In 2001, Gemma was a professional jazz singer and actress who taught pre-school across the street from the World Trade Center. On Tuesday, Sept 11, when she normally would've been getting off the train at 9:50a (around the time the planes hit), she called in sick. In response to this global tragedy, she wrote We Rise, a rousing anthem, a song about uniting and healing in times of devastation. She left her life, gave away all her belongings, released her rent controlled NYC apartment, and with her meager savings began traveling around the world to mobilize a global peace movement called the Million Voice Choir to sing We Rise from around the world. She was able to mobilize groups in 100 cities in over 60 countries to sing We Rise on September 21, 2004 in celebration of the UN International Day of Peace. This was her first foray into filmmaking, when she produced a music video of the movement featuring peace warriors from around the globe who participated - including Jane Goodall, Archbishop Desmund Tutu, Pete Seeger and many many others.For the next 10 years, she traveled to over 40 countries with just a back pack and a guitar and virtually no salary, using her music as an entry point to mobilize communities. She won the CG Vibes Award from Queen Latifah and CoverGirl for Women Changing the World Through Music and used the $10,000 award to begin water and sanitation projects to the Philippines. She leveraged her skills as a performer, and water and sanitation expertise she learned on her travels around the globe, to train women to bring clean water to their villages. Over the decade, her work has provided clean water to nearly a million people in Asia and Africa - winning international awards at the World Economic Forum, Silicon Valley's Tech Awards and at the United Nations. This is where she began her accidental career as a filmmaker when she started producing short films capturing the amazing work the women in Africa were doing with limited resources, cultural barriers and virtually no funding. Her personal mantra, 'it takes a single drop of water to start a wave' is her invitation to everyone to recognize how powerful they are. To realize that their every thought, word and action will ripple out and affect those around them. And to use their power for good. Show less «