During photography workshop with young women from Salvador-based Calafate Women's Collective.
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Pulitzer Prize-wining author Alice Walker, narrator of film, "Yemanjá: Wisdom from the African Heart of Brazil", with Donna in CA.
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What is Project Zula?
Project Zula / Projeto Zula is home to the work of Donna Carole Roberts, M.S. and collaborators. (Zula was the name of Donna's grandmother.) Projects to date have focused on documentary film, education and engagement in diverse communities, centers of higher learning and non-profit organizations in North and South America, with a particular focus on issues targeting women, the natural world and social justice.
Currently, Donna works as part-time coordinator of Vermont Interfaith Power and Light (an affiliate of the national IPL network), bringing climate solutions to people of faith and conscience. She continues to arrange presentations of her award-winning film, Yemanjá: Wisdom from the African Heart of Brazil, narrated by Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Alice Walker. A lifelong socio-environmental educator, Donna most recently taught at Chatham University (Pittsburgh, PA), alma mater of Rachel Carson, considered the Mother of the modern environmental movement.
Donna is a writer with an upcoming essay in the book, Women of True Grit, edited by Edie Hand. In June 2022, Donna shared her motherhood story in a live event produced by a director of The Moth NPR Story Hour with Vermont Family Network. Her essays have appeared in the online investigative publication PublicSource and in the Voices from the Attic anthology of Carlow University Press (ed. Jan Beatty, 2019). Donna has translated essays about the Earth Charter - a longtime inspiration and guide to creating a more just and sustainable future - by great Brazilian Liberation-theologian Leonardo Boff. An essay based of her master's thesis was published as a chapter, Voices of Brazilian Women socio-environmental educators in, Young people, education and sustainable development-eds. Corcoran, Osano, 2009.
After working in broadcast news, TV production, and contributing to non-profit organizations in Montreal, Canada, Donna was invited to produce a video for the Rio + 5 Forum on Sustainability, in Rio de Janeiro (1997), and to attend as a delegate. That was the beginning of a Brazilian journey which would span the next two decades, culminating in production of the film Yemanjá, Brazilian residency, and a deep connection to the international Earth Charter, an initiative and movement integral to Donna's personal and professional worlds.
Connect to Care in the Heart of Brazil
With a Brazilian family and allies there, Donna co-created a cross-cultural travel project, Connect to Care in the Heart of Brazil, sharing her love of the culture of Bahia, Brazil, with small groups of traveler while conducting service with at-risk young women, and re-examining life purpose. Donna would love to safely revive the travel project post-pandemic.
Donna's TV and production work include producing and directing the Telly Award-winning public television documentary, Sea of Uncertainty, about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico (see web page), Canadian special, Celebrate the Earth, and the trinational special, From the Yukon to the Yucatan: ECO Variety, hosted by Academy Award-nominee Graham Greene (see web page: "Past TV work"). She also worked in broadcast news for several years in the U.S and Canada. While living in São Paulo, Brazil, Donna produced bilingual films for non-profit Associação Mulheres pela Paz (Peace Women-São Paulo) about its national campaign to end violence against women. Donna also created short videos on environmental and marine science projects for Florida Gulf Coast University.
Advocacy. Education & Service
After an early career in broadcasting and production, Donna's passion for environmental and social justice work prompted a return to formal education to earn an M.S. in Environmental Sciences at Florida Gulf Coast University, where she went on to teach Environmental Humanities. Donna's thesis focused on Brazilian women "socio-environmental" educators, to help fill the gap of perspectives of women from the global South in international environmental education. During her time in SW Florida, Donna served as president of Earth Charter of Sanibel, organizing and leading public education events based on the broad notion of sustainability promoted by the Earth Charter. This followed earlier service work in Canada and beyond. (See page, "Being More, Not Having More!")
Donna currently lives in Burlington, VT, with her husband Gerald ("Chip") Hoffman, a brilliant still photographer/videographer, and son Gabriel, a musical 24 year old with autism who plays a key role in "Turning 22", a film in development seeking partners. Learn more on the Turning 22 page of this website.
Currently, Donna works as part-time coordinator of Vermont Interfaith Power and Light (an affiliate of the national IPL network), bringing climate solutions to people of faith and conscience. She continues to arrange presentations of her award-winning film, Yemanjá: Wisdom from the African Heart of Brazil, narrated by Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Alice Walker. A lifelong socio-environmental educator, Donna most recently taught at Chatham University (Pittsburgh, PA), alma mater of Rachel Carson, considered the Mother of the modern environmental movement.
Donna is a writer with an upcoming essay in the book, Women of True Grit, edited by Edie Hand. In June 2022, Donna shared her motherhood story in a live event produced by a director of The Moth NPR Story Hour with Vermont Family Network. Her essays have appeared in the online investigative publication PublicSource and in the Voices from the Attic anthology of Carlow University Press (ed. Jan Beatty, 2019). Donna has translated essays about the Earth Charter - a longtime inspiration and guide to creating a more just and sustainable future - by great Brazilian Liberation-theologian Leonardo Boff. An essay based of her master's thesis was published as a chapter, Voices of Brazilian Women socio-environmental educators in, Young people, education and sustainable development-eds. Corcoran, Osano, 2009.
After working in broadcast news, TV production, and contributing to non-profit organizations in Montreal, Canada, Donna was invited to produce a video for the Rio + 5 Forum on Sustainability, in Rio de Janeiro (1997), and to attend as a delegate. That was the beginning of a Brazilian journey which would span the next two decades, culminating in production of the film Yemanjá, Brazilian residency, and a deep connection to the international Earth Charter, an initiative and movement integral to Donna's personal and professional worlds.
Connect to Care in the Heart of Brazil
With a Brazilian family and allies there, Donna co-created a cross-cultural travel project, Connect to Care in the Heart of Brazil, sharing her love of the culture of Bahia, Brazil, with small groups of traveler while conducting service with at-risk young women, and re-examining life purpose. Donna would love to safely revive the travel project post-pandemic.
Donna's TV and production work include producing and directing the Telly Award-winning public television documentary, Sea of Uncertainty, about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico (see web page), Canadian special, Celebrate the Earth, and the trinational special, From the Yukon to the Yucatan: ECO Variety, hosted by Academy Award-nominee Graham Greene (see web page: "Past TV work"). She also worked in broadcast news for several years in the U.S and Canada. While living in São Paulo, Brazil, Donna produced bilingual films for non-profit Associação Mulheres pela Paz (Peace Women-São Paulo) about its national campaign to end violence against women. Donna also created short videos on environmental and marine science projects for Florida Gulf Coast University.
Advocacy. Education & Service
After an early career in broadcasting and production, Donna's passion for environmental and social justice work prompted a return to formal education to earn an M.S. in Environmental Sciences at Florida Gulf Coast University, where she went on to teach Environmental Humanities. Donna's thesis focused on Brazilian women "socio-environmental" educators, to help fill the gap of perspectives of women from the global South in international environmental education. During her time in SW Florida, Donna served as president of Earth Charter of Sanibel, organizing and leading public education events based on the broad notion of sustainability promoted by the Earth Charter. This followed earlier service work in Canada and beyond. (See page, "Being More, Not Having More!")
Donna currently lives in Burlington, VT, with her husband Gerald ("Chip") Hoffman, a brilliant still photographer/videographer, and son Gabriel, a musical 24 year old with autism who plays a key role in "Turning 22", a film in development seeking partners. Learn more on the Turning 22 page of this website.
