We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Cyrus Maroofian. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Cyrus below.

Alright, Cyrus thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you share a customer success story with us?

Clean Water For Vietnam – In September 2023, I went on a trip to Vietnam with my friend and his family who runs a non-profit focused on bettering the lives of children around the world. He had funded a school in the Central Highlands and we were traveling there for the opening ceremony and first day of class. As usual, I brought some Sawyer water filters with me, 10 to be exact, which was the most I had been able to bring on a trip so far.

The trip and experience was incredible and the ceremony was beautiful. After, we donated and setup some of the water filters, we sat down with members of the local non-profit and local community leaders to train them on how the filter worked and how to properly clean them. There was a moment where the village representative in the government, showed me his phone with the google translate app opened and had asked “When can you bring more? This is exactly what we need, since people are getting sick from small particles in the water and we have to boil it to keep us safe”.
I had never had this type of response from me setting up water filters. Optimistic, I responded that I would bring them back as soon as possible. I had no idea how I was going to make this happen, but I knew it was going to happen.

Once I got back from this trip I started planning. It was during this time that Water Access To All started to officially become real. I had started working with some friends on my non-profit idea to bring filters to people around the world and the plan was to head back to Vietnam and bring 50 water filters. I had never planned a mission trip like this myself but the idea of bringing 50 water filters to a community was my guiding light. Over the next month we partnered with organizations to raise funds and planned a trip. The plan was that I would go to Vietnam with 1 of my friends to setup 50 filters in that same community. There was 100 families living there, so the these 50 would be the test and the plan would be for us to return with 50 more in the future.

So in late March 2024, a friend and I set out on the 16 hour flight to Da Nang, Vietnam. The village was located in the Central Highlands.

The drive to the village takes 6 hours up mountain roads, through mud and various small towns. The occasional bathroom break in the jungle was the only real rest. The school is nestled in the mountains and surrounding it is a small village of wooden homes, a small manmade lake, and thick, lush jungle.

Water Filter Day (which also happened to be World Water Day – maybe I planned that) started with us drilling holes in 50 5-gallon buckets and setting up 50 filters. As the families entered the school they would come up to us to see what we were doing. The language barrier definitely made it tough to community directly, but luckily the team that was responsible for us, did a great job explaining how the filter works as I showed everyone. We setup and distributed 50 water filters to 50 families with the goal to return with 50 more.

In November 2024 we are returning to this village with not only 50 water filters, but 25 extra so we can start this process in another nearby village. The goal would be to continue setting up water filters for the communities living in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. This would now give that entire village, that I was first introduced to in that trip in September 2023, clean drinking water.

During our trip back in November, we will be interviewing families to get their experiences with the filters. Although these families don’t pay for water filters and are not technically our “customers” I feel that this project has been a success so far and once we return to see how their lives have been adjusted due to the filter, we can continue to help spread this mission.

Clean drinking water is essential to life and for us living in a developed world, we have access to it at the turn of a faucet or the press of a button. This is why I believe we have the means to help people who were born into less fortunate circumstances.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

The story behind Water Access To All, If we want to be technical, started when I was a baby and said my first word “Agua”. No, I am from a Hispanic or Spanish family, my parents are actually from Iran, but when I was born, my parents had hired a nanny for me, since they both worked all day, who spoke Spanish, while they spoke farsi and english. I guess this caused my first word to be “Agua”. However it would take almost 20 years for me to understand the significance of that word would mean in my life.

