In 2023, The Audacious Project announced its most ambitious cohort to date — ten bold ideas backed by over one billion dollars in philanthropic commitments from funders including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Emerson Collective, and MacKenzie Scott.
I led the communications, marketing, and PR strategy for the cohort launch, coordinating across a complex web of stakeholders including donors, grantee partners, internal TED teams, and media, to bring ten very different stories to the world simultaneously and with impact.
The launch was underpinned by a significant digital overhaul completed in the months prior — a full redesign of the Audacious Project website and social presence that created a stronger, more cohesive platform from which to tell these stories (check it out here). This groundwork meant that when the cohort went public, every channel, from the website to social media, was built to carry the weight of the moment and convert attention into deeper engagement with each grantee’s work.
Central to the launch was a sizzle video presented live on the TED stage, which I developed and directed. Drawing on interviews, archival footage, motion graphics, and music, the film introduced ten distinct, multi-million dollar ideas as a single, cohesive narrative. The reaction in the room was unexpected and electric — a reminder of just how powerful the right combination of visuals, music, and storytelling can be, even in a brief interstitial format.
Every cohort I launched during my time at TED was special in its own right, but this one holds a particular place for me creatively. It required deep collaboration with grantee partners, careful editorial judgment, and the ability to hold a creative vision steady across a high-pressure production timeline. The cohesion and quality of what we delivered as a team still stands out to me as some of my best work.
The launch marked a significant milestone in the initiative’s five-year history, generating our largest global media coverage to date and reinforcing The Audacious Project’s position as one of the most ambitious collaborative funding initiatives in philanthropy.
khwezi magwaza 