<img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-24423" src="https://www.hoffmaninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Jeff-Orlowski-Yang-Hoffman-Podcast-683x1024.jpeg" alt="Jeff Orlowski-Yang Hoffman Podcast" width="400" height="600" srcset="https://www.hoffmaninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Jeff-Orlowski-Yang-Hoffman-Podcast-683x1024.jpeg 683w, https://www.hoffmaninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Jeff-Orlowski-Yang-Hoffman-Podcast-200x300.jpeg 200w, https://www.hoffmaninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Jeff-Orlowski-Yang-Hoffman-Podcast-768x1152.jpeg 768w, https://www.hoffmaninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Jeff-Orlowski-Yang-Hoffman-Podcast-1024x1536.jpeg 1024w, https://www.hoffmaninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Jeff-Orlowski-Yang-Hoffman-Podcast-1366x2048.jpeg 1366w, https://www.hoffmaninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Jeff-Orlowski-Yang-Hoffman-Podcast-350x525.jpeg 350w" sizes="(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px" />Award-winning and celebrated filmmaker Jeff Orlowski-Yang is a masterful storyteller who documents the profound stories of our time. Founder and Creative Director of Exposure Labs, Jeff came to <a href="https://www.hoffmaninstitute.org/the-process/">the Hoffman Process</a> after hearing about it through many friends. One of Jeff&#8217;s friends knew a woman who was offering to pay for anyone ready to step into parenthood to attend the Process. Jeff was curious about and deeply moved by the nature of her offer. He felt there must be something important about <a href="https://www.hoffmaninstitute.org/the-process/">the Process</a> he&#8217;d heard so much about.
A key theme in this conversation is the power and nature of the stories we tell. The ones we carry on our backs, feeling like we cannot let them go, even knowing they are weighing us down. The ones we tell in hopes of changing hearts and minds. And the ones we create anew in our hopes for a different future. As a documentarian, Jeff knows both how to tell a great story and to listen to others telling their story. At his <a href="https://www.hoffmaninstitute.org/the-process/">Process</a>, he was able to listen deeply to the stories being shared around the classroom by his classmates. This helped him realize the nature of the story he has carried within.
In recounting his <a href="https://www.hoffmaninstitute.org/the-process/">Process</a> experience, Jeff weaves in the wisdom he&#8217;s gained from his work. He highlights the difference between communication and connection, a distinction that became clear to him while directing <a title="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Social_Dilemma">The Social Dilemma</a>. And he speaks to the nature of change and how powerful stories can be great catalysts of change, both personally and collectively.
We hope you enjoy this illuminating conversation with Jeff and Drew.
<h3>More about Jeff Orlowski-Yang:</h3>
<figure id="attachment_24445" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-24445" style="width: 300px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-24445" src="https://www.hoffmaninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Jeff-Orlowski-Yang-Featured-Hoffman-Process-Photog-Larissa-Rhodes-300x300.png" alt="Jeff Orlowski-Yang Hoffman Podcast Featured Larissa Rhodes Photog" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://www.hoffmaninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Jeff-Orlowski-Yang-Featured-Hoffman-Process-Photog-Larissa-Rhodes-300x300.png 300w, https://www.hoffmaninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Jeff-Orlowski-Yang-Featured-Hoffman-Process-Photog-Larissa-Rhodes-150x150.png 150w, https://www.hoffmaninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Jeff-Orlowski-Yang-Featured-Hoffman-Process-Photog-Larissa-Rhodes-768x768.png 768w, https://www.hoffmaninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Jeff-Orlowski-Yang-Featured-Hoffman-Process-Photog-Larissa-Rhodes-250x250.png 250w, https://www.hoffmaninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Jeff-Orlowski-Yang-Featured-Hoffman-Process-Photog-Larissa-Rhodes-350x350.png 350w, https://www.hoffmaninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Jeff-Orlowski-Yang-Featured-Hoffman-Process-Photog-Larissa-Rhodes-100x100.png 100w, https://www.hoffmaninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Jeff-Orlowski-Yang-Featured-Hoffman-Process-Photog-Larissa-Rhodes.png 790w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-24445" class="wp-caption-text">Photo by Larissa Rhodes</figcaption></figure>
Jeff Orlowski-Yang is the Founder and Creative Director of <a href="https://www.exposurelabs.com/">Exposure Labs</a>, a film and impact production studio that uses stories to change the world. Most recently, he directed <a href="https://www.exposurelabs.com/chasingtime">Chasing Time </a>(2024), a 40-minute short documentary currently screening at festivals around the world. Previously, he directed one of the most-watched documentaries on Netflix, <a title="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Social_Dilemma">The Social Dilemma</a> (2020), which premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, and was nominated for seven primetime Emmy awards, winning two. He was the director, producer, and cinematographer of the award-winning feature documentaries <a title="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chasing_Coral">Chasing Coral</a> (2017) and <a title="" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chasing_Ice">Chasing Ice</a> (2012), both of which screened at Congress and the United Nations and have garnered awards and accolades worldwide.