I grew up in the small neighborhood and went to a small private high school where I played basketball, was on the swim team, and was part of most AP or Advanced classes, encouraged by my very hardworking parents. They had come to American during the Iranian Revolution and started their lives from basically nothing, as most immigrant stories start. I believe, this instilled a strong work ethic. My parents always pushed my younger brother and I to strive for the “A+, not just the A”. We also played piano and were part of a pretty intense piano program and required us to go to competitions, perform in recitals, and take tests to advance to the next level. Of course, I was pushed to go into the advanced level. In addition to the school, I was also part of their “younger performers” team, which had a big concert at the end of the year where we each played 2 pretty advanced pieces. My classmates and teachers at that school were pretty impactful and taught me many lessons about hard work and commitment. I was also part of the Varsity basketball team at my school and join the swim club team and also played on the JV and Varsity volleyball team. All of these different groups and teams and leaders and taught me so much and how to achieve goals and also what to do when you fail from time to time. After high school I went to university. My first year was spent up north at UC Davis and then I transferred back to LA to USC. I decided to study I was going to study Environmental Engineering and it was during this time at USC where the seed of my true passion in life would be planted and even sprout.

At USC I was philanthropy chair of my fraternity, I was part of the Environmental Student Assembly and spent the rest of my time studying, surfing, and spending time with friends going on any adventure we could.

During my 3rd year, I went on a trip to Jamaica with my brother and a girlfriend at the time. It was on this trip where I was exposed to the Water Crisis, first hand, and the things I had been learning in school, where there in my face. Rainwater catchment, polluted rivers, water filtration, it was all there. So when I got home I decided to write a paper for a class I was taking about the water crisis in Jamaica. During a peer review session, a classmate who was reading my paper told me about her friend who was working on a project that aligned with what I was writing. She gave me his info and I reached out.

During our meeting I learned about his project, which he started in High School. His project was to setup water filters in communities around the world. This was it! Something about this called to me and so I partnered with him to start a club at our university where we focused on finding travelers who were going to areas in need and donating filters to them to setup. We fundraised for filters, met some amazing people and connected to travelers who were doing some great work. During one of those connections, I had been introduced to someone traveling to Tanzania who wanted some filters. He ran a nonprofit called the Han Schneider International Children’s foundation (HSICF). I met up with him and after an hour or so conversation he invited me to come along. Instantly I said yes, and a few weeks later, after taking a midterm, I was on a flight to Tanzania. That trip changed everything and after being able to setup filters, interact with communities, teach english to children and help build a computer/learning center, I was hooked. I knew this was what I wanted to do.

After I graduated, my vacation days and traveling became limited. It was during this time that I built a love for film photography and capturing moments and adventures I experienced. I was able to still travel and during those few trips I would bring a few water filters each time and find a community or family to donate to. I also would still go on the mission trips with the nonprofit I went to Tanzania with, so I was still able to help communities. These opportunities brought me to places like Mexica, Bolivia, and Bali. The trip to Mexico was with the Han-Schneider Foundation and we were to be camp counselors to some local orphans for a week. In addition I donated 2 water filters to the summer camp. Bolivia was a spring break trip with my brother where we met up with my brother’s friend who had been traveling through South America. While on an adventure in the Salt Flats, I donated a filter to a family that hosted us for a meal. My trip to Bali was with a girlfriend at the time, but after building a connection with our driver, I donated 2 filters for his family that lived the mountains.

After that Bali trip I moved to Ventura, and then soon after the move COVID hit and the world shutdown. For me, this caused me to work from home. While I was at home more, I started to go explore my new town more. I would go on daily photo walks and even started surfing more. Soon I started photographing surfing. Although I initially had no friends here and everything was closed, I was starting to build a community in the surf and photography world. In 2021, I decided to take a photography class at the community college and that decision ended up really benefitting my photography. I met an amazing teacher, who also taught my building manager (who was becoming like an older sister to me), and was able to practice my photography through some pretty interesting projects. We even traveled to Cuba in 2022 on an art and photography trip where I donated 2 water filters to an orphanage in Havana. The more I learned the more I really started to find a groove with my cameras, find what films a liked to shoot with and even brought me more and more into the local cameras store in Ventura, Dexter’s. Dexter’s really helped my photography as well. I learned so much from the people who worked there and they constantly gave me pointers and advice regarding cool film to shoot or different techniques to try. A few years in, I had started buidling a small community of friends and we all enjoyed surfing ad photography and adventuring. I started photographing and filming some of my friends who surfed and would make little surf edits and movies with the footage. It was all sort of just happening, and each thing built into the next. Soon I was using a film camera and my handycam at the same time during sessions and then using the photos in the surf edit. I even used my photography as the cover art for the videos. Eventually this turned into a little surf team and a small brand and further pushed creative ventures like graphic design, website design, marketing, T-shirt design and more.

