Zach is drawn to stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. His work has appeared in a wide range of national magazines and major daily newspapers and has been broadcast on NPR, PRI, and APM. He has written documentary news features and written and story edited independent documentaries that have screened internationally. As a narrative consultant, he has worked with The Points of Light Foundation, The Mulago Foundation, The Gates Foundation, The American Legacy Foundation, and the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy.
In 2009 he co-wrote 180˚ South, a feature film about a Pan-American adventure and the quest for conservation from California to Patagonia. In 2011 and 2012, he and his wife, documentary filmmaker Sachi Cunningham, traced a similar path down the entire Pacific coastline in a pickup truck loaded with camping gear and surfboards. Zach and Sachi have since made their home with their young daughter at the westernmost sandy fringes of San Francisco.