Women Who Scuba - Surface Time with Stephanie

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S1 Ep3: Margaret Murphy on Plastic Pollution & Climate Emergency

Fri, 24 Jun 2022 11:30:00 +0800

Surface Time with my dear friend Margaret Murphy, who is a scientist, trained in zoology and toxicology and now works in the space of science policies in Washington DC, the epic centre of US politics. Although she claims to be a reluctant diver, her scientist-curiosity has always kept her entertained and fascinated by the marine diversity. I probed for her view on plastic pollution and vegetarianism, and I genuinely love how she shared a well-balanced and objective executive summary of these complex topics. In short, if we want to live a life where our blue planet remains a beautiful place or even better, we need to do our part in dealing with climate emergency, starting from right now.

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S1 Ep5: Sharon Kwok on Love Nature & Respect Life

Fri, 08 Jul 2022 11:30:00 +0800

I sat down with Sharon Kwok for a cuppa as she was fresh off the boat from Raja Ampat and en route back to Hong Kong. Sharon is an artist well-known in Hong Kong public broadcasting and cinematic fields. As a conservationist, she unapologetically leverages her connections with public and private sectors to support her marine and wildlife conservation works and to influence changes. Her passion and commitment to marine and wildlife conservation is infectious. It is totally cool to catch this bug.

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W: https://www.aquameridian.org/

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S2 Ep2: Emma Dabbadie getting up close and personal with Microbiome

Wed, 14 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0800

During the Surface Time today, I had the joy of catching up with a dear friend, Emma Dabbadie, who has been living in Cape Town, South Africa for some time, in pursuit of her marine science research and discoveries. When we spoke, she was fresh off the scientific schooner called Tara from an expedition along the West Africa coast, as part of the Mission Microbiome, where they are uncovering the benefits of the ocean microbiome and the interactions with the climate and pollution. Hopefully, her research will lead to some magical ways of reversing the climate emergency and global warming.

To Learn more about Fondation Tara Ocean

W: https://fondationtaraocean.org/en/home/

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Photo credits ©Maéva Bardy - Fondation Tara Ocean (IG:

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S2 Ep4: Natasha Grabner learning life skills through fun

Wed, 28 Sep 2022 00:00:00 +0800

During the Surface Time today, I managed to Skype in with Natasha Grabner. She was my first junior scuba diver student. When I certified her, she just turned 10. 5 years on, she has had accumulated enough diving experiences than many adult divers in their life time. Like her father once described her fondly: this girl has more balls than the boys in her class.

To date, my youngest guest on the show. It was clear that we could be having a marine biologist and a renown underwater documentariste in the making, assuming the role as an influencer raising awareness constructively through photography, scuba diving and her passion for ocean waters.

Follow Natasha's Journey via IG

IG: www.instagram.com/underwater_wonders_by_tasha/

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S4 Ep1: Karolina Isberg on Free-Floating Attention

Wed, 17 May 2023 00:00:00 +0800

You may recall from the episode with Magnus Akerblom-Wiker, where we spoke about one of his editorial photo of a diver holding a bunch of balloon in the Cenote, Mexico. Oh well, Karolina was that diver. My curiosity had to hear from her side of the story, her personal experience in that place.

In this mind-opening dialogue, we spoken about creativity, power of imagination, being in the state of free-floating attention. If diving is a form of experiential learning, I love the way she has put it “one dive is a symbol of how we approach life in very many ways”. In essence, it is all about being present in the moment, allowing yourself to process and filter information and refining the narrative of your life.

For every dive, we do a safety stop before we surface. Depending on your dive profile, it is normally about 3 minutes in the range of 3-5 metre depth. This is an important transition period. On the one hand, we would be savouring the last moments of the dive. On the other hand, we are getting ready to return to land.

The same ritual can be applied in other aspects of life. When would you take your “safety stop”? What would you do during that safety stop?

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W: http://www.starfishdesign.se/

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S4 Ep2: Bei Zhou on Money & Investment

Wed, 24 May 2023 00:00:00 +0800

Since money and investment are the two words naturally connected to her profession as a private banker, it is inevitable that we chatted at length about them.

The word “investment” tends to be given a meaning limited monetary terms. When we talk about returns of investment, it tends to be the penny-for-penny calculation on the growth.

If we take a step back and look at a bigger picture, it is important to take into account of the “impact” that the original capital has created.

Say, you are the CEO of the company. When you decide to spend money and time to enhance your physical health and mental wellbeing, you would be able to lead your company more effectively. This is because you have the physical and mental capacity to be present and, therefore, make the sound decisions all the time.