In 2023 I got an invitation to join another HSICF trip, but this time to Vietnam in September. I instantly said yes and bought flights. This time I had enough money to purchase 10 water filters and I decided to bring them along, but little did I know that this trip to Vietnam would be the catalyst that would start Water Access To All. 6 hours into the mountains of the Central Highlands, sat a school next to a small village. We would spend the next 3 days there, connecting with the community, the teachers, and the children. One morning we sat down with the teachers and local village representatives and explained how the filter worked and that we were donating 10 of them. The village rep told us that this is exactly what they have been needing since people have been “getting sick from small particles in the water”. He instantly asked when we could bring more. Something clicked in my brain at that very moment. I told him that we would bring them soon and then gave him a hug. The rest of the trip was pretty incredible. After the school opening ceremony, we spent some time traveling around the country and went down south to explore more. I spent a few days there by myself and explored Saigon and took a bunch of film photos of the amazing city.

When I returned from the trip, things really started to move. I had told my friend about what I was doing (the same friend I had been surfing with and starting photography and filming) and he said he wanted to help out so we started working and planning. At the time “my water project” was called “Film4Water”, a nod to WavesforWater and a way for me to raise funds to water filters by selling my film photos. However, once my friend joined, the name needed to change. After a month or so of planning, we brought on another friend to help with content and videography. The plan was to go back to Vietnam in March for World Water Day (March 22) and setup 50 filters for that village I was at in September. Through our many meetings, the name W.A.T.A. (Water Access To All) was born. It felt perfect, and randomly, I would refer to “Water” and “Wata” after seeing it written on a bottle in Jamaica (Now trying saying WATA with a Jamaican accent, it’s way more fun). I started the process of getting WATA a 501c3 and we started the process of raising funds to get 50 filters. At the time The Han-Schneider Foundation sponsored us so that our donations could be a tax write-off for our donors and they purchased the filters for us and help us with planning and organizing. Suddenly, it was March and our trip was right around the corner.

One day, a friend from college reached out and said that the villages she works with in Myanmar (Burma) could use the water filters and if there was a way for us to come there. After reviewing our plan, I cut out some of the “adventure” days and planned a couple day detour to go visit my friend in Myanmar. The plan would be to bring around 20 filters to setup in the village there and donate to the surf association that she was working with. We raised the funds, purchased the filters and even got about 100 bars of wax donated to us by the local surf board factory.

Our trip to Vietnam and Myanmar was really incredible and not only was it our first trip as WATA, it happened during World Water Day, which for me was a huge accomplishment, to be able to do this work on the day that celebrates it. In Myanmar we built a great connection with the surfers and the community and donated filters to the homes of the surfers. We also sponsored 3 of the kids through our small surf brand we were starting. For me being able to shoot film photos, especially of surfing, in Myanmar was surreal. Being able to not only surf but also be a part of their community was really special. In Vietnam, we were able to setup 50 water filters for 50 of the families living in the village. There are 100 families, so the plan was to test to see how the families did with the first 50 and then return to setup more. The families were really receptive to the filters and we even had to rely on a filter for our own water since we forgot to bring water bottles. There was even a moment where we were playing soccer with the kids (who play barefoot) and they would go to filter by themselves and get water from it. It was amazing to see! I cried a few times on the trip, but tears of pure join.

When we got back from the trip, I started planning for our return. I goal was to bring 50 filters for the remaining families in that village and then bring more to start this process in a neighboring village. We were also going to go back to Myanmar to continue our work there and setup more filters. We got back into planning and fundraising, throwing events with local art galleries and restaurants.

