We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Madison Marchegiano a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Madison , thanks for joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

Colt’s Legacy Infant Aquatics LLC was inspired by the life and loss of a little boy named Colt, who was a close family friend and deeply loved by everyone who knew him. His drowning changed our community forever. Watching the devastation his family experienced opened my eyes to how quickly and silently drowning can happen — and how unprepared so many families are for that reality.

Before Colt’s accident, I honestly viewed water the way many people do: as something fun, normal, and harmless when adults are nearby. But after losing him, I began to understand how drowning is often silent, fast, and completely unexpected. I couldn’t stop thinking about how many parents believe traditional swim lessons alone are enough, without realizing that survival skills are what truly give a child a chance in an emergency.

That realization stayed with me. The more I researched drowning prevention and survival swim instruction, the more I recognized a major gap in awareness and education. There were families all around me who had never even heard of survival swim lessons. Many parents simply didn’t know these programs existed or understood the difference between learning to swim and learning to survive.

That’s when the idea for Colt’s Legacy Infant Aquatics LLC became something much bigger than a business. It became a mission. I wanted to honor Colt’s life by helping protect other children and educating families before tragedy ever has the chance to happen.

What made this feel like a worthwhile endeavor was knowing the problem was real and ongoing. Drowning is the leading cause of death for children ages 1-4, yet so many families still underestimate the risks or overestimate a child’s abilities in the water. I realized there was an opportunity to not only teach children critical self-rescue skills, but also change the way parents think about water safety altogether.

What excited me most was the possibility of creating real-life outcomes — moments where a child could save themselves because they had the skills and muscle memory to do so. Watching a child independently roll to their back, float, rest, and recover is incredibly powerful because those skills can mean the difference between life and death.

I also believe what makes Colt’s Legacy Infant Aquatics unique is the heart behind it. This isn’t something I started casually. It was built from a place of genuine passion, purpose, and loss. Colt’s story is at the center of everything I do, and that gives families a deeper understanding of why this mission matters so much to me.

Every lesson taught is about more than swimming. It’s about prevention, awareness, confidence, and giving children the best possible chance to survive an aquatic accident. Through this work, Colt’s legacy continues to live on by helping save lives and protecting other families from experiencing the same kind of heartbreak.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m the founder of both the Colt Catalina Foundation and Colt’s Legacy Infant Aquatics LLC, and my work is centered on one mission: preventing childhood drowning through education, access, and survival swim instruction.

My journey into this field didn’t begin as a business plan — it began with loss. In 2015, after the passing of Colt, I started the Colt Catalina Foundation at just 17 years old. I was overwhelmed by grief, but also by a strong need to do something meaningful in response. At that time, I didn’t fully understand where it would lead — I only knew I couldn’t let his story end without purpose.

The foundation was created to provide Infant Aquatics®️survival swim lesson scholarships to families across the United States who may not otherwise be able to afford them. One of the first things I learned in this work is that access is a major barrier. Many parents want their children to learn survival skills in the water, but cost and awareness often prevent them from ever getting started. The foundation exists to help remove that barrier and give more children the opportunity to learn life-saving skills.

As I worked more closely in drowning prevention, I began to deeply understand the gap between traditional swim instruction and true survival skill development. That understanding is what eventually led me, in 2019, to make the decision to train as an Infant Aquatic Survival®️Specialist. I didn’t want to only support this work from the outside — I wanted to be directly involved in teaching children how to respond if they ever find themselves in water unexpectedly.

Through Colt’s Legacy Infant Aquatics LLC, I now provide specialized survival swim lessons for infants and young children. These lessons focus on self-rescue skills, including how to safely enter the water, orient themselves, roll onto their back to float and breathe, and move toward safety when developmentally appropriate. The goal is not simply comfort in the water — it is survival in an emergency situation.

What I think sets my work apart is the combination of professional training and deeply personal purpose. This is not just an industry I entered — it is a mission built from lived experience and a long-term commitment to preventing other families from experiencing similar loss. That perspective shapes everything from how I teach, to how I communicate with parents, to how seriously I take every child’s progress in the water.