It is fair to make the bold statement that the best investment you can make is on yourself. What have you been investing in yourself lately? What will you invest in yourself next?

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W: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beizhou/

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S4 Ep3: Katherine Lu on Fuelling Life with Passion

Wed, 31 May 2023 00:00:00 +0800

Katherine’s passion for photography fuels her, whether it is for underwater, wildlife or otherwise. Let’s listen to her recounting the incredible experience of diving in Anilao, Philippine when Taal Volcano erupted and the spectacular black water dives when she captured the award-winning photo.

When listening to the length that she would go to fine-tune her photography skills and her work, I could feel the joy of being immersed in what she feels passionate for. It reminds me of this quote:

Doing what you want is freedom. Loving what you do is happiness.

So what fuels your curiosity? What drives your passion?

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W: https://katherineluphotography.com/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/katherineluphotography/

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S4 Ep4: Kate Padget-Koh on Self Expression

Wed, 07 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0800

Kate expresses her creativity through many media, including paintings and upcycling. Water is an element that plays a huge part in her life and how she shapes her own autobiography. I love what she said: we can all be a piece of art ourselves.

Speaking as a woman, when a woman knows herself well and is comfortable in her own skin, she can express her thoughts and visions more effectively. This applies to men as well. The journey of getting to know yourself is part of your life experiences. In that process, as you encounter various people, they can help you to refine your narratives. In Kate’s case, she uses her art and love for fashion as her medium to communicate who she is.

What represents your own self-expression?

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W: https://www.katepadgetkoh.com/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/katepadgetkoh/

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S4 Ep5: Hester Ross on Seeing the Big Picture

Wed, 14 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0800

Hester was the person who got me off my procrastinating mode and started to produce Surface Time. When we did the recording, she has been on the “mummy’s break” from scuba diving for some time. I am sure that all mums who happen to be scuba divers can relate.

One thing that really rings true to me from our chat is the Big Picture. Always take a step or more steps back and look at the greater version of the picture.

Her trip to Tonga and swim with Humpback Whale while being 6 months pregnant was originally intended as a “baby moon”. However, her narrative changes when she was floating in the water resonating with Humpback singing. It turns out to be the first big adventure of the family together. Her attempt to summit Mount Kilimanjaro became the life changing experience. The takeaway was that when you focus so much on the end-goal and become obsessed with not achieving that end-goal, you are actually depriving yourself from appreciating and enjoying what life is in the present moment.

Here is a little tip that you could try, especially, when you are dealing with any challenges…What would you say in completing this sentence: I don’t like the circumstance that I am in right now. However, if this difficulty did not happen, I would not have….

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IG: https://www.instagram.com/amasianheroines/

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S4 Ep6: Carrie Miller on Being Powered by Tenacity

Fri, 08 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0800

Carrie Miller, Storyteller, Author, Traveller. You may recognise her name from the previous episode with her and her husband, Chris Taylor, sharing their stories behind the book, A Diver’s Guide to the World. By the way, I was particularly delighted to find my birth country, Taiwan with Kenting National Park as one of the 50 destinations in the book.

Anyhoo, so Carrie is back and be part of the Women Who Scuba series. This time we chatted more on her journey of becoming a writer for National Geographic, her experiences of solo travelling and how those life experiences have shaped her as a person and as a woman.

She certainly is the living expression of “tenacity”. Being is a gifted storyteller, she generously shared her stories and stories of people, places and culture that she encountered.

In essence, stories are expressions of different life experiences. So through her words, we get to experience these vicariously. Also we may resonate with the stories and even identify the similarities and differences when comparing to our own. In that process, this is when inspiration, imagination and new perspective happen. And often we would refine our life narrative as a result.

So, think of a time when something happened – whether it’s reading a quote from a book, a movie or an incident, anything – but this something may be small and yet so significant that it changed your perception about life. What is your story there? What details would you like to share with your audience? And why is that?

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W: https://beneaththesurface.media/

IG: @beneaththesurfacemedia | @carrimiller_writer

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S4 Ep7: Flora Camiros, Michiko Fusato & Sherrie Garcia being Lady Pirate Divers

Fri, 15 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0800

Recently, I went diving in Coron, Philippines. This place is famous for wreck diving where you get to explore some Japanese ships that were sunk by US Task Force during World War II in 1944.

We dived with Pirate Divers for a week. I think on the second or third day after we finished diving for the day and on the way back to the resort, the lady crew members of Pirate Divers – Michiko and Sherrie - were making some concoction that is made mostly with Tanduay, Filipino national pride rum.

Our DM Flora Camiros told me that they are making jungle juice. Then handed me a cup to try.

