Felicitas Funke
is the personification of a “renaissance woman” — filmmaker, philanthropist, entrepreneur, author, publisher, and pilates instructor. But above it all she is an equestrian whose true passion is in the saddle, riding horseback in the mountains of Idaho and Montana.
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Born in Northern Germany and educated in the United States, England and Canada, Feli (as she is referred to by her friends) graduated summa cum laude from the University of Hamburg with a master’s degree in American literature and journalism.
Feli's work has been published in the Wall Street Journal, Elle Magazine, Marie Claire, Country, in addition to numerous European publications including Hamburger Abendblatt, St. Georg, Cinema (an exclusive feature on horse trainer Buck Brannaman) and Stern Magazine.
Her passion lies in writing and reporting about the American West, which she has done for the past four decades — falling in love with the country and the people during a horseback pack trip in Northern Nevada during her early twenties. She was a feature writer for Phillip Morris and covered the Calgary Stampede, Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo, and other American-West based stories for several years.
In 2000, she wrote and published an award-winning art book, “Gathering Remnants - A Tribute to the Working Cowboy,” with her business partner, Kendall Nelson. “Gathering Remnants” features a foreword by Clint Eastwood and an essay by Gretel Ehrlich, author of “The Solace of Open Spaces” and screenwriter for “A River Runs Through It.” Felicitas was also the creative advisor for the documentary film that followed the book.
Today, Feli is a partner at 1922 Films and the creative producer of “Cowboys: A Documentary Portrait.”
She has called Idaho home for over 25 years, where she serves on the board of the Sun Valley Culinary Institute and currently raises grass fed Highland beef for local farm to table production.
She is a trustee of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and a third-generation member of the German Funke Media Group.
Some of her fondest memories are raising her son, Fynn, on a farm in Northern Germany and on a ranch in Idaho. Today, all of her down time is spent outside, horseback in the Idaho high country. She loves to hike, mountain bike, and cross-country ski.