Diane Hendrix

• As a documentary producer and teacher, I was inspired by my idealistic student when she left the U.S. for a startup in Tanzania. Why give up a full scholarship to UC-Berkeley, and what did she know a business? In tracking her adventures, I met many innovative Africans trying to make change. I documented JodieWu and eight others creating solutions to income, little light, power, clean water or expressive voice. I watched never-say-die young women and men find ways to make a difference and make a mark, in East Africa and beyond.

Young World Inventors webisodes aim to "make invention contagious" through personal stories distributed via the web, radio and television.

In 2014 I followed the roller coaster rides of new young startups in Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania (so far) and began to collaborate with media partners like MfDI, with 25K viewers a day. "Payan's Payback" shows how a Kenyan American tries to save lives with simple stoves. Rwandan "HeHe is Serious" tells about a high tech startup. we follow Rwandan animator and Kenyan artist Cyrus Kabiru too. Check YWI's YouTube channel & follow YWI onTwitter @YWInventors, or on Facebook/youngworldinventors.

As a producer/director of long documentaries for public television in the US, I produced international projects. "Saudi Sisters," is a preview for a documentary about Saudi-American Hend al Mansour and sister Haifaa Al Mansour, director of "Wadjda," a Sundance project released in US theaters in 2013. I have taught media classes and writing at Harvard College and Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, MA, USA.