Water is life – without water there is no life. More than 2 billion members of our human family do not have access to safely managed drinking water.
Guided by the stated needs of the communities, Mother Water Fund’s determined intention is to help build the infrastructure to remediate the existential struggle caused by lack of access to clean, safe water.
100% of every donation will go to assist these water-stressed communities.
Our Team
Michael Zelniker
Founder & President
Born and raised in Montreal, Michael is an award-winning actor and filmmaker. After more than 30 years working on film, television and theater stages around the world and 14 years training actors and filmmakers at the Los Angeles campuses of the New York Film Academy and AMDA College and Conservatory for the Performing Arts, Michael left this work to volunteer full time to try and help solve the climate crisis.
As a lifelong environmentalist, Michael fulfilled a dream in 2018 when he completed the training with former Vice President Al Gore, becoming a member of the Climate Reality Project’s Leadership Corps. He served for almost 3 years as Co-Chair of the Los Angeles chapter, mentoring and presenting at several Climate Reality Project Leadership Corps trainings. He also co-founded the California Coalition of Chapters with Antonina Markoff.
In 2021, Michael returned to filmmaking with The Issue with Tissue – a boreal love story, a documentary about the boreal forest and the Indigenous Peoples who call it home, combining his passions for storytelling, film and climate action. The critically acclaimed feature film, which he wrote, produced, directed, shot and edited played in theaters and film festivals all over the world. The 6-part series will be available on various streaming platforms in early 2026.
In 2023, heeding the call from water, Michael embarked on a 219 day journey, traveling to 21 countries in every corner of the globe with the singular purpose to uplift the voices and stories of those on the frontlines of the water crisis. This life-changing crusade yielded an 8 part docuseries titled The Struggle for Mother Water about water and women who are waging a courageous, inspiring fight to protect and conserve it. The 8 part docuseries will be released in 2026.
“Seeing the realities on the ground of children and women experiencing the existential impacts of water scarcity, fetching obviously contaminated water to be used for drinking, cooking, washing, bathing… Learning that the contaminated water they were fetching is their only option, led me to conclude, I cannot look the other way, I have to try and do something. Thus the Mother Water Fund was created where 100% of the money donated will go directly to help the women, children and their communities, that are highlighted in The Struggle for Mother Water, gain access to clean, safe drinking water and reliable, functional sanitation.”
Antonina Markoff
Board Chair & Secretary
Even as a LEED-accredited architect, Markoff recognized that practice alone was not enough. Her environmental leadership extends into policy, advocacy, and education. She was appointed to a city commission to rewrite hillside development guidelines for sustainability, later serving as a planning commissioner to help implement them. She spent five years volunteering with ExtraFood, strengthening local food access while diverting significant food waste from landfills.
In 2018, Markoff completed training with former Vice President Al Gore to become a member of the Climate Reality Leadership Corps. She went on to co-chair the Bay Area Chapter, help launch its policy teams, and co-found the California Coalition of Chapters with Michael Zelniker, where she continues to serve as Coalition Coordinator. A founder and board member for both Climate Action California and the Climate Action California Foundation, and co-designer of iconic condor logo, Markoff champions the inseparable relationship between design, climate action, and responsibility.
She went on to collaborate with Zelniker on the acclaimed documentary The Issue with Tissue – a boreal love story, supporting both its editorial development and outreach to amplify its message about forest protection and Indigenous stewardship.
Markoff’s environmental ethic was shaped early in the forested hillsides of Marin County, where she grew up among redwoods, creeks, and construction sites. In that setting, nature and building were inseparable. Raised in a community deeply engaged in environmental and human rights work, she became acutely aware of ecological loss and responsibility—from witnessing the impacts of deforestation and pollution to cleaning oil from seabirds as a child. These experiences grounded her lifelong understanding that environmental damage is personal—and preventable.
From this foundation emerged her belief that architecture must serve the land and life it supports. Educated at Yale and Harvard, she developed a design philosophy centered on the totality of place, recognizing buildings as part of larger ecological and social systems. That perspective continues to guide her work at Markoff Fullerton Architects, where projects emphasize resilience, electrification, daylight, and a respectful relationship between built form and natural systems.
“My guiding principle—’Be where you are’—reflects a practice rooted in listening to land and context. Through both my design work and environmental stewardship, I seek to demonstrate that meaningful architecture begins with care for the world it inhabits.”
Harriet Harvey-Horn
Treasurer
Harriet Harvey Horn is a former Silicon Valley engineer and marketing executive who has been active in climate advocacy since 2018. Inspired by the climate leadership of former Vice President Al Gore and the Climate Reality Project he founded, Harriet’s involvement in climate advocacy began when she became a Climate Reality Leader in 2018. Since then, she has mentored over 150 climate leaders, delivered climate talks across the country, and served on the leadership teams of the Bay Area and SIlicon Valley Climate Reality chapters.
In addition to her roles with the Climate Reality Project and the Mother Water Fund, Harriet also serves on the board of the Climate Action California Foundation, and in an advisory capacity with Silicon Valley Youth Climate Action.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Texas Tech University and MBA from Santa Clara University. A fifth generation Texan who has lived her entire adult life in California, Harriet brings a pragmatic, well-rounded, perspective to her efforts to engage others in climate action. She lives in Los Gato, California in a fully-electric home powered by solar and battery storage, and gets around happily, safely and sustainably in her full-self-driving EV.
