Laurel Chor

Roles: Special Guest

Laurel Chor is an Emmy-nominated freelance journalist, photographer, filmmaker, and National Geographic Explorer from Hong Kong. She has worked for VICE, HBO, SHOWTIME, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Guardian, Reuters, and others. She has covered social, political and environmental stories all over the world, ranging from the Rohingya refugee crisis, to rising sea levels in the Solomon Islands, to deforestation in Paraguay. In 2020, she was named an honoree for the IWMF Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism award for her work on the 2019-2020 Hong Kong protests.

With support from the National Geographic Society, she founded the Hong Kong Explorers Initiative, a project that encouraged urbanites to explore, appreciate, and protect the city’s nature and wildlife. An experienced PADI Master Scuba Diver and underwater photographer, her environmental work has included gorilla conservation in the Central African Republic, pink dolphin research in Hong Kong, and the illegal ivory trade. In 2013, Dr. Jane Goodall appointed her as an ambassador for the Jane Goodall Institute Hong Kong. She is currently researching the trade in manta ray gills for traditional Chinese medicine under the Oxford Martin Programme in Illegal Wildlife Trade as part of her Masters in Biodiversity, Conservation, and Management at Christ Church, Oxford University.

An accomplished rugby player, she represented Hong Kong in the 2017 Rugby World Cup. She graduated from Georgetown University magna cum laude with a degree in International Health.