Moment

VIRGINIA TECH HAD ANYTHING --AND EVERYTHING--I COULD BE INTERESTED IN DOING.

THAT HELPED SHOW ME THAT THERE WAS AN ENTIRE WORLD OUT THERE AND THAT I COULD TACKLE WHATEVER I WANTED.”

Chris Kugelman ’94

EPIC EXPERIENCES

To read more about Chris Kugelman’s career, visit vtx.vt.edu.

Chris Kugelman

A GLOBAL CAREER CAUGHT ON FILM

EARLY IN HIS 25-YEAR CAREER AS a photographer, videographer, and explorer, Chris Kugelman ’94 worked an astonishing 14 months in the frigid cold of Antarctica for the National Science Foundation. While there, he decided to make a film of his travels—his first foray into filmmaking. Since then, he’s worked at National Geographic and Red Bull Media House, and he has been an executive producer on the Disney+ series “Welcome to Earth” starring actor Will Smith. Kugelman’s career, though, started simply with a love of the outdoors, the first photography class he took at the Northern Virginia 4-H Educational Center, and his experiences in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Tech. The combination of classes and experiences at Virginia Tech along with the nearby hiking and biking trails of the Blue Ridge Mountains helped Kugelman discover himself.

“Virginia Tech had anything—and everything—I could be interested in doing,” said Kugelman, who earned a degree in human nutrition, foods, and exercise. “That helped show me that there was an entire world out there and that I could tackle whatever I wanted.” Kugelman since has experienced some of the toughest environments on Earth, in places such as Antarctica, Greenland, Nepal, and Borneo. He attended wildlife film school in New Zealand, which led to a role with NHWZ, formerly Natural History New Zealand, and the trip to Borneo. “They found it useful putting someone in environments like that, so I found myself directing and producing a series for Animal Planet about orangutans,” Kugelman said. His career has included two separate stints at National Geographic. During the second, he worked on an ambitious project: taking an A-list celebrity— Smith—and placing him in some of the most dangerous locations on the planet. To this day, Kugelman is interested in everything in the natural world. “Every six months, I’m meeting some scientists or an explorer who is investigating the natural world or on an adventure that I am 100 percent interested in,” Kugelman said. “I’m fortunate to get to make projects with those folks, and I think that comes directly from my personality and the path I wove from 4-H to Virginia Tech and beyond.”

Max Esterhuizen is the assistant director of communications and marketing for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.