It was during this time, where I was really interested in going on another trip, but I wanted to see if it was possible to go over a weekend vs the whole 2 weeks since I was running out of vacation days. Labor Day weekend was the next 3 day weekend so I googled “Non-profits in Guatemala” to see what I could come up with. I had about 75 water filters in my apartment that were going to be used for Vietnam part 2, but since we hadn’t figured out a date, I thought it would be a waste to have them just sitting in my room. After a couple emails, one of the organizations got back to me (The Long Way Home) and asked if we could schedule a call for Monday. He then added “or today” and I told him let’s do it and about an hour later we were on a phone call. The Long Way Home is an organization that focuses on green building and sustainable teaching in a small town in Guatemala. They opened a school called the “Hero School” where all the buildings are made from trash and recycled materials and they teach their students to be better humans for the world. We talked about the need for clean drinking water and how the filters would be very helpful. There is almost 200 students at the school, so I told him I could bring 50 to see how it goes and then continue with more trips in the future. We could also bring volunteers to help with the projects around the school. And just like that we had another trip planned to setup 50 filters, but this time in Guatemala, and with a connection that I found on my own and program that I was starting myself. It was definitely exciting! I decided to ask another one of my friends if she wanted to join. She had experience solo traveling and also was teaching and working on a way to move to Spain to teach english. My WATA team member was supposed to come but due to family obligations had to miss this one.

During this time I had recently come across the youtube channel “Yes Theory” and really resonated with their message and ideas of Saying Yes and Seeking Discomfort. I watching episode after episode of their adventures and decided that I wanted to bring some sort of “Vlog” aspect to what we were doing and the videos I was creating from the trips.

A month or so later, we were on a flight to Guatemala to setup 50 filters for 50 families. The trip to this town was really moving. The Founder of the non-profit was also there during the trip and being able to speak to him was quite the experience. We really connected with our guide during the trip and felt as if he became part of our family by the end. Setting up the 50 filters was really impactful as well and we learned so much from that experience. The families were eager to trip the filter and were excited to take them home. We were even able to visit a home and see the family use the filter effectively! We were able to spend a day adventuring as well, which gave us a unique look at the area that we were helping. The program here is so strong and I am excited to continue the work with this community and organization. As soon as we got back from this trip, we received our 501(c)(3) status, which really opened some doors for us.

As I sit here and write this essay (sorry if you’ve kept reading til this point, I swear it’ll make sense), I will be leaving in 1 week on that trip back to Vietnam that we had planned months ago. The plan now, however, is to bring 75 filters to the same village from our previous trips, but also expand to the North and donate 100 filters to communities and villages that were greatly impacted by Typhoon Yagi. We also started an Ambassador Program, and will be meeting up with our 2 WATA Ambassadors while in the North to setup filters with them. Our Ambassadors had reached out to us, so stoked on the work we were doing, and wanted to be apart of the experience. They had started their own community called “Water Cycle” and were riding bicycles through Asia setting up water filters. I decided that sponsoring them would be best route and by this they would get my pricing for the filters we were using, in addition to training resources that I had created. During this trip we will also be returning to Myanmar with 50 water filters to setup in the town and neighboring village. Adopting some of the methods I learned during the Guatemala Trip, I am confident that we will make a huge impact in these communities.

In our first year, we’ve raised over $15,000 and distributed around 300 filters, reaching communities in Vietnam, Myanmar, and Guatemala. Through our Ambassador Program, we’ve expanded our impact to Thailand, Cambodia, and Kenya. This journey has allowed me to combine my love for film photography and surfing with a mission. Most of our trip photos are taken on film, and during our Myanmar trip, we donated five film cameras and rolls of film to the local surf association, thanks to a donation from Dexter’s Camera. This next trip to Myanmar we will be bringing some surf board materials and equipment to donate and work on building a board with them. I’m deeply grateful for the support from family, friends, local organizations, and brands who believe in this mission. Reflecting on my journey, I can see how each experience, challenge, and lesson has shaped where I am today with Water Access To All. The goal is to continue this work and with more support and funding we can really make a positive impact in the world.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

