating videos on culture, our unique differences, and our shared human condition. Here we showcase the filmmaking skills and social consciousness of students to the world! We invite students to become a Filmmaker & Culture Correspondent with the Flip the Lens seven-week online, on-demand course.
The Flip the Lens Backstory
Flip the Lens was founded by two everyday people who believe that any one of us can change the world if we try. In March of 2020, as Covid began to emerge around the world, FTL co-founder Mahima was interning for Meg while getting her MBA in Tourism from University of Lugano in Switzerland. The two are from different generations and other sides of the planet from each other; Meg was located in Boston and Mahima in India.
Yet they both realized they felt social media was making them feel even more alienated and disconnected during a scary time of isolation in the world. They perceived social media as being self-centered and superficial, and saw it leading to competitiveness, feelings of being less-than, bullying, and depression.
Out of their frustration, as well as a desire for a way to connect online that was authentic and for a platform for creating digital content that is meaningful, Flip the Lens was born. Their idea was to create a “reason” for people to turn the camera outward rather than focus on selfies. They saw an opportunity to start conversations about topics that are increasingly important in a world that needs more peace and harmony.
Together, Mahima and Meg came up with the idea for the Being Human Project, which is an interview series on the themes of Belonging, Creativity, Culture, and a Day in the Life of a Culture Creator.
Meg and Mahima invite you to join them in changing the world, one video at a time!
Be Part of a Movement to Bring
Social Media From Me to We
Since its invention about 20 years ago, social media has fostered amazing individual self-expression and creativity. People love sharing where they’ve been, what they’ve done, and interesting content they’ve made or discovered. Our idea is to take that to the next level.
Don’t be an influencer. Be an advocate.
Use a camera as a window. Not a mirror.
Forget selfies. See others.
Collaborate. Connect cultures.
Channel someone’s story.
Change the world.
Getting Real | Starting Authentic Conversations About Being Human
Flip the Lens champions using digital media to explore meaningful, important topics and feature real, authentic human beings sharing from the heart about their life experiences. We believe the best way to connect with anyone is to ask questions, to listen, to seek to identify and not compare.
Participants in Flip the Lens conduct and record short video interviews with others on universal human themes of belonging, culture and creativity. These interviews are published on playlists of the Flip the Lens YouTube Channel, and form a collective body of content that documents diverse views from around the world on what it means to be human. We believe that by using a camera as a window rather than a mirror, there will be more peace and understanding in the world.
Flip the Lens celebrates our unique differences and our shared human condition. We are advocates of curiosity, listening, identification and respect. We believe everyone matters and we each have valuable life lessons to share.
Build a Meaningful Digital Portfolio
According to Burning Glass Technologies, a labor-market analytics firm, colleges and universities too often fail to align their programs with labor market demand, leading to disappointing outcomes for graduates and poor returns on education and training investments for students and the public alike. This might explain a report from Harvard Business Review that states that since the start of 2023, 53% of recent grads in the U.S. have been unemployed or underemployed.
A June 2023 survey from Cengage Group’s 2023 Graduate Employability Report says that more than half of the graduates (52%) said the growth of AI makes them question how prepared they are for today’s workforce. Six in 10 graduates (61%) said they will need to develop or strengthen their digital skills due to AI.
The Cengage study said that though internships, externships and apprenticeship programs are ideal workplace experiences to help equip students with these skills, fewer than half of grads (47%) said they participated in such programs in this year’s survey, compared with 63% who did so in 2022. Of those who did participate in one of those experiences, more than a third (35%) reported they did not receive any guidance from their school in finding one.
According to a June 20, 2023 report by The Wall Street Journal, many graduates are entering the workforce without the “soft skills” employers are seeking. Research from the World Economic Forum’s 2023 Future of Jobs report says four of the five top skills employers will increasingly demand in the next five years are creative thinking, analytical thinking, curiosity and lifelong learning, and resilience/flexibility/
Flip the Lens provides a way to build a digital portfolio that demonstrates skills, substance and social consciousness!
Make a Film in One of These Two Genres for Flip the Lens!
Short Video Interview
Conduct a short video interview with someone you admire or are intrigued by about the topics of belonging, creativity or culture.
Produce a “Day in the Life” mini documentary that profiles a culture creator! Shine a light on the backstory of someone locally or in your travel destination who is bringing culture to life!
Potential themes for your video are Archaeology; Architecture; Dance; Festivals; Folk Art; Food; Gardens and Landscape; Language & Legend; Maritime; Music; Spirituality; Textiles; and Visual Arts.
Who is Flip the Lens For?
You don’t need to be a professional to be an FTL contributor!
Are you creative? Are you intrigued by the human condition?
Do you want to make a difference in the world?
EMERGING FILMMAKERS
Emerging film-makers and creatives who want a project that has depth and impact for their portfolio.
EDUCATORS
Educators looking for a fresh way to inspire curiosity, empathy and listening skills, or to help students apply the hard skills they’ve been taught and get their work published.
Are You a Flip the Lens Filmmaker?
Would you like to be part of a movement to celebrate our unique differences and shared humanity, one person’s story at a time?
Are you a curious person who loves to know what makes people tick?
Are you shy, and looking for a “reason” to start a conversation with someone?
Do you want to discuss topics that have meaning and aren’t superficial?
Are you interested in exploring themes of Belonging, Creativity & Culture?
Would you love to be a reporter on the world’s cultures and our human condition?
BECOME A FLIP THE LENS SUBSCRIBER
Another way to be a part of the Flip the Lens movement is as a subscriber to the FTL YouTube channel! Enjoy an ever-growing library of short films that define being human, and celebrate our unique differences and our shared humanity.
These videos celebrate our unique differences and shared humanity, reminding us that while our individual experiences may be personal, we are all members of the human race, and subject to the same range of life events and emotions.
Meet the Founders of Flip the Lens
Meg is a 62-year old American who has been engaged in telling people’s stories for more than 30 years. Her award-winning career has blended expertise in writing; editing; interviewing; public relations; and brand building. Meg has a diversified set of credentials: a corporate career as the founding member of PR departments for four major financial services firms; consulting assignments to create communications platforms/infrastructure for non-profits; a portfolio of bylines for media and corporate publications and memoirs ghostwritten for private clients; and founder of website People Are Culture.
Meg has been the recipient of PR Week’s First Place Award for Small Corporate Communications Team of the Year and named one of five finalists for PR Professional of the Year; New England Publicity Club’s First Place Bell Ringer Award for public affairs campaign and two organizational identity campaign awards; Bulldog Bronze Award for product/company positioning.
The thread throughout Meg’s wide range of interests is an endless fascination with people’s stories. She has an abiding passion for helping others to “connect the dots,” engaging them in a process to discover what makes them unique and discern the value their experiences can offer others.
Mahima is a 23-year old Indian and Master Graduate in Communication & Economics specializing in International Tourism from Università Della Svizzera Italiana (USI), Lugano, Switzerland.
Mahima is an inspired, determined, and self-motivated travel enthusiast & storyteller who strongly believes that a better tomorrow begins with an idea and the will to execute it. She has the credit of creating an entire Destination Promotional campaign named ‘Karnataka, where art is a way of life. Along with her passion for business and travel, she is curious to hear people’s stories and learn more about different cultures.
With a bachelor’s degree in business management and previous experience in building two innovative start-ups from scratch, she is carrying her entrepreneurial fire high to improve people’s lives by promoting the implementation of small & simple ideas to make a big difference.