“I know that we are standing upon a perilous precipice with respect to sustaining life on Earth. But I also know that the solutions we need to ensure a safe, healthy, stable, thriving future for all humanity and living things are at hand, and are increasingly economically advantageous and easy to adopt. The positive pull of what is possible if we just embrace the better future at our fingertips is what propels me in this work. We all have an obligation to press for a better future, and I believe that we have the will in our hearts to do so. Let’s make it happen – now!”
Scovia Ampumuza
Board Member
Scovia is the Programs Director at Faraja Rwanda where she leads community-driven initiatives that empower women and girls through environmental conservation with a sharp focus on water protection and ecosystem restoration. With training in Environmental Sustainability Management and six years of experience in community-based women’s programs, she brings practical expertise in strengthening both people and the environment.
Prior to joining Faraja, Scovia worked with a number of organizations including Resonate, the MasterCard Foundation and USAID partners, supporting programs that trained and equipped more than 20,000 women and girls with leadership skills and opportunities to participate in Rwanda’s growing economy.
Scovia also serves as a gender and resource-mobilization advocate with the UNCBD Women’s Caucus, championing the voices of women and youth in international environmental policy spaces. Her work in water advocacy, wetland and river conservation combined with the requisite focus on community empowerment, uplifts survivors of gender-based violence and other vulnerable groups, promoting dignity, resilience and sustainable livelihoods.
At the heart of Scovia’s work is a clear and determined mission to protect water, restore ecosystems and ensure that women and girls are positioned to lead the way in forging a more sustainable and just future.
Ewi Stephanie Lamma
Board Member
Ewi is a UN Climate Action Ambassador, Climate Reality Project Leader and passionate environmental and climate justice advocate with more than twelve years of experience in research, community development and environmental management. Her work centers on building climate resilience and water security in vulnerable, rural communities across Cameroon.
Ewi currently leads projects around Mount Cameroon focused on restoring three critical water catchments to strengthen local ecosystems and enhance community access to clean water. She also designed a child-focused WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) manual used to promote environmental education among schools in the East Region of Cameroon, empowering children to become early advocates for environmental protection and sustainable living.
Beyond community-based initiatives, Ewi actively contributes to global climate advocacy through policy engagement and partnerships. She has co-signed multiple open letters with UN Water Aid and other international advocacy groups, amplifying calls for inclusive, equitable water governance. Her inspiring voice continues to represent women, youth and marginalized rural populations in national and international climate dialogues where she drives forward conversations on justice, sustainability and local empowerment in climate action.
Faeza Meyer
Board Member
Faeza is a working-class Black feminist, community-based activist, organizer and educator who has been at the forefront of struggles for housing, water, education, work, health and women’s rights in Cape Town, across South Africa, the African continent and internationally since 2011.
She earned a Higher Certificate in Education in Adult Education at the University of Cape Town in 2014, grounding her political practice in both formal learning and grassroots organizing. Her activism began with the land occupation in Tafelsig, where she joined 5,000 others in asserting the right to land and dignity. That formative experience exposed her to diverse political organizations, state repression and the power of media, shaping her lifelong commitment to grassroots resistance and collective care.
Faeza is a founding member of the African Water Commons Collective (AWCC) and plays a leading role in the Western Cape Water Justice Coalition (WCWJC) and the Western Cape Water Caucus (WCWC). Her organizing extends across borders through the Africa Water Justice Network (AWJN) and the Peoples Water Forum, where she contributes to building feminist, community-led alternatives to privatization and extractive systems.
Since 2012, the Blue Planet Project has been a pivotal ally as Faeza continues to weave together local struggles and global solidarity, advancing water justice and feminist movement-building.
May Phattharaporn Srithaworn
Board Member
May was born in Thailand in 1995. She comes from a rural agricultural community, shaped by her mother’s lineage of healing and her father’s work in agricultural community development.
May was educated through alternative and non-mainstream forms. Her learning has been rooted in art, nature, community living, mindfulness and socially engaged practices oriented toward collective transformation. Her professional path started in film and social-impact advertising, working as an art director, photographer and creative project manager. Drawn to the wisdom held in various cultures, spirituality and Indigenous traditions, this curiosity has taken her to more than 20 countries.
Along the way, May’s focus shifted towards education, healing, self-discovery and regenerative/conscious living. She has organized workshops, supported community-based projects and collaborated with initiatives such as Indigo Space, Enlivened Cooperative, the Global Ecoversities Alliance, the Inner Development Goals and the Dance of Universal Peace.
As her interests continue evolving, May has explored Indigenous wisdom, earth-based spirituality, mystical traditions, inner work, movement and meditative arts. She has also served as an astrology-based life coach, offering birth-chart guidance, yoga, meditation and ritual work.
Today May weaves holistic well-being, ancestral knowledge, earth spirituality and contemporary media into films, retreats and collaborative art that honor the relationship between people and the Earth.
General Inquiries: info@motherwaterfund.org
Michael Zelniker: MichaelZ@motherwaterfund.org
Antonina Markoff: AntoninaM@motherwaterfund.org
Harriet Harvey-Horn: HarrietHH@motherwaterfund.org
Mother Water Fund is a nonprofit organization recognized as tax-exempt by the IRS under Section 501(c)(3).
All donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.