Growing up on the island of Cres in Croatia, surrounded by sea, it became one of the most important things in Sonja’s life. Sonja started sailing when she was 10 years old. She’s been a part of a local group whose idea was to solve the problem of sheeps wool waste around the island. Sonja has been a part of many local eco and heritage preservation actions and many cultural and youth programs in school. With so many interests in her head it was very hard for her to choose a course when the time came for that, but she decided to go into mechanical engineering because the idea was to acquire as much knowledge and understanding about things that surround her and how to solve a problem when one appears.

For the last four years Sonja has been working in seasonal nautical tourism in Croatia as a sailor, hostess and a skipper. Reaching secluded bays and finding a bunch of garbage and plastic on shore started to trouble her. Every time she found herself in such a situation, she would just jump in the sea and go and pick it up. For her it started from the heart and her influence on others is now with her guests and crew. At the moment she is finishing her bachelor degree and working as a skipper in south Croatia.