MY STORY
MY PROFESSIONAL LIFE
Babita Patel is on a mission to evolve societal’s “us vs them” way of thinking to an “us and them” by deepening the world’s understanding of each other through storytelling. As a freelance humanitarian photographer documenting social impact issues around the world, her work has appeared on ABC, Al Jazeera, HBO, MSNBC, NY1 and PBS; featured in Forbes, The Guardian, The Marshall Project, The New York Times, Slate and The Washington Post; and exhibited in multiple countries.
Babita is the fresh(wo)man author of Breaking Out in Prison, which introduces 15 men who were locked out of society long before they were locked up. The book puts a human face on systemic racism, the epidemic of mass incarceration and the need for community investment.
She is the founder of KIOO Project, an NGO that advances gender equality across the globe by teaching photography to girls who, in turn, teach photography to boys.
Along with co-founder Tara Abrahams, Babita launched kahani, a new print magazine of stories for girls by girls from around the world to inform, elevate and inspire one another.
Babita frequently speaks at keynote events, joins panel discussions, hosts workshops and guest lectures at universities around the world. The topics are as wide and varied as her work.
Babita has walked across a bridge into Myanmar, hunted with a Maasai warrior and slept in a Bedouin cave in Petra.
MY PERSONAL LIFE
I wanted to grow up & be a cashier.
I am named after a Bollywood actress from the 1960s.
I do not know how to parallel park, whistle or keep a plant alive.
I bathed in the icy Himalayan waters at the source of the Ganges River.
I ate at the first ever McDonald’s in Moscow right after the fall of the USSR.
I have been sneezed on by a horse & an elephant, but only spit on by a camel.
I camped in a tent at 16,000 feet, slept in a Maasi hut & napped in a Bedouin cave.
I have been threatened with getting shot by the Secret Service for trying to get too close to President Clinton.
I listened to Tibetan monks chanting, Nepali Brahmins praying & Ethiopian worshipers singing. Each time – no matter the faith, the language or the color of the skin – the sounds flowed into my body, purifying all the tiny dark crevices inside & changed my being.
I started off as an Art Director in advertising before finding my purpose & becoming a humanitarian photographer.
I live what I love.
MY PROFESSIONAL LIFE
Babita Patel is on a mission to evolve societal’s “us vs them” way of thinking to an “us and them” by deepening the world’s understanding of each other through storytelling. As a freelance humanitarian photographer documenting social impact issues around the world, her work has appeared on ABC, Al Jazeera, HBO, MSNBC, NY1 and PBS; featured in Forbes, The Guardian, The Marshall Project, The New York Times, Slate and The Washington Post; and exhibited in multiple countries.
Babita is the fresh(wo)man author of Breaking Out in Prison, which introduces 15 men who were locked out of society long before they were locked up. The book puts a human face on systemic racism, the epidemic of mass incarceration and the need for community investment.
She is the founder of KIOO Project, an NGO that advances gender equality across the globe by teaching photography to girls who, in turn, teach photography to boys.
Along with co-founder Tara Abrahams, Babita launched kahani, a new print magazine of stories for girls by girls from around the world to inform, elevate and inspire one another.
Babita frequently speaks at keynote events, joins panel discussions, hosts workshops and guest lectures at universities around the world. The topics are as wide and varied as her work.
Babita has walked across a bridge into Myanmar, hunted with a Maasai warrior and slept in a Bedouin cave in Petra.
MY PERSONAL LIFE
I wanted to grow up & be a cashier.
I am named after a Bollywood actress from the 1960s.
I do not know how to parallel park, whistle or keep a plant alive.
I bathed in the icy Himalayan waters at the source of the Ganges River.
I ate at the first ever McDonald’s in Moscow right after the fall of the USSR.
I have been sneezed on by a horse & an elephant, but only spit on by a camel.
I camped in a tent at 16,000 feet, slept in a Maasi hut & napped in a Bedouin cave.
I have been threatened with getting shot by the Secret Service for trying to get too close to President Clinton.
I listened to Tibetan monks chanting, Nepali Brahmins praying & Ethiopian worshipers singing. Each time – no matter the faith, the language or the color of the skin – the sounds flowed into my body, purifying all the tiny dark crevices inside & changed my being.
I started off as an Art Director in advertising before finding my purpose & becoming a humanitarian photographer.
I live what I love.