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

Hi Kinga, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

I am currently working on a show called Finding Adventure with Kinga Philipps for the streaming service Very Local. The concept of the show is to take people who don’t get outdoors much out of their comfort zones and into fun activities in nature that are right in their own backyard. What I love about the show is twofold. First off, it shows off this amazing country of ours and what it offers in terms of nature. From diving with sharks in Jupiter, Florida to learning survival skills in Sacramento, California to river surfing in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania there is so much natural wonder in the United States. The show also utilizes outfitters that the audience can find and do exactly what we did on the show. The second thing that makes Finding Adventure so meaningful is that it is a purely positive, uplifting show with no other agenda but to be inspiring and encouraging. Our participants all come away smiling and with a boost of confidence. I’ve received several messages from folks who appeared on the show to let me know that they have continued on getting outside and expanding their horizons. I have also heard from audience members that they related to the characters on the show and were inspired to make positive changes in their own lives. It’s an absolutely wonderful project to be a part of.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My BIO:

Never one to sit still, Kinga has tested herself for the past 20 + years by traveling the globe…scuba diving, free diving, spear fishing, surfing, jumping out of airplanes, spelunking and swimming with sharks as a writer, producer and on camera journalist for networks such as CBS, NBC, ABC, USA, AMC, Travel Channel, Fox Sports, Universal Sports, Food Network, Current TV, Syfy, Discovery, History Channel, EPIX, BBC and National Geographic.

Kinga was born in Warsaw, Poland into a family of explorers and adventurers. Her dad, a geologist, trekked repeatedly across Europe and her mom, trained in botany, can give the Latin name of every plant. Expeditions are in her genes. Her folks believed in regular road trips, camping, cultural exploration, photography and natural sciences. She didn’t stand a chance of becoming anything other than the world wandering, adventurous, story telling soul she grew up to be.

She has traveled the world reporting on intense subjects like police corruption in Mexico, gangs in LA, women in the sex trade, humanitarian and environmental causes, world conflict and natural disasters. On the flip side she has explored the night life, festivals and exotic eats of the world’s most vibrant cities.

Kinga was one of the original on air journalists to launch Al Gore’s Emmy Award winning Current TV, where she covered everything from travel, car culture and entertainment to current issues and hard hitting vanguard journalism stories that put her in the line of fire…sometimes literally.

As an on air producer for Syfy’s Legend Quest, a Da-Vinci-Code-meets-Indiana-Jones style adventure show traversing the globe in search of mysterious artifacts, Kinga traveled to 13 countries in two months exploring some of the world’s most exotic destinations. The team investigated sunken churches in Ethiopia, trekked the Andes in Peru, went spelunking in the Philippines, dived Mexican cenotes, rode camels through the desert in Jordan, located one of the oldest known churches in a maximum security prison in Israel and braved rough seas to access remote islands off Scotland’s west coast.

For National Geographic Kinga co-hosted America’s Lost Treasures, traveling across the United States in search of hidden links to America’s past, authenticating artifacts and telling the stories that connect our past to our present. The items from the show went on display at the National Geographic Museum in Washington DC. Kinga’s background includes a minor in anthropology and a fascination with history.

Kinga has done several projects for Travel Channel including The Wild Side with Kinga Philipps, which had her kite surfing, bungee jumping, free diving and mountain biking across the US; the network’s yearly special The Trip, where Travel Channel talent team up to show off exciting destinations; Travel Hacks, an animated multi part series written and hosted by Kinga and based on her more off beat and comical adventure travel moments and the award winning THE REAL, a comprehensive locals perspective of exotic destinations…repeatedly nominated and winning Tellys, Webbys and the Cynopsis Model D…among others. THE REAL was one of Travel Channel’s premier shows on Facebook Watch.

Her most recent project with Travel Channel was the 2020 series Lost in the Wild. Kinga, along with co-host JJ Kelley, travel the world investigating unsolved mysteries of missing persons that took place in some of the planet’s most harrowing and remote locations. The series filmed in the US, Panama, Brazil, Ecuador, India, Zimbabwe, Malaysia and the Philippines.

