When I was younger I always aspired to become a marine biologist because I loved the ocean so much, I was so inspired that I convinced my local dive school to let me get my open water diving licence at 12 years old (and you needed to be at least 13 to do the course but I was so determined nothing would stop me) I even had my 13th birthday party at the dive centre and invited all of my friends to try scuba diving in the training pool....a very unusual kind of 13th birthday party really!
When I was in high school I would take all of the subjects possible to have the perfect career path to become a marine biologist, but when it came time to select our year 11 and year 12 subjects I went to see a careers advisor and did a 3 hour psychological evaluation to truly determine what career path I was best suited to, and to my complete surprise, marine biologist was the lowest scoring possible option I could take as he said to me that I didn't have the mind for a science career and definitely needed to do the total opposite become something creative, so I followed the path to become a designer instead.
As the years went by I always still had a deep passion for the ocean and wanting to conserve the environment, but became so caught up in trying to run a business and keep surviving through the next day and lost focus of my real purpose in life. Now after a decade of running Escape to Paradise I have come to realise that the brand needs to be a vehicle for change and I can make a positive impact on the world by donating proceeds from the sale of our products to go towards supporting environmental projects that conserve the worlds oceans and rainforests because that is what Escape to Paradise is all about, making the world a more beautiful place.
Photography by the talented Mikala Wilbow https://shesurfs.com.au/
