Nujeen is one of 5.6M people (and growing) who have fled Syria’s civil war.

Nujeen was born with cerebral palsy and confined to her family’s 5th floor apartment.

She learned English by watching TV including the National Geographic Channel. The network’s content helped spark her desire to become an astronaut and voyage into space.

Her journey was documented in real-time by news outlets who found Nujeen within refugee camps. Once safe in Germany, she became a public speaker and authored a book chronicling her experience.

This film, which she and her sister starred in, launched the “Starstruck” platform—a yearlong brand journey celebrating the wonder and limitless possibility that space exploration inspires—leading into this July’s 50th anniversary of the first manned lunar landing.

It debuted during the season premiere of MARS (one of the network’s most anticipated and successful shows) and then distributed across their global TV and online networks.

People already know National Geographic for pushing new frontiers on the map. We wanted to show people alternative definitions of frontier-pushing stories: across minds, bodies and cultures.

Nujeen is a modern, non-traditional explorer who follows her heart to find her way.

The strength and fortitude of her character was all there—we just had to hold a mirror to it and bring it to an even bigger platform.

We worked carefully to recreate Nujeen’s story with incredible accuracy. We eloquently paralalled her real-life story as documented through news footage. We enlisted a Director known for creating beautiful storytelling around ambitious women.

Nujeen Mustafa’s life is illustrative of an everyday explorer curious about the world around her and who inspires us to push our boundaries. Nujeen is the representation of National Geographic’s spirit of exploration: inherently curious, passionate and unstoppable.

National Geographic has always stood for boundless exploration of the world. When launching their “Starstruck” platform, the brand wanted to stay true to this ethos, and bring the spirit of exploration to life, but do so in a new, unconventional way.

Our approach was to push against the traditional cliche of the explorer—one of physical achievement, grit and willpower, and open up the aperture on what it means to be an explorer.

We saw truth in the fact that the heart takes people further than the head ever will, and made a strategic decision to celebrate the unexpected qualities of the heart that takes people the extra mile.

Nujeen perfectly embodies this spirit: her boundless optimism, her curiosity, her sense of humor and generosity despite tragic circumstances make her the most inspiring explorer National Geographic could dream of portraying.

The film launched during the season premiere of National Geographic’s TV show MARS (one of the network’s most anticipated and successful shows). It subsequently was distributed across the brand’s wide network reaching millions of people around the world in 172 countries and 43 languages every month.

Airing on television, social media and online platforms across the globe, the “Starstruck” platform launch was also timed strategically ahead of this July’s 50th anniversary of the first manned lunar landing, paralleling Nujeen’s dream to become an Astronaut.

Nujeen herself confirmed the film’s accuracy, stating, “I was on cloud nine when I first saw the spot. It was moving and conveyed exactly what I wanted to say: don’t be discouraged by what people say or expect of you; you have the right to have big dreams and to work on achieving them—work hard, and don’t let anything get in the way.”

Nujeen plans to apply her resilience to her quest to become an astronaut. National Geographic helped her get closer to that goal with a private tour of the European Astronaut Centre with ISS Commander (and future colleague) Alexander Gerst.

And when she accomplishes her dream, she hopes to look back at the world and send a message: “The Earth looks breathtaking from here. Let’s get rid of all the fear, hatred, intolerance and cruelty in our world so that it will be beautiful inside and out.”