Alissa Everett has gone from Peace Corps to investment banking to war photojournalism to fundraising. (All photos: Peter Holmes à Court)
Alissa Everett has traveled to and photographed the world’s worst war zones, from Iraq to Darfur, Syria, and the Gaza Strip. Her photos of pain and suffering made the evening news, but they weren’t making a difference. So she made a change.
While Alissa was covering the underreported and vicious war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in 2009, she was touched not only by the brutality of the war, but also by the optimism of some of its victims. Despite suffering unspeakable horrors, some of the female refugees had a bright view of the future. “They weren’t looking for sympathy,” Alissa said. “They were looking for a place to start a new life — and maybe a business.”
Alissa knew a photograph of a Congo women’s treatment center might get a couple seconds on an evening newscast and would be soon forgotten — if it was covered at all. She wanted to make a lasting difference in the lives of these women.
So rather than just selling some images and moving to the next war, Alissa returned to the U.S. to exhibit her photographs for a fundraiser, exposing the hope these women had to build a better life. The event was a success, and the foundationExposing Hope was born.
Everett founded Exposing Hope to help women in war-torn areas build a better life.
It was a project that perhaps only someone with Alissa’s unique background could have pulled off: She’s a former Peace Corps volunteer in Africa turned investment banking analyst turned photojournalist. She launched her photography career by quitting her banking job, putting all her stuff in storage, and buying a one-way ticket to Iraq in 2003 “because that’s where the news was happening.”
Embedded with the U.S. 101st Airborne, she was there when Saddam Hussein’s sons were killed in the assault on Mosul, and her photos made the world news. In her global travels, Alissa has been to over 100 countries, doing photo assignments in dozens of them. Her website displays some of the striking images she’s created for UNICEF, news groups, and even a few travel magazines.
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