MY STORYTELLING
Photo credit: Prasant Shrestha
Since I've been small boy, I've had a knack for telling stories, much to the amusement of my mother, the most kick-ass lady I ever met. Thanks to her past life as a newspaper section editor, Mama Kobold was able to teach me a lot of lessons about how to get sources to open up and confide in me. As an adult, I continued to learn from some of the best in the industry, especially how to craft interesting stories that capture and hold the audience's attention. Today, I utilize those lessons as a professional storyteller.
I specialize in documentary films and non-fiction books.
Photo credit: Martin Hartley
My first work related to a book was in 1999. Sir Ranulph Fiennes asked me to research the technical aspects of a car being manipulated by remote control as detailed in his best-seller, The Feather Men (later turned into a feature film, Killer Elite).
Several subsequent collaborations with legendary English explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes taught me important lessons about investigative journalism, especially during the research phase for Ran's bestseller, The Secret Hunters.
BIO
Born in 1979 in Kronberg im Taunus, a small town outside Frankfurt, Germany.
Co-Founded the school newspaper in my elementary school. My first employee: My mom. I was six years old. To date, Mama Kobold is the only employee of a Kobold venture who wasn't paid for professional services rendered.
Despite being dyslexic, somehow managed to get an education at Frankfurt International School (FIS) and Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where I graduated in 2001 with a B.S. in Economics.
Founded my first non-profit venture at 16 - a daily candy sale at FIS that enabled high schoolers from less fortunate economic backgrounds to join their friends on school trips to London and other places. Following my graduation, FIS took over this operation.
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Organized the FIS Senior Trip to the Greek island of Rhodes. In order to accommodate 70+ high school seniors plus regular passengers, convinced the airline to deploy a larger jet.
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Founded Kobold Watch Company in 1998.
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Assisted Ranulph Fiennes on several books, including The Feather Men, The Secret Hunters, Captain Scott, Cold, etc.
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Co-produced two short films for Land Rover starring Sir Ranulph Fiennes.
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Assisted ITN and BBC in 2003, 2008 and 2009 in various productions featuring Ranulph Fiennes.
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Climbed to the summit of Mount Everest in 2009 and 2010. (Oxygen, chocolate, Sherpas, short-roped-by-professional-guide part of the way...Reinhold Messner climbed Everest. I was just a tourist who saw the summit.)
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Produced and directed several documentary films, including a series of "Maiko McDonald" films starring Hollywood actor Malcolm McDowell.
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Founded The Soarway Foundation, a 501c3 non-profit run by the former U.S. Ambassador to Nepal, Scott H. DeLisi (ret.).
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Beginning in 2015 mounted a serious and enduring effort to bring a number of restored American fire engines to Nepal. Efforts to achieve this mission are ongoing as of June 19, 2019.
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Made Mama Kobold proud along the way.
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Photo credit: Prasant Shrestha
Launch of "Nepal Needs Fire Trucks", Kathmandu, Dec. 2017.