Rick Smolan
Rick Smolan, CEO of Against All Odds Productions is a New York Times best-selling author with more than five million copies of his books in print. A former Time, Life, and National Geographic photographer, Smolan is best known as the co-creator of the “Day in the Life” book series. His global photography projects, which feature the work of hundreds of the world’s leading photographers and combine creative storytelling with state-of-the-art technology, are regularly featured on the covers of prestigious publications around the globe including Fortune, Time, and GEO. Oprah Winfrey featured his AMERICA 24/7 book on her “Favorite Things” TV program and five of his books have been selected as official TED bookclub selections.
His project “The Human Face of Big Data” captures how our planet is developing a nervous system. The “Human Face” iPad app won the WEBBY for best educational app and the companion TV documentary was broadcast nationwide on PBS, in 35 countries around the world and won the award for “Best Cinematography” at the Boston Film Festival.
The Oscar Winning producers of “The Kings Speech” recently released TRACKS, based on Smolan National Geographic cover story about 27-year-old Robyn Davidson’s 1,700 mile nine-month solo camel trek across the treacherous Australian Outback. In the movie Robyn Davidson was portrayed by Mia Wasikowska (“Alice in Wonderland”). Smolan was portrayed by Adam Driver.
His latest book, “THE GOOD FIGHT: AMERICA’S ONGOING STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE”, is a powerful reminder of how much progress America has made over the past 100 years against hatred, bigotry, racism, misogyny, homophobia and injustice and what’s at risk right now. The book has won numerous awards including The Independent Book Publishers “Freedom Fighter” Award and Ben Franklin Association awards for “History” and “Politics and Current Events”. People Magazine chose it as one of the “10 Best Books of the Year” and TED sent a copy to all 1,500 members as the official TED BOOKCLUB selection.
Smolan has spoken at TED, All Things Digital, The Davos World Economic Forum, The Ford Foundation, The Wired Health Conference, TEDMED, Techonomy, DLD in Munich, IdeaCity in Canada, INK in India. His TED talk
“Natasha’s Story: An American Homecoming” has been watched by more than a million people.
Fortune magazine describes Smolan’s company, Against All Odds as “One of the 25 Coolest Companies in America.”