Despaired over the loss of her fiance, 25-year-old producer and entrepreneur Tamara Johnston McMahon replaced her sorrow with social activism. At the center of a thought-provoking documentary, Johnston McMahon found new life in the Fair Trade movement, and also discovered triumph from tragedy.

What inspired you to film your journey in “The Fair Trade”?

My fiance, Matthew, was killed a few years ago. Because of his death I quit my job at ImageMovers and started a fair trade skin care business called Anti-Body (anti poverty beautiful body) with my sister, Shelby and her husband, Steve. Matthew’s death had fractured my life in such a way that I needed to do something that I felt carried the weight of his death, my life and the time I had left.

My (then) neighbor Lauralee Farrer and director of “The Fair Trade” realized that my story would make a powerful documentary. Lauralee knocked on my door and said, “I think I know what my next film is going to be.” Right away I agreed that we had to make “The Fair Trade.” Not because I needed my story told, but because we both realized how universal the story of suffering is, and we wanted to contribute to the conversation.

How will this documentary influence the Fair Trade movement?

Our hope in making this documentary was that people would walk away with an inspiring story that also explains the basics of Fair Trade. I was in Africa a few months before the making of “The Fair Trade” to visit the women Anti-Body helps support by purchasing their fair trade ingredients. In an effort to make sure Anti-Body was truly supporting – and not exploiting – the cooperative and to extend a personal relationship that’s so important to the fair trade model, my partners and I felt morally obligated to send me. In going, I found that these women in Africa had experienced at least as much suffering as I had and that God had brought us together so that I could see how my life was being used to help others.

What happens to the film proceeds?

Ten percent of DVD sales goes toward funds to start a new Anti-Body cooperative in Kenya.

Film is such a powerful medium. Why do you choose to produce films about social justice?

I definitely worked on “The Fair Trade” as a labor of love, and love is a very strong motivator. While films don’t all necessarily have to fall under the genre of documentary or under the subject of social justice, I do believe we’re morally obligated to speak truth. That’s what TFT was.

What’s next for you?

I’m working with the same director, Lauralee Farrer, on a feature narrative called “Not That Funny”, a dramatic comedy starring Tony Hale. I’ll be the script supervisor for this project. I also produce short promo videos with my husband for small non-profit organizations.

Do you have any “tragedy to triumph” stories that touched the life of someone else?