This is something I am currently learning about so I figured I could talk about my journey through it so far. I feel this concept is even more applicable now that I started a non-profit, because unlike the usual motivator of money (wage/salary), like in a business, everything in the non-profit world is volunteer based. Plus, since we are just starting out, funds are low and there is a constant need to fundraise and ask for donations, which can be “lame” for a lack of a better word. So the idea of team management and high morale has become even more important and more of focus.

Unfortunately, its a concept I’ve been having a rocky time trying to understand and master. This is usually how I learn, trial and error, failure and failure, growth and learning, until I have honed my skills enough to become successful. In this first year I’ve already had someone quit in addition to some other strained relationships, as they come with working with friends. And honestly, all of them were due to my lack of team management and failure to keep morale high (even if my own morale is low). However, I see all this as an opportunity to grow and get better. The success of the non-profit relies on my leadership. I am still in the process of figuring this all out, and every day the universe gives me chances to practice, but here is what I have learned so far. This is in no specific order:

1. Communication is key. It sounds obvious, but it’s something I’ve constantly run into. It’s important to communicate plans properly. Just because I might know the timing, place etc of an event, doesn’t mean my team does. So as a manager it’s important to communicate, and check in to make sure that they feel you’ve communicated enough. This also opens up the opportunity for communication from your team, which ulimately will allow them to be heard and allow for adjustments.

2. Set Proper Expectations. “Expectations” can cause all sorts of problems if not properly communicated (ah #1). Especially with regards to people volunteering their time. It’s important to articulate the tasks/work that is expected of the team members. This can come in many forms, for example a job description, but it’s important that as manager I make sure my team understands these expectations, and remind them. It’s also important to hear what your team’s expectations are. Like communication, this has to be something that goes both ways.

3. Keep Your Cool. This might not apply to everyone, as there are people who can naturally just do this, but based on my experiences in my life, “keeping cool” was not something I really learned growing up. Through sports teams, family dynamics, relationships, and more, I built the habit of expressing myself with emotion. I felt the only way to really get the other person to understand was to be emotional about it. Emotion would get results. (Well, so I thought.) Even now, in my current job (Marketing Manager of a manufacturing company), the culture used to be one of high intensity and emotion. Meetings were often pretty animated and things got done. Since covid, I work from home so I no longer and part of that and that environment is something I am not really affected by as much. However, in starting my own non-profit and also working in the photography world, I’ve starting to understand the importance of managing those emotions and keeping my cool more often than not. Instead of freely expressing myself in a manager’s meeting at my job, like I used too, the move is to now sit back and listen to my team talk while keep a level head in the scenario. As a leader, the team will mostly reflect my emotions, so if I am confident and happy the team will be, but if I am not, that will be even more detrimental to the team.

4. Show Gratitude, all the time. Again, this might be one that is obvious, but something I’ve learned is even more important when managing a team. Every single thing that my team does, I should be grateful for. Especially since they are volunteering their time. If they repost something, or share a video, I should thank them. Show them appreciation that they are supporting the cause. If they come to event with me or come on a trip, be grateful that they are putting their time and money into supporting the cause. This is something that I constantly battle with since I hope that my team would do these things out of pure stoke, but without the proper set expectations and communicating those expectations, I can’t hold my team accountable for not doing those things. So instead of resentment, I should flip it and show gratitude for the moments that they do those things. By being able to focus on appreciating the moments of support, you can train your brain to start seeing more of that and maybe, just maybe, through some universal juju, you will gain more and more support.

