Nine More Women Shaping Our Seas and Surfing
Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel
This
is the third year for SurfWriter Girls annual Women Making Waves
story focusing on nine amazing women who are making a difference in the life of
our oceans and the sport of surfing.
Like the ninth wave in a set, which
is bigger and more powerful than the rest, the women profiled this year have
had a powerful impact on the environment and the world around us.
So, take a look at Women Making
Waves 2018 and meet nine more incredible women. Scientists, surfers,
entrepreneurs, educators, artists, and more. SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and
Patti Kishel are excited to introduce you to this lineup of dynamic women.
Laylan Connelly, the Beaches Reporter for the Orange County Register,
has a unique beat covering Southern California's surfing and beach culture over
42 miles of coastline. From famed Trestles Beach to Huntington Beach (Surf City
USA), Connelly gets the story, talking to champion surfers, surf industry
leaders, environmentalists, surf artists, board shapers, community members, and
more. Whether it's the US Open of Surfing, Kelly Slater's Wave or the ocean's
wildlife, the USC journalism graduate and avid longboarder puts readers in the
middle of the action while explaining why the issues and events are important.
Lynne Cox, a long-distance open-water swimmer, became the first person
to swim the Bering Strait from the U.S. to Russia in 1987, opening the door to
diplomatic relations between the two nations. Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev
said it took her "just two hours to...prove by her courage how close to
each other our peoples live." Setting two speed records for swimming the
English Channel while she was still a teenager, Cox also was the first to swim
in Antarctica's frigid waters. A writer and motivational speaker who enjoys
sharing her love of the water, Cox chronicled her adventures in Swimming to
Antarctica and other books. SurfWriter Girl Sunny has been a big fan
of Lynne’s for a long time. They both graduated from Los Alamitos High School.
Sophie Goldschmidt, recently-appointed CEO of the World Surf League, is
"focused on growing the sport of surfing in every region of the
world." She's busy planning for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, which includes
surfing for the first time, working on events with the WSL's Kelly Slater Wave
Company, and building relationships and partnerships that will help to
popularize surfing. Goldschmidt, who says she "enjoys a challenge,"
already has an impressive track record in executive positions with the NBA and
WTA sports leagues and England's Rugby Football Union.
Sensi Graves became inspired to design her own bathing suit line – Sensi Graves Bikinis - while she was a
professional kiteboarder. “I wanted something that could be worn comfortably
all day in and out of the water.” Her swimwear does that and more. It inspires
women to have a healthy lifestyle and is a tool that empowers them to achieve
their goals. Graves makes her products in the USA and donates 1% of sales to
environmental causes. She also sponsors the Sensi
Graves Team of exceptional women in sports from kiteboarding and surfing to
whitewater kayaking, who help test her designs and are positive role models.
Kim Hamrock is a champion surfer, artist, and author. Nicknamed
"Danger Woman" for her fearless, big wave surfing exploits, she has
12 U.S. Championship titles and in 2005 was inducted into the Surfing Walk
of Fame. Hamrock's book My Grandmother Surfs Better Than You tells
what it's really like battling for waves in the lineup. A self-taught artist,
she says, "Art is my expression of my experiences from surfing and travels
and life adventures around the world. it reflects the same passion I surf with,
in a free-flowing manner with no limitations." SurfWriter Girl Patti has
seen Hamrock’s talents firsthand when Kim was a student in her business
planning class.
Kathy Kohner-Zuckerman is the real-life inspiration for Gidget, the
"girl-midget" who put surfing on the map in the bestselling 1957
novel and mega-hit movie Gidget. One of Surfer Magazine's 25 Most
Influential People in Surfing, Kohner-Zuckerman was and is a surfer at heart,
who continues to promote and popularize the sport of surfing. A 2011 Surfing
Walk of Fame inductee, she began surfing on longboards in Malibu as a teen
and is still involved in the surfing community, attending competitions and
events and speaking about the surf culture she helped to create.
Dr. Sheila A. McKenna is the Science Program Lead for the National Park Service's
Pacific Island Network encompassing 11 protected areas from the islands and
archipelagoes of Hawaii, American Samoa and Guam to the Mariana Islands. A
marine ecologist, she designs and implements scientific protocols and oversees
experiments and assessments of biodiversity, resource use and environmental
impacts in the region. Conducting research and field surveys, writing, speaking
and teaching, Dr. McKenna's work helps to protect the environment by providing
vital information about the Pacific Island sea life and ecosystems.
Kate McMahon, a surfer, editor and writer, has had an illustrious publishing career from New Woman
Magazine to tween and teen publications, including Disney Adventures and Dance Academy, leading up to her just-published
first novel, Ocean Rules: The Bikini Collective. A young adult
fiction book, it focuses on three girls competing on the junior surf tour.
Mirroring many of McMahon's own surfing experiences, it lets her explore the trio's
relationships and the things that can be accomplished with Girl Power.
Dr. Kirsty Nash, a Research Fellow in Australia's Centre for Marine
Socioecology at the University of Tasmania, studies coral reefs, the resilience
of marine ecosystems, the movements and foraging habits of fish, the effects of
climate change on the environment, and more. As a researcher, writer, and
educator, Dr. Nash's work is at the nexus of theory and observation, providing
new insights into the ocean world. Along with this, she is helping to find ways
to sustain sea life and ecosystems from the colorful parrot fish to Australia's
Great Barrier Reef.
Leaders in their chosen fields, each
woman shares one thing in common - a passion for the world we live in and a desire
to make it better.
To see the
previous Women Making Waves, click: 2017 and 2016
Please
post your comment below. Comments will appear the next day.
Sunny
Magdaug and Patti Kishel hold the exclusive rights to this copyrighted
material. Publications wishing to reprint it may contact them at
surfwriter.girls@gmail.com Individuals and non-profit groups are welcome to
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