Global Mothers, Global Daughters is a short documentary about the deep relationships between mothers and daughters, the meaning of home, the evolving nature of cultural identity, and the shared, universal desire to raise strong, joyful, and fulfilled young women—no matter where in the world we come from.

This film was created in 2017, born from my own curiosity and the new friendships I formed through my daughters’ school and life activities. As we parented our young girls together, I found myself reflecting often: What would it be like to raise my children in a country and culture different from the one I knew growing up? Having lived and worked internationally before becoming a parent, I understood the personal complexity of life across cultures. But raising children in that context? That was something I deeply wanted to understand. Many of my friends were doing exactly that—and I wanted to learn from their experience.

What started as a spark of interest quickly turned into a labor of love. This was my first experience filming and editing, and after hours and hours of footage later, it was clear there were many stories to tell. But these 17 minutes rose to the top—because the themes were universal, emotional, and echoed again and again across conversations.

This is a story of hope and humanity. A reminder that regardless of our backgrounds, we are united in the dreams we carry for our daughters—even in a world that has only grown more complex. A world that both connects and divides us in an instant; that can embrace or reject us based on our names, origins, or even what we eat for lunch. Since this film was produced, the world has continued to shift rapidly—politically, technologically, socially—but the longing to raise strong, compassionate young women has not.

Our paths may differ, but the future we hope for our daughters is deeply shared.

#Cultural Literacy Counts