How A Colorado Documentary Filmmaker Is Changing the Way We Eat Vanilla

Colorado filmmaker Shana Gilbert wasn’t looking to shake up the industry of the world’s favorite flavor when she went to Africa in 2005 to make a documentary. “I wanted to find a good story,” Gilbert says. “I had no intention of helping people or changing my whole life.”

But after becoming close with a group of young street kids in Uganda, she felt she couldn’t just up and leave them in a place where their futures didn’t look too bright. That’s why she stayed. For seven years Gilbert remained in Uganda, and with the help of friends who worked on fundraising back in Colorado, she eventually built a school that would educate 300 local kids.

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