Kristi Kucera March 7th 2019

What do you do?

I own and operate a sea kayaking outfitter here in Bellingham called Moondance Sea Kayak Adventures. Basically that means I juggle lots of roles that small businesses take on but the most fun part shows up in the summer when I also get to play the role of a professional sea kayak guide in our beautiful backyard islands! We run everything from from shorter 3 hour intro paddles, to Wild Foraging Educational Sea Kayak tours, multi-day island adventure vacation tours and a crowd favorite - bioluminescent night paddles. I also recently became an executive board member for Recreation Northwest, a local non profit that promotes outdoor recreation and bringing people together to enjoy, preserve and improve the places where we play.

Advice/words of wisdom that affected your life you’d like to pass on?

Be open to finding your path. There came a point in my life where I felt really stuck, I was fresh off of a ski injury, back working retail and realizing I wanted to do more with my life. I wanted to spend more time outside and do my best to influence positive change in people's lives through the gift of unique outdoor experiences and be more involved in my community. I couldn't figure out what that looked like until an opportunity came up to take over Moondance Sea Kayak Adventures. I had a ton of self doubt moving into the role of owner/operator/guide but I am so glad I said yes to the challenge and kept my head up when the anxiety or negative self talk came creeping in. A big part of that came with listening to my support (family and friends) to help me say yes to myself and go after my goals. Be patient, be persistent, believe in yourself, be open to support and listed to some Berne Brown if you're ever feeling down!