In honor of the brand’s 33 founders, National Geographic has announced the inaugural National Geographic 33, a list of dynamic founders, trailblazers, and changemakers working hard to make the world a better place.

The list spotlights many, including Hollywood heavyweights such as Yara Shahidi, Selena Gomez and Jason Momoa. Blavity has the exclusive Nat Geo 33 photo debuts for TikTok forager and outdoor enthusiast Alexis Nikole Nelson, NASA astronaut and mission pilot Victor Glover, and musician and women’s advocate Arlo Parks.

What is the Nat Geo 33?

According to National Geographic, the honorees on the list were “carefully considered and selected” by the publication’s editors after being nominated by contributing writers, staff, and members of the Nat Geo community.

The Nat Geo 33 includes impactful individuals from all walks of life and corners of the earth. They work across various fields, including filmmaking, botany, fashion design and cellular physiology. Along with humanitarians and advocates, the 33 also boasts several impressive athletes, including a gold-medal-winning Paralympian and an award-winning endurance swimmer. The group comprises 19 people who have founded or co-founded organizations and eight UN Ambassadors.

National Geographic was founded in 1888 by 33 visionary explorers, scientists, and scholars who set out to fulfill a mission to increase humanity’s understanding of the world. Now, almost three decades later, the mission continues to expand with the help of intentional changemakers and platforms such as the Internet and social media.

“For more than 137 years, National Geographic has been driven by the belief that bold thinking and collective action can change the world. This principle is what inspired National Geographic’s 33 founders—committed explorers, scientists and scholars—all those years ago,” said Courteney Monroe, president, National Geographic Content, in a statement. “Since then and across all our platforms, National Geographic has believed in the power of visual storytelling to spark curiosity and inspire a deeper connection to our world. The inaugural National Geographic 33 represents an exciting milestone for us, as it embodies the very essence of our brand—sharing the stories of extraordinary individuals whose work is making a meaningful impact in the hope of inspiring others to help shape a better future.”

“With the National Geographic 33, we’re honoring a diverse group of changemakers, from all over the world and different walks of life, who aren’t just recognizing the urgent challenges of our time, they are taking action to address them,” said Nathan Lump, SVP and editor-in-chief of National Geographic. “They all share a deep commitment to shaping a better future, and in shining a light on them and their contributions, we hope to elevate their work and showcase to a wide audience the positive impact they’re making.”

Alexis Nikole Nelson on her honor

Alexis Nikole Nelson personifies that charge by teaching her large digital community of over 2 million followers, where she is known as the “Black Forager.”

My mom taught me my first edible wild plants, which lit a flame in me,” Nelson told Blavity timed to the list’s release.

Through her educational and fun content, Nelson teaches her community the essential and healthy ways to forage, encouraging sustainability for individuals and the world.

She added, “Connecting to the spaces I live in through flora and food grounds me and helps remind me that I’m a part of these ecosystems, too. I began @BlackForager when I wanted to stop bothering my friends and family with constantly posting my wild recipes on my personal social media because, at the time, I didn’t see anyone who looked like me creating foraging content. Thankfully, that has changed!”

Along with her bubbly and personable approach, Nelson has her viewers hooked on learning how to identify poisonous or safe mushrooms in the wild, safely harvest edible onions and flowers from your local park, and then head into her kitchen, where she displays her skills as a “filthy vegan” with her simple yet innovative plant-based recipes.

“Today, many people are disconnected from nature, and we as humans do better (mentally, physically, and emotionally) when we’re connected to our communities and our surroundings, and foraging can help you do both,” said Nelson.

Another reason Nelson is vital to the inaugural list is what it represents for Black and Indigenous people and their cultural connection to living off the land.

“It’s always important for me to highlight how cultures have shaped plants and vice-versa. Especially for members of the African Diaspora and Indigenous peoples around the world, a lot of our history can be told in the plants that were important to our ancestors.”

Nelson also suggests that her content resonates because the two aforementioned communities are actively regaining “cultural bonds,” and “ancestral knowledge” is needed to help heal the relationship to which they were and still are being denied access.

The National Geographic 33 is available online at NatGeo.com/NG33 and in the April issue of National Geographic magazine.

View Arlo Parks’ digital cover, as well as photo debuts for Glover and Nelson, below:

Alexis Nikole Nelson in Hundred Acre Wood Metro Park, outside Columbus, Ohio. Contributing
Visual Directi
on: Liana Blum; Bookings: Ruth Hilton. (Photo by Djeneba Aduayom for National
Geographic) — Photo: National Geographic

Alexis Nikole Nelson

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