Mark Vicente is an author, speaker, and award-winning Writer/Director/Producer most well-known for directing the sleeper documentary hit "What The Bleep Do We Know?!" Being born in apartheid-era South Africa, and witnessing a number of atrocities, Mark found himself propelled to question certain fundamental assumptions at a very young age. He spent a good part of the late 80's and early 90s shooting anti-apartheid films before going to Hollywood.
He has traveled two parallel paths in his life so far. One working his way up the ranks of the camera department in the film industry, eventually becoming a film Director... and the other an unquenchable thirst for self-knowledge. This quest led him through many different religions and self-help organizations.
It all came crashing down in 2017 when Mark found out that the company he was working with, and the mentor that led it, was hiding illegal and deeply immoral activities. Before he could even begin to heal, he and a few other brave souls had to become whistleblowers to expose what they were discovering. The journey of taking down the NXIVM organization and its key figures are captured in the 9 part HBO Documentary Series "THE VOW" currently on the air.
Rachel and Mark discuss the difficulties of continuing his healing process while simultaneously "fighting the war" against NXIVM.
Before you go: Rachel examines the idea of forced confessionals and the peer pressure used in cultic group settings that manipulative leaders use to extract deeply personal feelings in order to control followers.
