Scott Mortensen, a collegiate rower and film studies student at UCSD left a production career in Hollywood to pursue documentary filmmaking and adventure philanthropy. As an award-winning creative director, writer and producer he has worked on projects covering human trafficking in Thailand, social enterprise in Honduras & Russia, disaster relief in Haiti, clean water initiatives in Africa & cancer research in the United States. Associated expeditions include summiting and shooting from the top of Mt. Everest, guiding a team of humanitarians to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro, riding a bicycle across the United States and rowing a boat across the Arctic.
With a graduate degree centered on social entrepreneurship, he has expanded his brand of adventure philanthropy by collaborating with companies such as Nike, ABC, Sundance Channel, Volcom & Warner Bros. among others.
In his free time he pursues professional rescue operations, explores big oceans and climbs tall mountains.
Personal:
Senior year of high school, I contracted a life-threatening staph infection from surfing a polluted river-mouth with an open cut. This rare and virulent strain entered my bloodstream and destroyed some of my cervical cartilage. According to Dr. Mazur at Los Robles Hospital 2 out of the 4 people who contracted the disease that year died. For the next six weeks I was hooked up to a PICC line that pumped me full of amoxicillin three times a day. For the next three months, I wore a torso cast to prevent my spinal column from “collapsing”. Though I never doubted my faith in God, family and friends, recovery was not easy. I learned some valuable lessons during my downtime:
#1: Life is a miracle.
#2: Make it great.
Pretty simple. And yet those two maxims consume me.
Big waves, little microbes.
