Meet the Team
In 2014, a mother-daughter duo became the founding team of The Global Sunrise Project, joining together in an ambitious mission.
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Kasha Sequoia Slavner is an award-winning Gen-Z documentary filmmaker, and founder of The Global Sunrise Project. At 16, she left school for a year, to travel the world, in production on her first feature film, The Sunrise Storyteller.
The film premiered at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in 2017, and has screened at 61 film festivals, garnering 31 awards, some of which include: “Best Documentary” at Carmarthen Bay BAFTA Awards Qualifying Festival, “Rising Star Filmmaker” at Colorado International Activism Film Festival, the “Golden Jury Prize, Youth Visions” at the Social Justice Film Festival, Seattle.
Kasha has also been a photographer, entrepreneur, educator and social justice advocate for over a decade, as well as a writer, public speaker and contributor to several publications, including National Geographic Learning.
Kasha was selected as the first recipient of the Kim Phuc Youth Peace Prize. In 2019, she was the recipient of the Diana Award and is one of the Wonder Grantees for Sustainability by the Shawn Mendes Foundation.
She has also been awarded the Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies Trailblazer, Cloud-9 Festival Young Changemakers Award, and Peace Catalysts International Rick Love Young Innovators for Peace Award, Pathways to Peace Exceptional Young Woman Women of Peace Award, as well as the Basel Peace Office ‘Pacey’ award+ more.
Kasha is an accredited expert with the Women’s Media Centre. Her work has been featured in CTV news, CBC news, Vogue Photo, Elle Magazine, Thred, and National Geographic learning among many other publications.
Kasha is a frequent UN Youth delegate as well as an Alumni and Ambassador of several youth leadership networks, including Global Changemakers, We Are Family Foundation, Youthtopia, Yunus & Youth, Youth for TPNW, Artists for Stop Ecocide, Earth Prize Foundation, and the United Nations Office of Disarmament Affairs Leaders4Tomorrow.
Her second feature documentary “1.5 Degrees of Peace”, currently in production, is fiscally sponsored by The Redford Center in the USA . The trailer for the film won 1st prize at the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Foundation (Switzerland) 2022 film festival and 2nd prize with the Art Partners #CreateCop28 which was featured in Atmos Earth’s Next Generation of Climate Storytellers to Watch
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Marla is a producer, social impact strategist, and lifelong advocate for justice, healing, and systems change. For decades, she has worked at the intersection of community leadership, education, media, and human rights, building initiatives that empower people, strengthen communities, and inspire collective action.
Her work has advanced youth leadership, environmental stewardship, arts and literacy, access to justice, restorative peacebuilding, and the prevention of violence against women and girls. As Founding Director of the International Children's Art Foundation, she helped establish the organization as an official UNESCO-recognized NGO during the World Decade for Cultural Development, championing the power of creativity to foster global citizenship and peace.
A trained facilitator in restorative justice, trauma-informed practice, and transformational healing, Marla has supported youth criminal restorative justice initiatives and survivors of abuse, bringing compassion and practical solutions to complex social challenges.
After more than 25 years as an independent media, publishing, and sponsorship consultant, Marla joined The Global Sunrise Project in 2014 as Producer and Impact Strategist. She has been instrumental in designing and leading education and audience engagement campaigns that extend storytelling beyond the screen into meaningful social change.
Working alongside filmmakers, community leaders, grassroots organizations, UN-affiliated agencies, educational institutions and lived-experience experts, she develops collaborative impact strategies that amplify community priorities, mobilize partnerships, and translate powerful stories.
Meet Our Partners
We’ve had some incredible collaborators and supporters on our journey.
