Angela Smith

Angela is an award-winning conservationist, photographer, filmmaker and researcher specializing in endangered species. She is also the founder of the environmental nonprofit Shark Team One. Shark Team One’s programs help save endangered species globally through field research, community action, citizen science and marine protected area projects.

Angela has also been a writer and photographer for National Geographic, a contributing science editor and photojournalist for The Sylvia Earle Alliance and was recently inducted into the Ocean Artists Society for her conservation photography. As a filmmaker Angela’s wildlife documentaries have won awards at global venues such as Jackson Wild and Blue Ocean Film Festival. Her natural history broadcast portfolio includes work with Discovery Channel, BBC, PBS and National Geographic. She is also an Indianapolis Prize for lifetime achievement in conservation nominee for 2020 and has recently led Shark Team One to be a Disney Conservation Fund grantee.

Leading expeditions to Arctic regions since 2018, Angela fell in love with Antarctica on her first trip there with AE Expeditions in 2024. Her current polar work includes study of narwhal migration through ice floes in the Canadian Arctic, documenting the “carousel feeding” behavior of orcas in the Norwegian Arctic, marine mammal and ecosystem studies in Antarctica with a focus on the Weddell Sea.

Angela grew up on the coast of Maine learning about and working on the water at a young age and she’s been exploring the world’s oceans ever since. She can’t wait to meet you onboard to share her expertise in marine ecology and endangered species conservation.