Mariana Van Zeller has interviewed assassins, dug through cartel-controlled dirt with grieving mothers, and once reported on jihadi fighters under the cover of night. But when you ask her why she keeps doing it, her answer is simple: she wants to understand.

For nearly two decades, the Emmy, duPont, and Peabody Award-winning journalist has risked her life to expose what economists call “the hidden third,” the vast network of black and gray markets that make up 38 percent of the global economy. Her National Geographic series Trafficked, which returns for its fifth season on July 19, offers unprecedented access to the inner workings of that world.

In an interview with FIERCE, Van Zeller described her mission: “Every single one of us is directly impacted by these black markets,” she said. “Whether you’ve consumed drugs or not, whether you’ve bought illegal guns, whether you are an immigrant, or whether you’ve been a victim of a scam—it doesn’t matter. These black markets affect us all.”

The origin story of Mariana Van Zeller is as bold as her reporting

Van Zeller grew up in Portugal, watching the nightly news religiously before her family was allowed to turn on the telenovelas. At just 12, she decided she wanted to become a journalist. Her first major break came on the day of the 9/11 attacks.

She had just moved to New York for journalism school at Columbia and was the only Portuguese journalist in Manhattan at the time. “I was the first face people saw when they turned on the TV in Portugal that day,” she said. “I remember being incredibly nervous… but it had a deep impact on my life. That was the moment I realized the kind of journalism I wanted to do.”

That same desire to understand—not judge—would later take her to Syria, where she was studying Arabic. There, she investigated the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq. That report was one of her first on black markets. She has not stopped since.

Why Mariana Van Zeller built a show around the hidden economy

Van Zeller pitched stories about the drug trade and smuggling rings to National Geographic for years. Eventually, they offered her the chance to develop a series. That show became Trafficked, which is now a nine-time Emmy winner and the most Emmy-nominated unscripted series in television history, with 29 nominations this year alone.

“These black and gray markets are 38 percent of the global economy,” she explained. “And yet there are no shows out there focused on them. You have entire TV networks and magazines dedicated to the legal economy. But this? This affects everyone.”

Each season, Van Zeller takes viewers deep into underworlds—from meth labs in LA to illegal gambling rings in Beverly Hills to romance scammers in Southeast Asia. In the new season, she explores cartel operations in the U.S., America’s rehab scams, underground street racing, and even black market love amid rising anti-LGBTQ+ violence.

The realities Mariana Van Zeller faces in getting the story

According to Van Zeller, “No story is worth a life.” Still, she acknowledges the risk. She has survived shootouts in Sinaloa, been trapped during a coup in Niger, and gone days without being able to leave a hostile location.

She credits safety to meticulous planning, good judgment, and knowing when to walk away. But even with preparation, “There’s an unpredictability factor,” she said. “Mike Tyson said it best. Plans are nice until you get punched in the face.”

When asked how she gets dangerous people to talk to her, Van Zeller said it usually comes down to three things: ego, impunity, and a desire to be understood.

“We give people the chance to speak with a mask and a distorted voice,” she explained. “And most people, even if they are in the darkest corners of society, still want to be understood. I always tell them—I’m here with empathy, not judgment.”

Latin America taught her everything she needed to know about resilience

Van Zeller has reported extensively from Latin America, especially Mexico, Peru, and Brazil. Her very first freelance assignments were about an illegal diamond mine in Brazil and the migrant-filled “Death Train” in Mexico.

She recalled meeting a migrant who had already lost a limb to the train but still attempted the journey again. “This tells you everything you need to know about what people are fleeing,” she said.

However, it was the mothers in Sinaloa who left the deepest impact. One group of women spends every day digging up the earth with their bare hands in search of their missing children.

“One of them hugged me while I cried,” Van Zeller remembered. “She told me, ‘Your tears help me. This is important for me.’ That kind of strength… I carry it with me always.”

What Mariana Van Zeller wants viewers to take away from Trafficked

As the co-founder of Muck Media, Van Zeller sees Trafficked as more than a show. It’s a radical act of empathy.

“My biggest lesson from reporting on the underworld is that people are generally good,” she said. “They’re not born criminals. It’s inequality that pushes people to a life of crime.”

From interviewing drug chemists to cartel lawyers to women forced into bride trafficking, Van Zeller finds nuance where others might draw hard lines. Her reporting reveals the humanity inside systems that thrive on exploitation, poverty, and desperation.

“I’ve sat across from an assassin in South Africa and found humanity,” she said. “I want people to see that our world isn’t black and white. It’s complicated. And inequality is at the center of all of it.”

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