Trailer: Magho (Daughter) from Kate Lord on Vimeo.

Eighteen-year-old Maheshwari comes from a family of quarry workers in rural India, none of whom completed schooling past the eighth grade. For the first four years of Maheshwari’s life, it seemed she would follow a similar path: Waking at 5 a.m. to start the household chores, marrying young, bearing children, and bringing in money through odd jobs wherever she could. Instead, she was selected by the Shanti Bhavan Children’s Project to attend their boarding school, a brush with fate that would change the trajectory of her entire life.

This short documentary follows her through her final week at her beloved school, her last visit home before leaving for college, and her steps across the stage to receive the first high school diploma in her family. Throughout, she reflects on the stark differences between her life and that of her mother, and vows that whatever her future brings, she will not leave her behind. In a country where only 2 out of every 5 women can read and write, education propelled Maheshwari into a new life path, one that will break the cycle of poverty not only for her — but hopefully, for those she loves as well.

Learn more at shesthefirst.org/magho

‘Daughters and Mothers’ explores the emerging differences in the lives of indigenous Mayan young women and their mothers due to the teenagers’ education. In a region of Guatemala where less than a third of the rural indigenous women are literate, this group of young women will be the first in their families to graduate high school.

As rural women become more educated and enter the formal economy, their societal role changes. The student has less time to help her mother with domestic chores and the rearing of younger siblings. Income is lost for the family because the girl is in school and not in the work force. Yet her education is a key step out of poverty for her family and her community; upon graduation, she will continue living at home and become a provider for her entire family.

The teenagers that I have been documenting all live in the villages surrounding Lake Atitlan. They attend different schools, but are all recipients of scholarships from Starfish One by One, a mentoring and scholarship program in the region. The program employs indigenous Mayan women from the region as mentors. These mentors have faced the same social and economic challenges as the girls and have succeeded and graduated high school. With support from their mentors and peers, the girls are working towards their diplomas, and ultimately, a better way of life for their families and communities.

More:

A Starfish Story: Francisca

Meet a Starfish Mentor

Informing Her Future

Twenty-three nuns live a cloistered life behind the walls of Santa Catalina Monastery in the heart of Arequipa, Peru. These nuns of the Dominican Order spend their days divided between prayer and religious labors, including making the host for the Basilica Cathedral and creating handicrafts. While the oldest active nun, Sister Consuelo de Jesus, has been a member of the cloister for 61 years and the youngest novice, Sister Heidi Marjorie, has lived with the order for a mere three months, both women have devoted their lives to God through service and prayer.

White City Stories was built in partnership with Charlotte Sister Cities and UNC-Chapel Hill to educate North Carolinians about the lives of their Peruvian counterparts. I had the opportunity to travel to Peru’s second largest city to shoot this story and to build an audio slideshow for the site.

The site was chosen as one of Time Magazine’s 50 Best Web Sites of 2007.

Designer Sunhee Hwang won 2012′s Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation award for womenswear. I followed her through the hours leading up to her Fall 2012 runway show at New York Fashion Week for The Wall Street Journal.

When I moved to New York, I was instantly intrigued by subway musicians — people don’t just burst into song in a crowded place in North Carolina. I was struck not only by their bravery for spontaneous performance, but also by how easily they are ignored by commuters. This series explores buskers who carry out their performances, even if they’re only playing for themselves.

As the photographer for She’s the First, a not-for-profit that raises awareness about girls education and encourages young people to creatively fundraise to sponsor a girl in the developing world, I recently had the opportunity to visit one of our partner organizations in Guatemala. Starfish One by One works with indigenous Mayan girls in middle and high school by providing tuition costs and placing them in a unique mentorship program. Each girl is placed in a group of 15 and is lead by an indigenous Mayan mentor who has herself graduated high school and beyond. This support system encourages the girls to push beyond the education level that their families could have provided for them. Most of them will be the first in their families to graduate high school, many the first to be educated beyond the 6th grade.

I was asked by Starfish One by One to document one girl in particular – 18-year-old Francisca Chiviliu Quinac. In October, Francisca will be the first person in her family to graduate high school. Amid studying and attending her weekly mentoring sessions, Francisca helps her mother and little sister Brenda complete many chores around the house, from making 70 tortillas three times a day by hand to harvesting corn in the family’s yard to washing clothes by hand. I’ve included a few preview photos from the project below, but will be producing a short photo/video documentary about her to be completed in the coming weeks — come back to check it out!

I also had the opportunity to meet some of the other girls in the program and their mothers at their homes, and to attend a few of the mentoring programs. You can read more about my trip with She’s the First on our blog and more about Starfish One by One on their website.

Launch WhiteCityStories.org.

Twenty-three nuns live a cloistered life behind the walls of Santa Catalina Monastery in the heart of Arequipa, Peru. These nuns of the Dominican Order spend their days divided between prayer and religious labors, including making the host for the Basilica Cathedral and creating handicrafts. While the oldest active nun, Sister Consuelo de Jesus, has been a member of the cloister for 61 years and the youngest novice, Sister Heidi Marjorie, has lived with the order for a mere three months, both women have devoted their lives to God through service and prayer.

WhiteCityStories.org was built in partnership with Charlotte Sister Cities and UNC-Chapel Hill to educate North Carolinians about the lives of their Peruvian counterparts . I had the opportunity to travel to Peru’s second largest city and work with multimedia producer Andrea Ballocchi, who produced the audio in this piece, to tell the story of two of the monastery’s nuns. Radio and multimedia producer Nick Vidinsky produced the English voice-overs.

The site was chosen as one of Time Magazine’s 50 Best Web Sites of 2007.

In 2007, I worked with a team of journalists and students to build the first Special Olympics Live website. I was able to travel to Dublin, Ireland, with fellow photojournalist Melissa Tuck, who co-produced this story, to document Aisling O’Brien’s everyday life. At the time, Aisling was a Special Olympic athlete who attended Trinity College and dreamed of studying hair and beauty after the completion of her certificate.

In October 2007, I traveled to Shanghai, China, where I helped provide full video coverage of the Special Olympic World Games and acted as part of production team to cover 7,000 athletes and 27 sporting events over 10 days. I had the opportunity to train Chinese college students in video gathering and Final Cut and assisted in daily editing.

Launch On The Line: Economic Hardship in North Carolina.

Dr. Phillip Stover is the medical director of the Franklin County Volunteers in Medicine Clinic in Louisburg, North Carolina. The clinic treats only county residents who live with chronic diseases. Most of the patients are below or hovering just above the poverty line and cannot afford private health insurance. Without this clinic, they would be unable to afford medical treatment or medication. After two years, the clinic is growing and, despite a few pitfalls, succeeding at its goal of serving the uninsured.

On The Line: Economic Hardship in North Carolina won an Honorable Mention for Best Multimedia Package in the NPPA 2008 Best of Photojournalism contest.