Diving with manta rays for the first time in Fiji in 2006 when I was volunteering on a conservation project. Such graceful majestic creatures with such a curiosity for scuba divers and with six circling us underwater, performing barrel rolls and feeding was is a memory I will never forget, it was at that moment I knew that I wanted a job where I could do this every day and started to work out how to make my passion my work.
Staff Spotlight: Serena Stean
Title:
Program DirectorPhotos
Experienced PADI IDC Dive Instructor / SSI Assistant Instructor Trainer and Program Director. Aspiring Underwater Photographer. Experience of over 5000 Dives, 450+ Diving Certifications Issued, including 40+ Professional Diving Certifications. Program Director at Indo Ocean Project, an Indonesian NGO running conservation Divemaster training programs and conducting field research in Nusa Penida, Bunaken, and Bira.
What is your favorite travel memory?
How have you changed/grown since working for your current company?
I have been blessed with the opportunity to create and run the divemaster program I have always dreamed of participating in and been given the tools and resources to do so. Our interns bring their own fabulous talents and I am able to teach and learn from everyone I interact with. Additionally, we get to work and form partnerships with some amazing organizations and I spend every single day at work learning and growing as a professional myself.
What is the best story you've heard from a return student?
One former intern told me that they didn't really learn anything when they took their instructor training as I had already taught them everything during their divemaster. Another has gone on and is now working for a well respected environmental organization as a project manager and others have all gone on to further studies and have let me know that what we taught them made a huge difference.
If you could go on any program that your company offers, which one would you choose and why?
I would do my divemaster all over again with Indo Ocean Project in any of our locations as it includes all of the knowledge that I have collected over the last 7 years working full time in the industry, I wish I knew what our interns knew when I was starting my career as it would have helped enormously.
What makes your company unique? When were you especially proud of your team?
The combination of conservation and divemaster together in one program, combining research and practical skills alongside a standardized course. What we are doing is really making a difference and the government being positively interested in our research confirms what we are doing is helping and makes us so proud.
What do you believe to be the biggest factor in being a successful company?
Caring about your customers, wanting them to learn, achieve and grow as dive professionals and wanting them to go on to be massive success stories within the industry after they leave us. Also, our Indo Ocean Project team is like a family: we laugh, joke and have so much fun together that sometimes it doesn't even feel like work!