Mary Matheson

Mary Matheson is a pioneering virtual reality director developing groundbreaking 360 and virtual reality experiences. She directed the award-winning five-part 360 series The Female Planet for Google Daydream & YouTube VR, showcasing young female trailblazers including actress Gina Rodriguez and US Olympic athlete Ibtihaj Muhammad. Film 3, featuring NASA’s aerospace engineer Tiera Fletcher, was number six in Forbes Magazine’s 2018 top 15 YouTube VR films. The last film in the series starring Indo-American singer Vidya Vox achieved over 1.5 million views on YouTube.
A passionate advocate of VR for Good, Mary has directed VR films for Save the Children, The British Heart Foundation & Plan International. Her first 360 film Mamie’s Dream, featured a young woman struggling against forced FGM in Sierra Leone, and was selected in competition in the Alternate Realities festival at Sheffield Doc Fest 2017.
Mary is a mentor for YouTube’s VR Creator Lab London and Tokyo, and is a judge for the 2019 VR AWARDS.
Before venturing into VR, Mary spent 15 years making award-winning, high-impact commercials, campaign films and fundraisers for non-profits, with a focus on girls & women’s rights. She cut her teeth as a journalist reporting on Colombia's drug cartels and guerrilla war for the Guardian and US National Pubic Radio, and is a fluent Spanish-speaker.