Jeff has several directorial projects currently in development and continues to support other filmmakers from concept to impact campaign as an executive producer and mentor. Orlowski-Yang won the 2017 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champions_of_the_Earth">Champion of the Earth Award</a>, the UN&#8217;s highest environmental honor, and serves on the boards of <a href="https://greentwopointzero.org/">Green 2.0</a> and <a href="https://about.netflix.com/en/sustainability">Netflix’s Sustainability Advisory Group</a>. He has traveled on tour representing the Sundance Institute, President Obama&#8217;s Committee for the Arts and Humanities, and the National Endowment for the Arts, among many other speaking and press engagements.
Jeff lives in Boulder, Colorado. Learn more about or get in touch with him at <a href="https://www.jefforlowski-yang.com/">JeffOrlowski-Yang.com</a>.

<h5>Listen on Apple Podcasts</h5>
<h3>As mentioned in this episode:</h3>
<a href="https://www.etown.org/about/">eTown Studios</a>
•   <a href="https://www.etown.org/etown-hall/recording-studio/">Take a video tour of eTown Studios.</a>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staten_Island">Staten Island, New York</a>
<a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine">National Geographic Magazine</a>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Balog">James Balog</a>, <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/e-1">National Geographic Photographer</a>
Guinness World Record
•   Greenland &#8211; Largest calving event ever filmed: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hC3VTgIPoGU&t=149s" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&#8220;CHASING ICE&#8221; Official Video</a>
<a href="https://www.barrierreef.org/the-reef/threats/coral-bleaching">Coral bleaching in Australia &#8211; Coral turns white due to heat</a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHCMlswf5eM&t=45s">The Adventure of Jason and the Argonauts from the Argonautica</a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqknAn_3QpI">Chasing Ice Trailer at Sundance</a>
•   <a href="https://www.sundance.org/blogs/meet-the-sundance-supported-oscar-nominees-chasing-ice-3/#:~:text=In%20a%20Best%20Documentary%20category,his%20first%20Academy%20Award%20nomination.">Nominated for an Academy Award</a>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existential_crisis">Existential Crisis</a>
<a href="https://www.tristanharris.com/">Tristan Harris &#8211; Tech ethicist</a> and <a href="https://www.humanetech.com/team-board/tristan-harris">co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology (CHT)</a>.
<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/9195006-i-went-to-the-woods-because-i-wished-to-live">Thoreau quote, &#8220;I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately&#8230;&#8221;</a>
<div class="style-scope ytd-channel-name">
<a href="https://www.sundance.org/blogs/sundance-institute-announces-boulder-colorado-as-the-new-home-for-the-sundance-film-festival-beginning-in-2027/">Sundance Film Festival is moving from Sundance, Utah, to Boulder, Colorado.</a>
The Unpredictable Award and Dopamine Addiction.
•   Article: <a href="https://www.diygenius.com/the-dopamine-loop/">Hooked: The Psychology of Variable Rewards</a>
•   Article: <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2013/07/24/204621796/ONLINE-REWARDS">Online Marketers Take Note Of Brains Wired For Rewards</a>
Instagram Lives:
Each day, we host two Instagram Lives.
Join our virtual community Quad-Check at 8:00 am PT on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/hoffmanprocess/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Instagram</a>. A <a href="https://www.hoffmaninstitute.org/practices/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Quad Check</a> is a practice to support you in integrating and honoring all four parts of your Quadrinity: Spiritual Self, Intellect, Emotional Self, and your Body.
Join our daily Appreciation and Gratitude practice at 6:00 pm PT on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/hoffmanprocess/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Instagram</a>. You’ll find the <a href="https://www.hoffmaninstitute.org/practices/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Appreciation and Gratitude practice</a> to be a beautiful way to reflect on your day. This practice will support your Spiritual Self’s natural desire to appreciate and give thanks for all that life brings you.
&nbsp;
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