On June 4, the IndieWire Honors Spring 2026 ceremony will celebrate the creators and stars responsible for crafting some of the year’s best television series. Curated and selected by IndieWire’s editorial team, IndieWire Honors is a celebration of the creators, artisans, and performers behind shows well worth toasting. In the days leading up to the Los Angeles event, IndieWire is showcasing their work with new interviews and tributes from their peers.
Ahead, Michelle Khare‘s husband and creative partner, Garrett Kennell, tells IndieWire how the “Challenge Accepted” host harnessed her relentless curiosity and tenacious leadership to anchor one of the most innovative nonfiction series on YouTube.
From training for a sanctioned boxing match to recently hanging off the side of a military C-130 aircraft in a stunt inspired by the “Mission: Impossible” films, Pulse Award recipient Michelle Khare has built a career from turning seemingly impossible feats into inspiring on-camera victories.
The first question everyone asks us is what it’s like working together creatively while also being in a life partnership, and to their surprise, we always answer really positively. We love it.
I feel so lucky and grateful to get to work alongside somebody that I not only trust, but who I’m incredibly inspired by myself. We’re over 65 episodes deep, and I’m still excited to wake up every day and figure out what story our team gets to tell with Michelle as the main character.
Our first time working together, Michelle hired me to direct one of the first big YouTube videos on her channel when she was just getting started independently. We started as friends with a working relationship. A few years later, we designed “Challenge Accepted” together.
Year after year, we just kept creating, scaling up, and finding new stories that we were passionate about sharing. The more episodes we made, the more people became interested in helping us tell them. What’s funny is that, as the projects have gotten bigger, I’ve ended up wearing two hats. I’m the director of the project, but I’m also the husband of the performer doing these death-defying stunts.
One of the moments I always think about is Michelle’s sanctioned boxing match in front of 15,000 people. I was filming ringside, directing the shoot, and it was actually the first time I’ve ever had a panic attack. I remember putting the camera down because I was so overwhelmed watching her out there. She was completely fine. She kicked butt. She won. But it was surreal.
I felt something similar watching her hang off the side of a C-130 as it took off. I’d played that moment in my head a hundred times before we filmed, wondering what it would feel like, and it was still nothing like the reality of seeing her disappear into the sky.
The thing people should know about Michelle is that she’s genuinely energized when somebody tells her an idea is impossible. When most people hear something is impossible, they stop and move on to something else. For Michelle, it’s exciting. I think that’s because she knows that not if, but when she figures out how to accomplish that impossible task, it’s going to matter. It’s going to have an impact. And she’s completely relentless in that pursuit.
What I admire is that it also isn’t relentless in a pushy way. It’s always paired with creativity, kindness, and a determination that rallies everyone around her. It’s never just Michelle’s challenge. It’s our challenge. That’s what makes her such an exceptional leader.
When Michelle was preparing to hang off the side of that plane, she was adamant that the story wasn’t just about her accomplishing a “Mission: Impossible”-level feat. It was about the team around her that helped make the impossible possible. Everyone who works with her is inspired to bring that same drive and focus to every project.
I’m really proud of our small and mighty team, but I also think Michelle deserves so much credit for creating that environment. She’s incredibly empathetic, emotionally intelligent, and confident at the same time. It’s cool to wake up every day and be inspired by the person sitting next to you. She inspires me to be better, and she inspires our team to be better.
Audiences also immediately connect with her willingness to fail on camera. Michelle will try something over and over and over again, and she’ll let people see the entire process. That’s an incredibly vulnerable thing to do. I can’t imagine putting myself through that. But she knows that struggle is often the most important part of the story. That’s why her work resonates.
She’s deeply impacted by the people who tell her that one of her videos encouraged them to try something new. Whether it’s enrolling in a class, taking on a challenge, or pursuing a goal they never thought was possible, those stories mean everything to her.
I remember talking to one of the pilots after the C-130 challenge. He told us how excited he was to share the video with his daughter when she got older. He wanted her to see that you really can do anything if you’re willing to work hard, solve problems, and keep moving forward.
That’s the effect Michelle has on people.
The most exciting thing to me as a filmmaker is that Michelle has helped prove there are new ways to tell ambitious stories and connect with audiences. Some of our episodes take more than a year to make. We get to build our production schedule around the challenge itself and around Michelle’s pace, which is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.
I honestly don’t know where all of that energy comes from. But it’s deeply innate in her, and she invites everyone around her to join her. It’s one of the many reasons I’m so grateful to work beside her, and why I can’t imagine anyone more deserving of the Pulse Award.
“Challenge Accepted” is now streaming on YouTube.
