Life Out Loud

Born and raised in New York to a Swiss father and Polish mother, Ed Nef seemed destined for an interntional life. After serving in Germany with the US Army, Ed began his career with the Foreign Service in Dakar, Senegal, in 1960. An onward assginment in Guatemala found Ed building relationships with communist revolutionaries. 

A dreary tour at a stuffy embassy in Colomia followed, broken up by more exciting assignments to the Peace Corps. In 1976 Ed accepted a Congressional Fellowship on Capitol Hill that turned into a job as legislative director for Senator Max Baucus. 

Six years later, Ed left government and politics behind. Looking for a new career, Ed found it in the form of a "business for sale" ad in the Washington Post. Undeterred by a lack of business experience, he bought a small language school and turned it into the foremost private language-training facility in the DC area. Ed eventually opearted language schools in Tokyo, Vietnam, and Mongolia.

Inspired by the people he met, Ed began producing documentary films on topics including Vietnamese-American relations, Mongolian mining, Senegalese women, and Thai elephant polo, among others.

In a far-flung life of service, entrepreneurship, and adventure, Ed's compassion and curiosity guided his pursuits. Along the way, he averted disaster with a Mongolia professional wrestler and a Thai drug lord. He met Maureen O'Hara and the Dalai Lama. He became a flight instructor on the side. 

Today, Ed runs his family foundation to support worthy projects around the world. Its latest focus was providing disabled Mongolians with high-quality prosthetics.