GRACE DELIVERS A MORE BEAUTIFUL WORLD

GRACE DELIVERS

Are actions always better than words? We argue that when words inspire many to take action, words have the ultimate impact. Are pictures worth 1000 words? They’re worth even more if they grab your heart.

Photographer and writer Kristin Hettermann has a talent for creating both pictures and words that compel us to care more about our oceans, the earth, and culture. Her organization Grace Delivers is dedicated to telling stories of experiential inspiration.

While on sabbatical in Maui in 2008, Hettermann had a dream that sparked her vision for Grace Delivers as a home for beautiful activism, particularly related to ocean preservation, the environment, and the people who intersect with and steward our planet.

Her goal is to inspire a love for exploration while raising awareness about the importance of sustainable travel and ocean preservation.

Hetterman leverages decades of experience in public relations, brand development, and communications strategies in the corporate sector, to help start-up, non-profit, and small business ventures launch and grow important initiatives.

She created a unique community of like-minded people that want to live consciously and make a difference.

The word “grace” has many layers of meaning for Hettermann. It also has great power.

“Everything presented with grace seems to have a special dignity,” she explains. “Grace Delivers is my personal conviction to stay true to ‘grace’- I believe a world with more grace would be a kinder, gentler and more successful place, and I am committed to my role in that.”

Hettermann has documented environmental, social and culture through her gorgeous photography and fascinating narrative from an early age, covering stories in France, Portugal, Spain, England, Italy, Greece, Thailand, Malaysia, Maldives, Caribbean, Mexico, Seychelles, Bahamas, Fiji, Bali, New Zealand, South Africa, Swaziland, Belize, Papua New Guinea, Panama, Cuba, Solomon Islands, Australia, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, Pacific Northwest, southeast coastal United States, Hawaii… and she continues!

Hettermann has been actively involved in philanthropy and nonprofit development throughout her career.

In 2016, Grace Delivers partnered with Sven Lindblad to help support the work of RARE Foundation, The Safina Center, Raising Malawi, Dr. Tom Catena through The Heart of Nuba, Sailors for the Sea, Syrian refugees through the International Rescue Committee, Haitian Relief efforts through St. Boniface Haiti Foundation, Water Charity, Clandestine Crossing and filmmaker David Fedele, the Polynesian Voyaging Society and Hokulea, Coral Vita, Tompkins Conservation, the Nature Conservancy, and the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.

In one recent story, Hettermann writes about an undersea encounter with manta rays off Hawaii’s Big Island which urges that we balance tourism with the need to protect animals. She highlights the successful efforts of environmentalist groups to create programs and protocols that serve each need well and could serve as a model for other areas of concern around the world.

For more information about the manta ray programs in Hawaii, check out HawaiiOceanWatch, MantaRayGreenList, and MantaAdvocatesHawaii.

Hetterman has an active following on Instagram (8,600+ followers), where she showcases her photos. Her work has been featured in Scientific American, Miami Herald and Huffington Post, among other prominent media outlets.

Read recent Grace Delivers features, and see more of Hettermann’s images and the world through her eyes here.

Read more about Beautiful Activist in Tiny Schools Change The World, Rising Up, Resisting, supporting women’s health with Art and A Tiny Light Packs Infinite Power to Change the World.

And check out more beautiful things happening now in BN Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact Daily Fix posts.

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IMAGE CREDITS:

1. Image: by Kristin Hettermann. “Hieroglyphic Giant Hawkfish in Cabo Pulmo, Baja California Sur Mexico.” Courtesy of Grace Delivers.
2. Image: by Kristin Hettermann. “King Angelfish in Galápagos.” Courtesy of Grace Delivers.
3. Image: by Kristin Hettermann. Sea turtle. Maui, Hawaii. Courtesy of Grace Delivers.
4. Image: Courtesy of Grace Delivers. Kristin Hettermann dives amidst a school of fish.
5. Image: Courtesy of Grace Delivers. Kristin Hettermann, of Grace Delivers, dives in the blue waters.
6. Image: by Kristin Hettermann. “Graybar Grunt School in Cabo Pulmo, Baja California Sur Mexico.” Courtesy of Grace Delivers.
7. Image: by Kristin Hettermann. Indigenous stewards of our planet. Courtesy of Grace Delivers.
8. Image: by Sven Olof for Linblad. Kristin Hettermann diving in Cuba. Courtesy of Grace Delivers.
9. Image: by Kristin Hettermann. Closeup of Manta Rays swimming in the ocean. Kona, Hawaii. Courtesy of Grace Delivers.
10. Image: by Kristin Hettermann. Manta Rays in Moorea, Polynesia. Courtesy of Grace Delivers.
11. Image: by Kristin Hettermann. Deep water ocean view of fish and coral.
12. Image: by Kristin Hettermann. “Manta Ray.” Kona, Hawaii. Courtesy of Grace Delivers.
13. Image: by Kristin Hettermann. Coral in Cuba. Courtesy of Grace Delivers.
14. Image: by Kristin Hettermann. “Mission Blue.” Courtesy of Grace Delivers.
15. Image: by BN App - Download now!
16. Image: Courtesy of Grace Delivers. Kristin Hettermann with a pelican.