A native Angeleno and Jesuit priest, Father Boyle served as pastor of Dolores Mission Church in Boyle Heights, then the poorest Catholic parish in Los Angeles that also had the highest concentration of gang activity in the city.
Father Boyle witnessed the devastating impact of gang violence on his community during the so-called “decade of death” he and parish and community members adopted what was a radical approach at the time: treat gang members as human beings.
Mike Coots, a Hawaii native became an amputee when he lost his right leg in a tiger shark attack at 18 years old while bodyboarding. After successfully fighting it off, Mike finally realized that his right leg was missing. Mike endured months of recovery and rehabilitation along with the introduction of a prosthetic limb before he set foot back into the water. In the meantime, Mike was also enrolled in photo school and developed a rapport as a capable and creative outdoor photographer.
Aggregator, educator, public speaker, published writer, and acclaimed forager, Kerry Clasby is the founder of Intuitive Forager, a professional foraging, farmers market, and retail company. Kerry is one of the original pioneers of culinary foraging and for over 2 decades has been sourcing top quality-rarefied produce for celebrity chefs with world-renowned restaurants in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York. She is the face and voice of the family farmer to master chefs.
When Leo Morales Cervantes lost his leg to cancer in 2008, he thought his life was over. “I was very depressed, but diving gave me a new life, a new outlook and the desire to take on new challenges.”
PADI® (Professional Association of Diving Instructors®) is the world’s largest ocean exploration and diver organization, operating in 186 countries and territories, with a global network of more than 6,600 dive centers and resorts and over 128,000 professional members worldwide. Issuing more than 1 million certifications each year, and with over 29 million certifications to date, PADI enables people around the world to seek adventure and save the ocean through underwater education, life-changing experiences and travel.
Born and raised in Barbados, Andre Miller has always had a close link to the sea. After studying for his undergrad at the University of Miami, Miller returned home to focus on Barbados’ coral restoration and transplantation projects by working as a marine biologist and PADI Instructor. “My goal is to get more people to slow down and smell the ocean. We have to reverse as much damage as we have caused.”
The secret to Zac’s success as a dive instructor is simple: “When I teach, I put the most emphasis on fun, safety, and maintaining neutral buoyancy. When these three ingredients are combined, I know I am going to turn out divers who truly love the sport and will come back for more!”
Born in the early ‘80s, Rocio Gajon grew up in the small town of La Paz, Mexico. Surrounded by fishing boats, nets and hooks, Gajon knew early in life that she wanted to protect the fish. “I wanted my town to become a sanctuary where marine life could live and thrive."
Forrest Simon has spent decades as a student of Mother Nature. He began his journey of free-diving safety advocacy in 2002 and continues to promote that through training courses, public speaking and events.
In 2015, Simon started free-diving competitively and quickly joined the ranks of the elite, competing on the USA Free-diving Team and also achieving the depth of 257 feet (78 meters) using traditional bi-fins, which makes him one of the deepest bi-fin free-divers ever.
Rikki Battistini, a former bike building legend, has a newly found passion for goods Made in America. Battistini, CEO of Battistini Custom Cycles, manufactures his product line, a line of extraordinary after-market accessories for Harley Davidson motorcycles, in Orange County California.
Copyright © 2024 Brandon Paul Watts - All Rights Reserved.