Women Making Waves 2020

Nine More Women Shaping Our Seas & Surfing

Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel

This is the fifth 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 2020 and meet nine more incredible women. Scientists, surfers, entrepreneurs, environmentalists, artists, and more. SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel are excited to introduce you to this lineup of dynamic women.

Kristal Ambrose is the founder of the Bahamas Plastic Movement – a youth-led initiative that educates children about the environment and the need to protect the ocean. BPM runs summer camps with environmental activities and ocean trips to study the micro-plastics in the sea. Ambrose has gotten the Bahamian government to ban all single-use plastics. She says, learning to scuba dive “has allowed me to eliminate my fears of the sea and truly connect with it.” 

Asha de Vos, a Sri Lankan marine biologist and ocean educator, is a pioneer in blue whale research in the Indian Ocean. Known for the Blue Whale Project, which studies whales in Sri Lankan waters, de Vos has found them to be a unique species different from other whales. A recipient of a BBC 100 Women award in 2018 and TED Fellow, she envisions “a world where all people recognize the integral role that oceans play in our planet and are equipped to work toward its preservation.” 

Iwona Kapcia, the founder of Anowi Surfwear, designs active swimwear for women “made out of love of surfing and recycled plastic bottles.” With a degree in fashion design and merchandising from Marymount University, Kapcia uses sustainable materials and methods to manufacture her swimwear in the U.S. Her goal is that it “fits like a second skin, moves with you, covers but flatters a grown woman’s body, and does it all with deep respect for the planet.”

Suzan Meldonian, CEO, Discover the Oceans LLC, is an award-winning underwater photojournalist and ocean advocate who uses her photography to introduce people to the ocean realm. The author of two books about Florida’s Blue Heron Bridge dive site, known for its diverse marine life, Meldonian is working to preserve and protect the world’s oceans and their inhabitants. She says, “the oceans have a rhythm with which we need to be in tune.”

Carissa Moore, a four-time WSL Women's World Tour Champion (2011, 2013, 2015, 2019), was named by Glamour magazine as one of their Women of the Year in 2013 and inducted into the Surfers' Hall of Fame in 2014. The first U.S. women's surfer to qualify for the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Moore was taught to surf by her father on Waikiki Beach when she was five. She says, “the ocean is my happy place! I feel so blessed to be doing what I love every day.”

Anna Oposa is the Executive Director and “Chief Mermaid” of Save Philippine Seas, which is protecting the Philippines’ coastal and marine resources by mobilizing “seatizens” to support the environment. With an M.S. degree in Conservation Science from Imperial College, London, Oposa is focusing on waste management, shark conservation, and environmental education. She says that the biggest challenge she faces is “overcoming apathy.”

Emily Penn, a Welsh skipper and ocean advocate, is the co-founder of eXXpedition, the all-women sailing crew that is currently on a two-year voyage circling the globe researching the effects of plastics and toxins on the ocean.  "It's important to understand where the plastic in the ocean is coming from and how to prevent it," says Penn, who is a graduate of Cambridge University and a Fellow of Britain's Royal Geographical Society.

Norma Sellers is an ocean advocate who is working tirelessly to get cigarette butts off the beach. She and her husband Alex are the coordinators of the Surfrider Foundation Huntington/Seal Beach, CA, chapter’s Hold On to Your Butts program, which has collected over 650,000 cigarette butts. Sellers also educates people about the health hazards of the tossed butts. It takes a lot of her time, but nothing makes her happier than “running across a butts-free stretch of sand to the ocean.” 

Susan Wickstrand, surf artist, creates images that lift people up and encourage them to follow their bliss. Working in a variety of media, including oil, acrylic and collage, she captures moments that bring joy from her travels in Southern California, Mexico, Hawaii, and other beach locales. She hopes that her vividly colored artworks “take people away from the daily concerns of life, maybe back to that vacation you had with your loved ones or a surf trip that you loved.” 

Leaders in their chosen fields, each woman shares one thing in common – a passion for the ocean and a desire to make the world better.

To see the previous Women Making Waves, click: 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016.

SurfWriter Girls

Surf’n Beach Scene Magazine

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