Another defining part of my work is the dual structure of both nonprofit and instructional services. Through the foundation, I focus on increasing access and reducing financial barriers. Through Colt’s Legacy Infant Aquatics LLC, I provide direct instruction and hands-on survival swim training. Together, they allow me to address both awareness and action — helping families understand the risk while also giving children the skills to respond to it.

What I am most proud of is seeing real, measurable confidence and capability develop in children who go through the program — especially knowing what those skills represent. A child learning to roll to their back and breathe independently is not just a milestone; it is a potential lifesaving ability that could make all the difference in an emergency.

More than anything, I want people to understand that this work is rooted in purpose and responsibility. Drowning is often silent, fast, and preventable, yet many families still don’t realize how little time they would actually have to react in an emergency. My goal is to continue expanding access to survival swim education, increasing awareness among parents, and ultimately helping reduce preventable childhood drowning through education, access, and skill-building.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

My resilience came in 2019, when I made the decision to personally train as an Infant Aquatic Survival®️Specialist and begin teaching lessons through Colt’s Legacy Infant Aquatics LLC. That step required starting over in many ways — learning new skills, committing to rigorous in-water training, and stepping into a highly technical, physically demanding field while still carrying the emotional weight of why I was there.

There were moments during training when I questioned whether I was strong enough to do it all — emotionally and physically. Working with infants in the water requires precision, patience, and consistency, and I was learning all of that while also carrying a very personal mission. But every time I felt doubt, I would come back to the same thought: if this work could prevent even one family from experiencing what Colt’s family went through, then I had to keep going.

What resilience has looked like for me is not a single dramatic moment, but a series of choices to continue — to stay committed when it was hard, to learn when I felt overwhelmed, and to keep building something meaningful even when the emotional weight never fully went away.

Today, when I watch a child learn to roll onto their back and breathe safely in the water, I’m reminded that resilience isn’t just about enduring hardship — it’s about turning it into something that can protect and help others.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Building my audience on social media happened very organically because it was never rooted in trying to “go viral” — it was rooted in sharing a mission that genuinely matters to me. From the beginning, my goal was to bring awareness to drowning prevention, survival swim education, and the story behind why this work is so important through Colt’s Legacy Infant Aquatics LLC.

When I first started posting, I shared a lot about Colt’s story, water safety education, and the realities of childhood drowning prevention. Those posts were emotional and vulnerable, but they connected with people because they were real. I wasn’t trying to create perfectly curated content — I was trying to create meaningful conversations and educate families in a way that could potentially save lives.

As I became an Infant Aquatic Survival®️Specialist and started teaching lessons myself, social media became an even bigger educational tool. Parents are often amazed when they see infants and toddlers independently float, recover, and respond safely in the water. Sharing real lesson footage helped people understand the difference between traditional swim lessons and true survival swim instruction. Over time, that consistency built trust with families and naturally grew my audience.

I also think people connect with authenticity. I share the emotional side of this work, the victories, the difficult conversations, and the “why” behind everything I do. Families don’t just want information anymore — they want connection and purpose. I think that’s a large part of why my audience continued to grow.

Another important factor was consistency. Even when posts didn’t perform well, I kept showing up and sharing educational content, student progress, drowning prevention tips, and stories that mattered. Social media growth rarely happens overnight. It’s built through repetition, trust, and staying committed to your message even when growth feels slow.

For someone just starting to build a social media presence, my biggest advice would be:

* Lead with authenticity. People connect with real stories and genuine passion far more than perfection.
* Be consistent. Even if your audience is small at first, continue showing up and providing value.
* Focus on impact before numbers. If your content helps even one person, that matters.
* Educate as much as you promote. The most successful content I’ve shared has often been educational or emotional rather than sales-focused.
* Don’t be afraid to show the human side of your work. People want to know who you are and why you care.
* Stay mission-driven. Growth becomes much more sustainable when your purpose is bigger than likes or followers.

I’ve learned that social media can be incredibly powerful when used intentionally. For me, it’s not just a marketing tool — it’s a way to advocate for children, educate families, honor Colt’s legacy, and hopefully save lives through awareness.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://coltslegacyinfanta.wixsite.com/colt-s-legacy-infant
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coltslegacyinfantaquatics/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/coltslegacyinfantaquatics/

Image Credits

Madison Marchegiano