My parents owned a small ski boat when I was born, and soon ritual visits to the lake started at just a few months old. Lots of their friends had boats, and we would all camp out on the water together. When I was older, my parents bought a bigger boat that we could sleep on (two beds, one bathroom, full kitchen, everything) that we started spending every weekend at. My parents' favorite term is "lake life" lol.

Every summer vacation we went to the beach, and I was obsessed with being in the water. I have to give my dad credit for instilling my water-loving qualities because he is the person that the majority of my memories are with. We would body surf, look for seashells, and see how far out we could swim (which was my mom’s least favorite activity of ours). When we weren’t at the beach we were at the pool. I would always beg my mom to take me to the neighborhood pool, eventually requesting her to start addressing me as "Flipper" instead of my real name.

As a child, I was always enamored by my dad's tattoo of a dolphin with a scuba diving flag. My dad always told me stories about his scuba diving excursions, and when I was 12, we went to the Virgin Islands. It was my first scuba trip with my dad, and it was life-changing. From that moment on, I was hooked. When my mom won a work trip to Hawaii, I signed up to be fully scuba certified as soon as the news broke. My dad and I planned multiple dive trips on multiple Hawaiian islands. I was so excited that I bought a GoPro to use underwater and recorded my entire trip.

I became super interested in marine sciences, eventually leading me to take a course in college. Although I am currently a fashion merchandising major, a subject that has virtually nothing to do with marine biology, I am still very much in love with all forms of water. Next on my list is to visit and dive in the Great Barrier Reef before it dies, and go cage diving with Great White sharks off the coast of South Africa.