Martha Adams is an Emmy Award–winning filmmaker, producer, and social impact strategist known for creating global storytelling campaigns that drive measurable change. Named by Newsweek as one of “125 Women of Impact,” Adams has spent two decades at the intersection of entertainment, philanthropy, and innovation—building cross-sector coalitions that turn stories into movements.
Her work includes the landmark documentaries Girl Rising (Forbes’ #1 Most Dynamic Social Initiative), We Will Rise: Michelle Obama’s Mission to Educate Girls Around the World (CNN’s highest-rated film), and the groundbreaking animation–live action series She Creates Change, produced in partnership with the Troper Wojcicki Foundation, Forward Global, and Melinda French Gates’ Pivotal. The series premiered at SXSW EDU 2024 and aired globally on Warner Bros. Discovery for International Women’s Day, with its trailer surpassing 21 million views in its first 30 days. The initiative spans TV, books, curriculum, music, and audio, and will reach 35 million teens through Room to Read’s Girls’ Education Program—proof that storytelling can move culture and policy at scale.
From 2020 to 2022, Adams served as President of Entertainment at Rebel Girls, where she expanded the globally loved franchise into television and film in partnership with Imagine Entertainment Kids. She continues to serve as a strategic advisor to the company, best known for its New York Times best-selling Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls series—published in over 110 countries and winner of Apple’s Design Award for Impact and the Webby People’s Choice Award.
Before Rebel Girls, Adams was the Chief Creative Officer of Girl Rising, the global girls’ education campaign that redefined how media can fuel social change. Under her creative leadership, Participant Media awarded Girl Rising a 98/100 for measurable impact; Fast Company named it among the “World Changing Ideas of 2019,” and Forbes called it the “#1 Most Dynamic Social Initiative.” The movement reached 5 billion media impressions in 125 countries, mobilizing governments, corporations, and grassroots organizers around the economic power of educating girls.
Earlier in her career, Adams co-founded and led Arcwelder Films, a full-service production company that grew to a staff of 30 and produced dozens of award-winning television series and specials for Discovery Channel, National Geographic, BBC, Canal Plus, Channel 4, and NHK. Her producer and executive producer credits include Inside the Kill Box, Spies Above, Citizen Soldier, Robots Rising, and Explosive Situations. Arcwelder’s productions earned a National Emmy, Worldfest Houston prizes, New York Film Medals, and Cine Awards.
Adams is also a recent co-founder of Ai.V, an initiative transforming artificial intelligence into a force for peace. Founded alongside global leaders Kat Fotovat (the former Acting Ambassador-at-Large in the U.S. Office of Global Women’s Issues), Jennifer Bradshaw and Sabrina Pourmand, Ai.V connects women peace-builders, technologists, and funders to design ethical AI systems that prevent violence and accelerate prosperity. By centering women—the world’s most effective peacebuilders—in AI innovation, the initiative turns technology into a force that scales peace faster than conflict. Adams leads narrative and campaign strategy to amplify women’s leadership at a time when their human rights are increasingly under threat.
Adams is a Senior Fellow at USC’s Marshall School of Business Brittingham Social Enterprise Lab, a Film Expert for the U.S. Department of State’s American Film Showcase, and a member of the Producers Guild of America. A frequent speaker on storytelling, equity, and systems change, she has appeared on CNN, at the United Nations Impact Lounge, and at leading forums such as the Social Innovation Summit and the American Marketing Association Annual Conference.
Her collaborations span industries and continents—working with Intel, HP, Global Citizen, the International Rescue Committee, the United Nations, YouTube, Glamour, Vanity Fair, and Citi, and with artists and advocates including Meryl Streep, Freida Pinto, Priyanka Chopra, Tessa Thompson, David Oyelowo, and poet Warsan Shire (the writer behind Beyoncé’s Lemonade).
Martha is the proud mom to two incredible kids. She divides her family’s time between LA+SF and Cortes Island where you can usually find her paddle-boarding with whales.
