Gal Gadot says she hopes 'IMPACT' inspires a movement

LOS ANGELES, May 17 (UPI) -- Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot said she executive-produced IMPACT to inspire women to feel they can make a difference. The series of six shorts on National Geographic Channel's YouTube channel profiles women leading social change in their communities.

"My vision is really to create this amazing movement of people that can say, 'Hey, I can do it, too,'" Gadot said on a recent Television Critics Association Zoom. "We have the power."

Gadot introduces each IMPACT short. In the second episode, "Surf Sisters," Half Moon Bay, Calif. surfer Kelsey was inspired to develop a surf therapy program by the death of her twin sister due to COVID-19.

The 36-year-old Gadot has been acting since 2007 with roles in the Fast and the Furious films and the upcoming Death on the Nile. She began to produce with last year's Wonder Woman 1984, and will produce an upcoming Cleopatra movie and Hedy Lamarr series, in which she'll also play the title characters.

"This is so great to do something that it's not about me," Gadot said of IMPACT. "It's all about them and what they do."

Subsequent episodes feature Kayla, a Memphis, Tenn., woman who helps trans women of color; Chief Shirell, a Native American chief in Louisiana advocating for her tribe who must reloate due to climate change; and Tuany, a 23-year-old dancer who opened a ballet school for girls living in the favelas of Rio De Janeiro.

Gadot said the theme of perseverance connects the myriad stories of IMPACT. Whether coping with natural disaster, grief or violent communities, Gadot said, the women profiled don't let circumstances stop them.

"It fuels them," Gadot said. "It gives them more power to dare, to dream, to change, to speak up and to really make a change in their communities. I myself am so inspired by them."

Tuany's episode will be the season finale of IMPACT on May 31. Gadot said it inspired her to see Tuany's students say her dance class inspired them to break the cycle of violence and young pregnancy that kept them living in poverty.

"You get married or you get pregnant young, and then your children [repeat] this crazy cycle," Gadot said. "Thanks to Tuany, they're able to dream big, to get out of this cycle and completely to change their lives."

Gadot said the criteria for IMPACT stories was subjects providing a service for their community and changing others' lives. There were no prerequisites related to where they came from.

"I want to use my reach and my platforms to shed light on these amazing, incredible women's stories," Gadot said. "Maybe [it will] ignite something and create a movement of people who just want to do good to the world."

Gadot said the women of IMPACT reflect the same values as Wonder Woman, including compassion, peace and positivity. However, she said their stories put into perspective that she only pretends to be a superhero in movies.

"I keep on calling them my Women of Wonder, because they are the true heroes," Gadot said. "They are actually there on the ground, sweating and doing all they can to really make the world a better place."

New episodes of IMPACT premiere Mondays on National Geographic's YouTube Channel.