Have you ever been going somewhere specific, but you take an early turn and end up somewhere completely unknown and completely fantastic? You feel like you’ve discovered something private and special. How did I not know about this place? Well, that’s what happened when we recently landed on the excellent site MAKERS.com.
This website is an outstanding collection of videos of remarkable women — trailblazers, groundbreakers, boldface names and lesser-knowns — all telling their incredible stories. MAKERS is a landmark TV and digital video project from Emmy Award winning filmmaker Dyllan McGee, in collaboration with PBS and AOL, about the women who are making America and changing the world.
I had already seen the PBS special about Ms. Magazine that aired last year. It had me rapt, but I didn’t realize that the fascinating documentary was from MAKERS. So finding this site, I happily jumped down the rabbit hole, watching videos bringing to life women as diverse as American ballet dancer Misty Copeland and comedian Margaret Cho to war correspondent Christiane Amanpour, and doctor and astronaut Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman in space. It’s like a goldmine.
And I bet it could help more than a few kids with school research projects and biographies.
The site itself is easy navigate; the women’s stories are slotted into different categories: Groundbreakers, Arts, Science & Tech, Education, and so on. You can also sort the videos by attributes like Most Viewed, Latest or — the wise and helpful — Kids Friendly Filter. And if there are more than a few stories that you want to watch, just add them to your playlist.
Listen, I’ve already bookmarked the site, Liked its Facebook page, and added several new videos to my playlist. I’m all in with MAKERS.
If you don’t hear from me by the weekend, send water and maybe a slice of pizza. I’m sure I’m totally fine, basking in all of these inspired women’s stories, but probably just a bit hungry.
Visit MAKERS.com for all kinds of isnspiring videos about the women who shape our world. You can also view the videos that have aired on PBS on the PBS.com web site. The second season of MAKERS’ TV component premiers September 30 on PBS.
