What followed was a brief but intense stint as a television journalist, including time at Channel 7 and Thredbo Media. April honed her skills in fast-paced reporting, often filing three stories a day. But even then, she leaned toward deeper, feature-style pieces - stories that touched something human.  One of those stories has stayed with her ever since.

“I was training in a bootcamp before work at the time,” April explains. “A dad mentioned his son had leukaemia, and the blood bank needed more donors. I cleared my calendar and gave this story my full attention.” The boy, wise beyond his years, said something she never forgot when they were talking about this feature piece: “I don’t need your help anymore. But my friends do.”

The segment aired. The next day, the blood bank had people lined up around the block to donate blood. “When everything feels hard in this industry, I go back to that moment. That boy. That’s the power of what the screen and real stories can do.”

Rollingball: Where Story Meets Responsibility

In 2009, April co-founded Rollingball Productions with Paul Donnelly, a fellow creative with drama roots that extended all the way to the UK and the famous television series, Coronation Street. Their shared vision was clear from the outset: to establish an independent production company that could tell the stories that needed to be told, with freedom, integrity, and impact.

“This medium changes stuff,” April says. “We don’t walk away from tough stories - we face them. Our work gives voice to the unheard, and power to the uncomfortable truths that most people avoid.”

From environmental campaigns to short films and large-scale content strategies, Rollingball has always had a deeper purpose. It’s not just about media, it’s about creating movements.

The Pacific Project: A Calling and a Catalyst

If Rollingball is the vessel, then the Pacific Islands and ocean has become the compass.

April’s path to the Pacific began indirectly, with a series of environmental projects and campaigns in the Hunter including Small Acts Big Change, Little Aussie Battler and Love Food Hate Waste. Through this work, she met Bradley Nolan, who was later appointed as a Project Manager of PacWastePlus, a European Union funded waste management initiative in the Pacific region.

April joined the team to increase the number of waste managers in the region by creating communication strategies and national awareness plans. What began as a short-term project quickly grew into a long-term commitment. “I got a peek into what the people of the Pacific and their environments are enduring,” she says, “and I couldn’t walk away. I never will.”

It was during a coffee catch-up with Bradley in Newcastle that the full weight of the crisis hit her. “Brad was talking about the UN Global Plastics Treaty. About how Pacific nations - those most affected - were being pushed aside in negotiations by larger countries with less at stake. I remember thinking: I can't unhear this.”

That moment birthed Voices of the Pacific, a documentary project April is now leading with Rollingball and a growing team of collaborators. The film, currently in production, features a haunting visual motif: a young boy underwater, surrounded by plastic. “It’s an image Paul wrote into the arc, the story,” April shares. “It sums up everything.”

The Pacific nations - Tuvalu, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Cook Islands - are drowning in waste they didn’t create. In places like Tuvalu, fishing practices have had to change due to the plastics. The fish that used to come close to the shore no longer do. There are fish that are affected by the plastics.

In the Solomon Islands, women like Millicent Barley speak of plastic as a barrier between people and the earth. “Plastic blocks us from connecting to our mother,” Millicent says. “If more people connected back to earth, we’d make very different choices.”

For April, this project feels ancestral. Her grandfather once prophesied that plastic would choke the earth. Her family raised her in a community that prioritised environment and decency over profit. “He sowed the seed years ago. I was raised by people who believed in protecting the earth above everything else.”

A Different Kind of Communication

What sets April’s work apart is her unwavering empathy and her ability to hold space for others’ stories. “I don’t want to hurt anyone, not ever. However, I also know that storytelling can create just enough tension to evoke emotions and inspire action. That’s the balance I walk.”

In the Island nations, April didn’t just interview people, she visited homes, schools, and churches. “You can’t drop into someone’s life and extract a quote. You have to gain trust and establish a connection, and you have to earn it. Having equipment that captures vision, voices and stories is an incredibly powerful position. People trust you implicitly, and they open up their lives, allowing you to walk into their private worlds and film them. I have no intention of ever acting in a way that doesn’t uphold that privilege and level of trust.”

The Voices of the Pacific documentary aims to do more than raise awareness; it seeks to inspire action. It's designed to create a ripple effect especially in the lead-up to the final negotiations of the UN treaty in Geneva next year. A short film is scheduled for release in May, with the first half-hour completed and an outreach campaign already underway. “We’re seeking support to finish it,” April says. “Financially, yes but also partnerships and platform reach.”

Beyond the screen, April envisions school resources, interactive installations, and social impact campaigns tailored to different causes. “We’re connecting dots that haven’t been connected before. There’s no room for ego, just collaboration, compassion, and the urgency to act.”

The Heartbeat of Change

April Howard isn’t just a producer. She’s a conduit. A translator of truths. A woman with one foot in the creative world and the other firmly rooted in the soil of the real.

As climate change escalates and the pressure to act grows, her work is crucial.

“People sometimes ask why I do this,” she reflects. “And I tell them: Because I can. Because I was given access. Because these stories need to be told. And I won’t walk away.”

To learn more about the Voices of the Pacific project, or to support the documentary’s completion and outreach, watch the trailer, sign the petition or donate here.