Little did I know that raising fish in my cramped, shared bedroom, as a kid that it would shape my entire life. When I was 10 years old, I knew I wanted to be a marine biologist. Every book report and job shadow assignment through high school lead me to enroll for B.S. in marine biology at the Florida Institute of Technology. Confident, in my goal to become the next Jacques Cousteau, I quickly learned of another degree option that was right up my alley… Aquaculture! I had been doing it since I was a child and never knew what it was called. A double major allowed me to follow all my dreams. For the last 28 years, I have combined marine biology and aquaculture in all my varied jobs including teaching them. Among my many jobs, I have been an aquarist in a public aquarium, propagated corals on a coral farm, and spent the last 20 years growing and restoring species along the California coast. I have grown everything from freshwater prawns and American alligators to giant kelp and pismo clams. Keeping my hands wet and watching species grow is my passion and I’ve been lucky enough to make a career out of it.