5. Take Ownership. This is the most recent thing I’ve come to learn in this journey and although mine is for a non-profit, I think it can apply to business owners as well. Take ownership of the project (or business/brand). Although you might have a team around you, or employees, or partners, remember that this is your dream, your project and don’t always feel you need to get input or ask for things from your team. I don’t mean this is a negative way where you don’t include them and just do what you need to do, but this goes back to expectations, it’s important to remember that whatever they are helping you with, is still your dream. They won’t always have the same drive or passion for it and maybe the days you’ve worked 10 hours and can easily work another 2 aren’t the same for your team. Maybe your team needs to have a meeting where all you guys do is hang out, watch a surf edit, or play mario kart, instead of always working and working like they want to spend 12 hours a day on it. Again some people might already have this understanding, but have been learning this, I thought just because someone was willing to help me achieve my dream, they were as invested in the dream or willing to put as much time. I lost sight of nurturing my friendships, and everything just became about work and by taking ownership I feel I can take pressure of them and appreciate the moments we get to work together.

6. Eat the Humble Pie. This is something I learned from my dad, who himself was taught this one through an experience. Someone at the company he was president for was treating him poorly and he was holding a grudge (something I do). He was told, by someone, that he should go apologize to that individual and “eat the humble pie”. My dad, similar to what I would do, fought that suggestion over and over again. Why should he apologize, he didn’t do anything and he was the boss! Right? Until one day he was fed up with the treatment he was still getting. He decided to change it up and took the advice and walked over to his coworker’s office. He sat down and started by apologizing for anything he did to upset his coworker. He said he didn’t mean to ever upset him and would love to apologize if he had done anything. Shocked, his coworker had no idea where this was coming and truthfully responded by saying that my dad had done nothing and he was not aware of how his actions were being interpreted. From that day, my dad said, they were great friends, all because my dad apologized. So as a leader I think its important to stay humble and never be afraid to apologize or take accountability.

As I continue to go on this journey, I learn more and more about this concept of leadership. Essentially managing and team and maintaining high morale comes to leadership. It’s a position I have found myself in time and time again, but now as an adult dealing with other adults, I’ve learned that the practice of leadership must also evolve. Hopefully this can offer advice to someone who is in this position currently or about to enter a position where they must manage a team.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

This is something I definitely think applies to everyone who is just starting a business or creative endeavor, but making it through year 1, I think illustrates resilience. I think regardless of success or how that first year is going, the fact that you can say that you have commitment and work towards something for 1 year is the biggest testament to someones resilience. I can only speak from my experiences, but my first year has been hard, personally, and although I have felt beat down and burned out, the non-profit has been able to achieve so much and continue to grow. It’s been a lot of long nights, failed ideas, failed partnerships, lots of no’s, some resentment and sadness, but at the same time, there’s been success and support! There’s been growth and I think fighting through the lows to experience the highs and then to continue fight passed the highs to achieve more, knowing that you will experience more lows and can fail, just shows the type of person it takes to build something great.

In September 2023, I had just donated 10 water filters to a community in Vietnam that my friend had built a school for. The first thing the village representative said when I explained what the filters did was “How can we get more?”. I left that trip with an dream to bring more filters back, but I had no idea how. Fast forward to October 2024, 1 year later, I have been able to donate 50 water filters to that community, another 20 to a community to Myanmar, 50 to a community to Guatemala, and have funding another 225 filters for a trip to Vietnam and Myanmar in November 2024. In addition, we have built an ambassador program that has been able to donate water filters to communities in Kenya, Thailand, Indonesia and Cambodia. Through all the late nights, lonely dinners, mental battles, and moments missing out on the fun with friends, the non-profit has been able to continue to exponentially grow. That resilience it takes to believe in your dream no water what, I think is found in all business owners. What I find even more motivating for myself, is that we have been able to achieve this without proper funding and most on donations, which get’s me so stoked for what is ahead once we can get some real funding for our mission!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.cleanwata.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wateraccesstoall/
• Facebook: wateraccesstoall
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@WaterAccessToAll

Image Credits

Cyrus Maroofian (myself) & Izaiah & Larena
All Photos Developed by Dexter’s Camera