What do Polar Bears and Product Development Have in Common? With Roie Galitz
Roie Galitz has been to a few places that you and I can only dream about. From the Arctic Ice to the jungles of Brazil, traveling to difficult places is just a day at the office for Roie. His work suit is a parka jacket and a face protector, his briefcase is a 60L camera pack, and his coworkers are, well… polar bears.
Roie doesn’t just travel to hard to reach places, he is a professional wildlife photographer and Entrepreneur. With a goal of telling stories for animals that don’t have voices themselves, Roie has made it his mission to get photographs that capture the realities of the danger that many of our favorite animals experience. Mostly due to human interference and climate change. By humanizing these creatures through candid and intimate photography, he hopes to gain empathy around the globe for their causes.
Roie’s story is not just one of travel and photography, but one of perseverance. Roie is an entrepreneur with 4 companies and a growing brand in Israel. Getting to this level of notoriety means hearing people say “No” often. Roie coaches that getting a No is a good thing, it can light a fire within and help entrepreneurs learn how to improve their practice. When Roie got rejected from the Nikon pro-partner program, he deeply studied the patterns of other photographers to learn how to build his credentials and clout. When he was told that capturing a photograph of polar bears catching a seal was impossible because human noises will deter activity, he made it his mission to camp out in the arctic circle for days (living in an abandoned Russian Hotel), barely moving, in order to get his shot.
Roie was able to relate to the Cornell Tech crowd not just with his stories of incredible shots and far off places, but also with his involvement in Nikon’s product development. As an ambassador, he provides key feedback and testing for new tech releases. His stories of user feedback sessions and product trials were all too familiar to the entrepreneurs and product managers in the room.
A father of 4 boys, Roie has moved to America to launch a new brand of luxury travel and pictures from the initial trips were quick to make fellow adventurers in the room drool with excitement. His offering represents a new type of vacation, where travelers look to combine unique experiences, mission-driven stories, and luxury. We were excited to pair up with Roie for a talk at the SeamlessDocs offices… and hopefully can pair up with Roie for an After Hours talk on a boat…in the Arctic.
After Hours is a Cornell Tech alumni run event where we host industry leaders at the coolest NYC (and as of recently, SF) venues we can find. Interested in speaking? Know of a great space to host? Kind enough to sponsor an event? 🙏
