Dan Eldon

Dan's mother, Kathy Eldon, was one of the featured women profiled in Lifetime's "Lifetime Celebrates Remarkable Women". Way to go, Kathy!

Following the tragic death of her son Dan Eldon, a 22-year-old Reuters photojournalist in Somalia, Kathy Eldon and her daughter Amy were determined to transform the tragedy into a powerful force for good. In 1998, Kathy launched the Creative Visions Foundation to celebrate “creative activists” like her son Dan, who used arts and media to create awareness of important issues and catalyze positive change. Since then, the Foundation has supported more than 80 projects and productions on four continents. 

Raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and educated at Wellesley College, Kathy Eldon has worked as a teacher, journalist, author, and film and television producer in England, Africa and the United States. She is the founder of the Creative Visions Foundation, a global organization that supports “creative activists” to use their creative talents to change the world around them. 

Creative Visions Foundation was inspired by the life of Kathy’s son Dan Eldon, an artist, adventurer and activist, killed in 1993 while on assignment for Reuters News Agency in Somalia. CVF has assisted more than 40 artists, filmmakers, playwrights, leaders of other social movements, and others who use media and the arts as vehicles of social change.

Kathy is co-creator, with Julia Roberts, of “Mothers on a Mission,” a series about the power of mothers to transform the world, which will air on the OWN Network in early 2011, and “Prized Women,” a series with the Nobel Women’s Initiative about women who have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. She is also executive-producing “Rock Your World,” a series about young activists, with 7ATE9. With Julia Roberts’ company Red Om, Kathy’s company is producing “Journey,” a major feature film about her son Dan, to be directed by Bronwen Hughes. 

Kathy has been profiled in a number of books, including Arianna Huffington’s “On Becoming Fearless,” Katherine Martin’s “Those Who Dare: Real People, Real Courage,” and Nancy Alspaugh, Marilyn Kentz and Mary Ann Halpin’s “Fearless Women.” In 2007 Kathy was named one of MSN’s “10 Amazing Women You Have Never Heard Of.”

In 2008 Kathy was presented with the Euro-American Women’s Council’s Artemis Goddess Award and the Wayuu Taya Foundation’s Award, and was named a Purpose Prize Fellow. In 2009 she and her daughter Amy received the Young Audiences New York Children’s Award for their work with young creative activists.

Kathy is the author of 17 books, including “Angel Catcher,” “Soul Catcher” and “Love Catcher,” a series of popular self-guided journals written with her daughter Amy Eldon, which help people negotiate loss and grief, find their purpose and introduce more love into their lives. She edited “The Journey Is the Destination: The Journals of Dan Eldon,” which has sold more than 130,000 copies. 

Kathy has been featured on many television and radio programs globally, and a segment about Kathy and her daughter continues to air in Oprah’s “Producer's Favorites.” Kathy has served on the board of the Overseas Press Club Foundation and is currently on the board of Video Volunteers and CALL2ACTION.