When I was eight years old, I came face to face with a walrus at a California aquarium. Since then, that walrus has become a symbol of my lifelong passion for marine conservation and the ocean’s wild power.
I grew up in Arizona and have lived in Southeast Alaska and Hawaii. Now, I live on the Oregon Coast with my husband, our dogs, and chinchilla. Every day, while surfing, walking on the beach, or just driving by, the Pacific Ocean reminds me that we all share one connected ocean.
I earned my master’s degree from Oregon State University in Marine Resource Management where I studied how to inspire people to understand that individual actions about plastic use can create meaningful change for the ocean at the Oregon Coast Aquarium.
Now I engage in a wide variety of marine conservation projects locally and beyond in my role at Sea & Shore Solutions.
Eight-year-old Katy was full of big dreams: space travel, movie stardom, and a life filled with adventure. Somewhere along the way, I realized I could probably retire the astronaut and actress ambitions, but the dream of the ocean never left me.
Joining the all-woman crew with eXXpedition and sailing in the Arctic is the opportunity of lifetime. Honestly, eight-year-old Katy would have found this entirely reasonable. Of course adult Katy would end up on the deck of a sailboat in the Arctic, surrounded by women in science and conservation, chasing answers across blue water.
As I look towards this journey, it feels both like catching up to a dream that began long ago and discovering new dreams.