Also in 2020 Kinga joined the acclaimed six episode EPIX and BBC documentary series, Enslaved. As a journalist and scuba diver she was part of the team diving shipwrecks all over the world to tell the profound stories of the transatlantic slave trade along with Executive Producer Samuel L. Jackson.

In 2021 Kinga became the first female host in 33 years of her own show on Discovery’s SHARK WEEK with Tiger Queen. Filmed in Turks and Caicos Kinga investigated a mysterious population of never before studied tiger sharks coming face to face with these magnificent apex predators.
Finding Adventure With Kinga Philipps starts February 1st 2022 on Very Local. Kinga takes locals out of their comfort zones to experience incredible outdoor adventures right in their own backyards. Along the way, Kinga challenges each guest to try new things and to experience how stepping outside of the norm can be scary, but ultimately amazing and transformative.
Kinga is a regular survival expert appearing on the Gamology series Experts React. The wildly popular series has her commenting on some of the best known survival based video games giving her commentary and offering survival skills knowledge.

Kinga is also the regular travel expert for Beond TV, a morning program on KDOC LA, ROKU, Amazon and online that is viewed by almost 6 million viewers weekly. She co hosts the series, EXPLORE THIS.

As a writer, she has had two columns for Inside Hook: Off the Beaten Path, a modern nomads guide to a world less traveled that explores some of the last bastions of wilderness this planet has to offer; and the acclaimed Real Life Laura Croft series that highlights inspiring and accomplished women. She is also a regular contributor to Adventure Journal and her travel expertise has appeared in a variety of publications including Travel + Leisure, Martha Stewart Weddings and Readers Digest.

Kinga is a fellow at the prestigious Explorers Club. She joins the likes of Elon Musk, James Cameron, Neil Armstrong, Robert Ballard, Silvia Earle, David Attenborough and many others in this extraordinary family of explorers, who over the past 114 years, have dedicated themselves to the advancement of field research, scientific exploration, resource conservation and the ideal that it is vital to preserve the instinct to explore.

In her free time, Kinga explores a singular fascination with the ocean, free diving (see below), scuba diving (she is advanced open water, nitrox and dry suit certified), surfing, spearfishing to harvest her own food, exotic travel and sharks (those are her two friends from Guadalupe Island, MX swimming up top)… followed just slightly by a love of solo adventure travel, charity work, exotic foods and action sports.

Kinga is a board member of the nonprofit environmental group, Shark Allies, dedicated to changing the image of sharks and conserving our oceans. Kinga is a regular advocate for sharks on platforms like NOW THIS, Forbes, BEOND TV, The Artie Lange Show, Inside Hook and more. She is also an ambassador for Waves for Water, on org committed to providing clean water to those in need.

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

Passion and perseverance are key to success. I have been a hybrid of television journalism/producing and also ocean conservation for 20 years. I have always had a soft spot for sharks and worked with the non profit Shark Allies for over ten years. I have worked hard to feature sharks in my television work and offer a positive take on them any chance I can. It was always a dream of mine to host a show for Discovery Channel’s Shark Week as that seemed to be the pinnacle of shark programming. In 2021 I became the first female host of a Shark Week show in its 33 year history with Tiger Queen. With the help of a fantastic production company, Ping Pong Productions, and a phenomenal team of producers we created a show that I am incredibly proud of combining both science and entertainment.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

The most important thing I can say about social media is building a brand that is specific to you. It’s far less about followers and likes and much more about YOU and what makes you unique. If you are building your brand that highlights your strengths and passions the right people will organically gravitate to you. So many of my work projects come my way because I am very clear on social media what my specific lens is.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.kingaphilipps.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kingaphilipps/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEQGADvzD0xQqRXCaucdWFg

Image Credits
Lorenzo Hodges, Discovery, Hearst Media, Meena Amani