We recently connected with Kelly Anderson and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Kelly thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
Im passionate about a lot of things, people, places and things, But one project in particular that i was most passionate about is my clear stand up paddle board business. Stand up paddleboarding started in hawaii and I have lived there for 12 years in lahaina. Before the fire took our small town away, I taught people how to stand up paddleboard while educating them on marine life and ocean awareness. during the summer months, i would bring you out and we would see coral, fish, turtles and monk seals. I am very sensitive about being spacially aware of the turtle and monk seals as to not disturb them in their natural environment and teaching others not to touch them. The oil on our bodies causes harm to their bodies just by touch, so i encourage a fun way to love the ocean as well as respecting those that live in the ocean at the same time. In the winter, the whales are here!!! The moms give birth while teaching their babies important lessons before heading back to alaska.
This path that i have chosen is my most important path because I have seen many visitors in hawaii, step on coral, use chemical sunscreen and crowd and touch the marine life, and it breaks my heart. So i feel its important to do my part and to offer a fun activity where visitors can see the marine life and also learn about it too.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Who I am: when you meet me I am your free-spirited friend. I am very passionate about hawaii- living in lahaina for 12 years before the burn. I worked with every activity company before building my own, and i just, LOVE the ocean.
Before being a business owner, i started as a volunteer for a kids surf camp, sharing my love of the ocean with teenage girls and empowering them to care for our environment.
I then worked at a snorkel and Tour shop, helping visitors book their perfect activities on maui so they can have the best time, but this is also where i saw a problem. People didnt know coral was alive. They didnt realize their sunscreen would come off of their skin and literally create a sheild of chemicals on the ocean, baking everything underneath.
i love the ocean, i love watersports so i took my life savings and created my business.
It was hard, starting your own business. I didnt have mentors or steps i followed but i knew the end result, help people love the ocean and marine more. I worked 7-5pm at my snorkel job and would come home and work hours on my business. I never knew the next step, but when i had finished building it, i saw the big picture. Sometimes we need to go by faith and not-knowing, bc thats when magic and miracles happen. I just followed my heart and in the end, its been my biggest accomplishment and the legacy i wanted to leave for this world.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The most rewarding aspect of being an artist, is you get to add creation into the world. What you feel, think and want in your life matters to all of us, and when you create, there is supporters out there to Love and value what you create. Sometimes its not your friends and family but the strangers you dont know exist until you create your project. Believe in yourself. You have to create the first step to see the next. i know they have a. lot of quotes about that but its true.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
When I was little, someone told me ” you will never make money being an artist” ….my biggest dream was always to be an artist and so I hid myself for many years until 35. I would always go to the beach and create but i never showed my creations to anyone because I didnt have the right support or encouragement. Your destiny and callings, call you, endlessly until you follow them.
During covid, when we were all locked up in our homes, i didnt have a job and i had limited money left and i lied and bed and cried to “god, what do you want me to do?” but the only thing i think about all day is the ocean and i knew people didnt know the ocean like I did or like i cared. So when covid eased up, and people travelled again, i went to the beach and miracles began to happen. Friends that supported and encouraged me came into my life. When i worked helping other activity companies, i would receive praise for how well i knew the island, the ocean, and how passionate i was for my work. I enjoy challenges so i wanted to be more and so i created my business.
Image Credits
Christain Crook