After a few more rounds of jungle juice, I told them about Surface Time and asked if they would take part in Women who Scuba series. So after we wrapped up our last dive, we went to Black Island for BBQ…and this time some Jungle Juice made with Filipino Gin.

This was an impromptu recording with Flora Camiros, Michiko Fusato and Sherrie Garcia from Pirate Divers on the beach of Black Island. By impromptu, all I had was my iPhone and the Voice Memo app and hope that the software will edit out some background noise.

I love that they were spontaneous and generous in sharing their stories. We definitely have 3 intelligent women. Each holds a deep well of inner strength, resilience and big heart. Driven by their own passion. They are distinctively different from each other; yet we can find them relatable. And it further validates the beauty of having scuba diving as the common language.

Speaking of spontaneity, have you ever acted on an impulse? What did you do when you were last being spontaneous? What did you gain or lose for being spontaneous?

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IG: @pirate.divers.busuanga

E: info@piratediverscoron.com

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S4 Ep8: Adriana Basques on Creating Transferrable Life Experiences

Tue, 07 May 2024 00:00:00 +0800

Adriana Basques, a corporate executive turned wildlife photographer. She has been using her camera to document moments of her encounters of beautiful creatures both on land and underwater. In fact, her photography specialty is split landscape photo – where top part is the land and bottom part is underwater. This allows her to share with everyone the wonders and beauties of this fragile blue planet. Through her work, she gives people a greater understanding and appreciation for the conservation.

Perhaps it’s her Brazilian gene plus many other charms. Her passion for life is highly contagious. She is living her life fully and creating transferrable life experiences.

A passionate campaigner in raising conservation awareness through her photography and teasing everyone’s curiosity with the wonders and beauties of this blue planet. And as a passionate advocate and mentor for women empowerment, she is influencing the new standard of behaviour, inside and outside the corporate world.

On the note of women leadership, I have observed that the mentality has been shifting constructively. There is still a huge gap to close. And to narrow or even close this gap, it is down to each of us to raise the quality of our own self-awareness, self-confidence and self-compassion. This is part of the journey of creating transferrable life experiences. So what would you say to these questions:

“What moves me?”

“What drives me?”

From there, you should be able to start connecting the dots from the past to present and from present to future.

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W: https://adrianabasques.com

IG: https://www.instagram.com/basques/

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S4 Ep9: Fi Dinh on Work is Love Made Visible (Part 1)

Sat, 14 Jun 2025 22:30:00 +0800

During the Surface Time today, I spoke with Fi Dinh, a senior executive in the fund finance world, with the heart of the Ocean.

I first met Fi through Women in Fund Finance, where she serves as the co-chair for APAC region. Very quickly the original agenda of our meeting got cast aside. Instead, we spoke at length about personal transformation, wellness management and the pursuit of spiritual growth.

It is refreshing and precious for me. Her unapologetic confidence and openness in sharing her spiritual journey is captivating. She is consistent, regardless whether it is at a cosy lunch, work place or a business networking event. And her Out of Office message.

At the same time, it tickles my curiosity. I wonder where she got her confidence from.

It is also deliberate to split this dialogue with Fi into two parts. So that my dear listeners, you can pause and take time to process.

Here is a thought:

If we can attract curious creatures like Dolphins with the “OM” sound while underwater, what else can we do with the vibrations that we carry with us?

By vibrations, it can be vibration of gratitude, sadness, FOMO, self-confidence and self-doubt.

What vibration are you carrying today?

When you are ready, tune in to Part 2.

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S4 Ep9: Fi Dinh on Work is Love Made Visible (Part 2)

Sat, 14 Jun 2025 22:30:00 +0800

Welcome back. This is the second part of the dialogue with Fi Dinh.

Continuing on the subject of personal transformation and spirituality development, we delve deeper on terms like “Divine Feminine” and “Divine Masculine”. And how you embody them as you sail through your day. In essence, these would be another expression of “Authenticity” and “Authentic Leadership”.

For the longest time, like over 20 centuries, most human have been wired to separate materiality from spirituality. As if they are two different entities. And you can have only one at a time.

That wiring is so fundamentally flawed.

In truth, materiality and spirituality co-exist and interdependent. We can and we should live life by embracing and embodying the harmonious connectivity between materiality and spirituality.

Fi’s courage and candidness in sharing her personal transformation and spirituality development is contagious. It is much needed, especially for those who are already walking the path of embodying their intuitive and spiritual intelligence.

“You are not alone!”

In fact, now is the moment for you to lead by example. Become the vibration of gratitude and bring that wholesomeness with you.

Here is something for you to ponder:

“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”

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