Aloha,
All of the underwater footage in the video that I am in was taken by my partner who would be my +1 for this adventure. Every video just of wildlife I took myself! I am a divemaster and professional free diver Freediving down to 50 meters. I have worked with sharks as a safety diver and photographer in several different locations and they are my absolute favorite. I am experienced in educating people about challenging ocean topics as I have spent the majority of my life working to correct the misunderstood reputation of sharks as apex predators rather than monsters. This started as a passion project and then transferred into my degree when I attended the University of Hawaii to study the effects of bycatch in the commercial fishing industry specifically how this impacts pelagic shark species. My partner and I run Hawaiian Adventures Kona where we work hard to connect people with the ocean to give them a sense of what they should be fighting for. We are able to contribute to research in our area surrounding sharks, rays and cetaceans as we are out on the water every day. The more I explore the ocean the more I see how critical it is to spread the word about making changes in the right direction and learning how to coexist with our oceans and their inhabitants. This year is a pivotal year for this topic with more commercial fishing issues coming into light, massive bleaching events happening around the globe, and of course all of the recent environmental policy changes happening in the United States. All of these events outline the importance of showing people what we have to fight to save when it comes to our precious oceans.
