Anne Zeiser is a filmmaker and impact producer who has explored topics from politics to science and art. But she didn’t always know what career path she would follow.
“I was a biochemistry major for the first two years in college, and I switched over to government after taking a two-year leave of absence and traveling through the South Pacific,” Zeiser said.
Upon returning from her travels, Zeiser started her career at the State House and attended school part-time before moving into television.
“I worked in television news for about four years…a little bit on air, but mostly I was a producer behind the scenes, which is what I like,” she said.
Zeiser believes the best stories are those in which the storyteller remains in the background.
“I like that putting a story together part. That’s what makes me happy,” she said.
After four years in television news, Zeiser made another career change, moving to marketing, where she worked for 12 years. However, she still felt unfulfilled.
“I didn’t really want to sell soap,” she said. “I wanted to do something to make a difference.”
Zeiser returned to storytelling, working for a decade at WGBH, the PBS station in Boston, where her background in science became central to her projects.
“I love science. I’m a big science geek, so I did a lot of science and health specials,” she said.
While at WGBH, Zeiser frequently tackled topics related to science denialism.
“I’ve done several climate change projects, evolution, vaccines…I have worked in that space, not really on purpose. It just kept happening,” she said.
Zeiser’s favorite project, “Rx for Survival: A Global Health Challenge,” was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The series examined global health issues worldwide to raise awareness.
“That was the hardest project I’ve ever done. I’m not sure I would ever want to do anything like that again. It was like four years of my life…But I learned a lot from that project, and that was the seminal project that made me realize this was my life’s work,” she said.
“I think that media, storytelling, however you want to frame it, is probably one of the most powerful devices out there. If you think about people, the cavemen, sitting around a fireplace. That’s the same thing as a documentary film or a musical theater,” she said.
According to Zeiser, storytelling has become essential to communication and is a powerful tool for impact.
Zeiser referenced the philosopher Archimedes, who said, “Give me a place to stand and a lever long enough, and I will move the world.”
In her interpretation, she said, “We can use media as a lever to change the world…There’s a piece of art of him holding a lever under the globe. It’s an old etching…and it kind of shows that with a lever you can move something really big…you can use a lever as a fulcrum.”
Zeiser believes media can act as a fulcrum to create movement and social impact, describing this as part of the theory of change.
“There are four stages of change, and they are consecutive, you can’t skip one…My interpretation of the theory of change is the water droplet, which is my logo. The ripple from it is like a media event. The first ripple is awareness, the next ripple is understanding, next is engagement, and finally action,” she said.
According to Zeiser, these steps guide a person from awareness of an issue to understanding it, engaging with the content, and finally taking action, which is the most challenging step to achieve.
She is currently working on a project called “Touching the Sun,” which combines science and symbolism.
“The sun is a really hot topic right now for NASA and the National Science Foundation…NASA has a whole bunch of missions that they have been deploying to really study the sun, which is, you know, our life force, our source of life, and we kind of take it for granted,” Zeiser said.
The project also explores how ancient cultures, including the Mayans, Aztecs, and Native Americans, revered the sun, blending scientific discovery with cultural storytelling.
Through her work as a producer, Zeiser has encountered people from diverse backgrounds, allowing her to learn about a wide range of topics.
“My work is like getting a Ph.D. in a little bit of everything,” she said. “Every day, I feel lucky to learn so much and meet such passionate and interesting people.”
