2025 Mentor/Mentee Breakfast

Apply by August 25, 2025

Welcome to the Mentor-Mentee Breakfast at the 2025 Summit! Applications for this year’s event are now open until Monday, August 25, at 11:59 pm MT.

The Mentor-Mentee Breakfast, a cherished tradition at the Jackson Wild Summit, is back. This special event brings together emerging filmmakers and seasoned professionals for meaningful connections and conversations. Participants will be paired with an established filmmaker or industry leader and assigned to a table of around eight attendees, creating an engaging group setting for dialogue, advice and inspiration. In addition to the breakfast, mentors and mentees will have one virtual meeting before the week of the Summit (September 27 to October 3) and are encouraged to meet one-on-one during the Summit, outside of Tuesday morning’s breakfast. Due to space limitations at Jackson Lake Lodge, we are placing a cap of 60 mentees for this year’s breakfast. Although spots are limited, have no fear, as there will be plenty of other opportunities to connect and network throughout the week. There are no formal expectations for mentors and mentees to stay in touch after the program concludes, but we encourage you to continue the conversation if time and interest allow. Lasting connections often begin here. We’re excited to continue this tradition of mentorship and community building again this year.

The program pairs mentors and mentees based on similar areas of interest and expertise. Mentor/mentee pairs will have one virtual meeting before or after the Summit, in addition to the mentorship breakfast. We also encourage pairs to find a time outside of the breakfast to meet 1-on-1. We aim to send pairing emails out at least a week before the event, so mentors and mentees can connect prior to arriving in Jackson.

During the mentor-mentee meetings, it’s helpful for the mentor to learn about their mentee’s goals and objectives, as well as what they hope to gain from the mentorship. Discussions may include reviewing goals, resumes, websites, showreels, and more. Mentors can provide career advice and offer feedback on projects, pitches, and other materials. As the program concludes, mentors and mentees will have the opportunity to share their feedback on their experience.

Date: The Mentor-Mentee Breakfast will take place at the 2025 Jackson Wild Summit on Tuesday, September 28, at 7:30 am.

Logistics

Timeline

  • Monday, August 11: Mentee and mentor application opens

  • Monday, August 25: Mentee and mentor application closes

  • Wednesday, September 3: Notification emails to mentors and mentees

  • Monday, September 8 to Monday, September 22: Pairing emails to mentors and mentees are sent

  • Sunday, September 28: Table assignments and instructions go out to participants

  • Monday, September 29: Reminder email to participants

  • Tuesday, September 30: Mentor Mentee Breakfast will take place on Tuesday morning

For questions about the mentor-mentee breakfast, please email angelica@jacksonwild.org

Photo by Krish Makhija, taken during the making of Turtle Walker

“Over the next few years, I participated in as many Summits as I could. Through the mentorship program, I met Natalie Cash [Executive Producer at Wildlife Conservation Society] and Tom Mustill [Writer & Filmmaker], who guided and supported me on the impact campaign. I made valuable friends and collaborated with them on other projects. Most importantly, I found a sense of belonging in a community of people who shared the same passion for wildlife conservation and filmmaking that I did.”

Taira Malaney, read the full blog post here

“Yaz will be involved in one of our next Terra Mater productions about wildlife in Vienna. She will get training for working on a RED camera, which has always been a dream of hers, and she will be shooting various sequences in the course of this and next year for us. I am really happy that I can support her on her way, and it is wonderful to see how passionate and eager to learn she is. I think she will be a wonderful and very skilled team membe,r and I am sure she will contribute a lot to our film. And who knows, maybe this is just the beginning...”

Birgit Peters, Terra Mater from the 2021 Virtual Mentorship Program

Photos courtesy of Birgit Peters