ABOUT KATE

Currently based in Barcelona, Kate works as an independent Producer where culture meets adventure. Prior to her 2024 move to Spain Kate spent over 10 years in Los Angeles producing and writing award-winning documentary series for America’s top television networks. She holds a Masters degree in film and television production from the University of Southern California where she was awarded the Jack Oakie Fellowship.

Her resume encompasses archaeology field study, science communication, and leading documentary expeditions to locations as rugged and diverse as Egypt and the Amazon jungle.

Standing at the edge of a mountain top monastery in Hpa-An, Myanmar, I look out as the sun makes its daily descent below the horizon. The sound of chattering macaques and devotion bells fill the air with song. I take the fullest, deepest breath I have in years and think, “This is it. This is why we build monuments to mountains.” I feel a surge of power. A direct link between the earth I am standing on and my heart. After years of battling a deadly bacterial disease that ravaged my body to the point of lameness and near-death, this is the moment I began to heal. Nature can do that. More than facing death at a young age, the journey of recovery changed me forever.

The films, docuseries, and creative projects I pursue all in some way explore themes of death and rebirth through nature. My mission is to build a career that connects science, the natural world, and culture in ways that are healing and inspiring for all. People follow paths that are paved already because they’re there … but we have the choice to walk into the woods.

—Kate Simerly