Saving our oceans one bikini at a time…
I had the pleasure of meeting Steph at last year’s inaugural #RadLivin festival. She came in from the Sunshine Coast to connect with like-minded people, get inspired and celebrate livin’ life to the fullest. Steph is the creator of OceanZen Bikini. They work to authentically raise awareness with marine conservation projects, saving our ocean one bikini at a time – each bikini is made from recycled bottles and nets.
Steph lives and breathes OceanZen’s message and is a marine conservationist herself! We sat down to chat about her incredible conservation efforts, leaving her full-time job in Sydney to travel abroad, living in Bali 3 months out of the year to create her brand, and what actually goes into creating a lifestyle that you love from the inside out.
Where are you in the world?
Living on the Sunshine Coast of Australia at the moment ☺ Originally from Sydney and have wandered around the globe a couple of times in between.
How do you follow your bliss?
Whilst I do love being around people and socialising, I love time to myself. When I do find that time to be alone, I love to just sit peacefully and think about where I have been and where I want to go in life. OceanZen has taken up a huge part of my last 3 years and I haven’t been able to impulsively travel as much as I was before OceanZen. I absolutely love to travel on my own, it’s something that my friends and family don’t quite understand haha. But when I travel alone, I feel the most alive. I have no influence of my home life and no distractions. Travel is my bliss.
Could you tell us the story behind Oceanzen Bikini and how it first came about?
My passion for the ocean and marine conservation is essentially what lead me to create OceanZen. In my early 20’s I decided I wanted more from life than working full-time in an office in Sydney. So I packed my bags and impulsively left Australia on a one way ticket, which resulted in a solo adventure abroad for 3 years. I floated around the globe, from chilling in the middle of the Kruger Park in South Africa with elephants and leopards, to snowboarding mountain peaks in Whistler Canada, volunteering with orphans in Bali, buying a Kombi van in Colombia and driving it down South America and surfing world class waves in Costa Rica with countless other memories. But the chapter that really changed my life was spending a year in the Caribbean, on a little island in the Cayman Islands. I landed a job there working with Southern Atlantic Stingrays for eco-tourism. Part of my role was to dive down, lure the stingrays to the surface and hold them safely while tourists got their photos. The most INCREDIBLE experience.
I had discovered a deep connection with the ocean and marine animals. But I also learnt a lot about human threats. From this point on, I wanted to learn more, and learn how I could help the ocean. I came home and enrolled into Uni to study Environmental Science, which has also taken me back around the globe researching incredible animals like humpback whales, sharks, sea lions and coral reefs. The most incredible chapter was spending 4 months in the Galapagos Islands where I spent my days in the ocean playing with sea lions… for research of course.
All of this wasn’t enough though, I wanted to do more and learn more and help share this powerful message for marine conservation that was shared with me back in the Caribbean. I wanted to create my own sustainable something and OceanZen was born from my passion for sustainability. I had heard about this sustainable fabric made from recycled plastic bottles in Costa Rica, longgggggggg before I had even dreamed of ever studying this field. Meanwhile through all of this, my entire lifestyle, in the water and out, involved me wearing bikinis. I don’t own bras haha, so it felt only natural to combine the two things that I love; swimwear and marine conservation together ☺
OceanZen raises awareness for marine conservation issue’s, supports a cleaner ocean by using fabric made from recycled plastic bottles and fishing nets from the ocean, and practices sustainability throughout the entire business model. The bikini’s are packed and sent to customers in recycled cardboard pillow boxes completely avoiding the use of plastic. Plastic/marine debris is causing major issue’s for our ocean’s and the more businesses that choose sustainability, the stronger the message is to consumers to want to make a change.
What is your ultimate dream with Oceanzen?
I have so many dreams with OceanZen. Following my passion was the best thing I ever did. There are definitely ups and downs with following your dreams and it’s not always an easy ride, but I feel so much excitement, passion and inspiration for loving what I do and OceanZen will never just be a swimwear label. As an Entrepreneur, I am constantly thinking of creative ways to branch out. For the last two years OceanZen has ventured to Tonga to swim with wild humpback whales (Just got back last month) Sounds Crazy!! But words can hardly describe this experience. These creatures are giants, yet so graceful and so cognitive. The way their eyes pierce through your soul as they stare at you face to face. It’s a truly incredible experience.
Next year OceanZen is running our first eco whale-swim retreat to Tonga. So so excited to be sharing our love for the Ocean with girls that believe in what we are doing. We will be going over to a school over there as well and sharing the message for a cleaner ocean to the students.
I would love to expand and run OceanZen eco-retreats around the world to take guests to have incredible experiences with marine life. That is an ongoing project. Also have been in liasing with a sea turtle program in Costa Rica to organise a donation/conservation program with them as sea turtles are currently suffering severely from human impacts. The next milestone for OceanZen will be involved with various conservation programs that I feel are sincere and genuinely need the support.
Further down the track I would love to create more sustainable products like an eco water bottle, or bamboo towels, glass straws. So many ways to expand and one can only dream ☺. With all of these dreams to expand and grow, the research and administration increases dramatically. These dreams are only dreams until they are implemented, and implementing them takes me out of working on the business, to working in the business which is when the not so happy times happen. You can quite easily become disheartened, emotionally drained and doubtful and I am sure plenty of creative small business owners will agree with this mutual feeling. OceanZen has a list full of dreams, and as much as I would love to do all of them at once, there isn’t the time or the creative desire to fulfill them all at once. One dream at a time ☺.
You have Oceanzen, but are also multi-talented and passionate for a number of different things. What does your life look like at the moment with all of your passions?
A big mess haha, sometimes there aren’t enough hours in the day. Things have been so busy the last few weeks!! OceanZen was a part of fashion week and it was such an honour to win the Ethical and Sustainability award. Conservation for the ocean is my heart and soul and I couldn’t help but shed a few happy tears when this happened. Last week OceanZen was also a top 5 finalist for Young Entrepreneur of the Year award as-well. So much has been happening that it has been a little chaotic and overwhelming. I absolutely love to surf, swim in the wild sea, go scuba diving, free diving, anything water related and I’m there. Over the last few weeks sadly there hasn’t been much time to spare for my hobbies ☹
Tell us about a time when something totally synchronistic happened.
Definitely, the last 8 years or so of my life have all lead me to OceanZen. I often look back on my three year adventure around the globe and how connected I became with my true self. I know it sounds cliché when people say they are going traveling to “find themselves”, but I really feel as though that is what happened for me.
Over the last 8 years, there are 3 milestones in my life all thanks to that desire I had to go traveling. I landed on the Caribbean island and spent a year there, which is where I truly discovered my passion for the ocean and marine life. My next milestone was coming home to study a degree in this field and that is where my desire to create change grew, and finally OceanZen was born. I couldn’t even dream of where I would be now if I didn’t pack my bags and turn my back on home and everything that I knew.
If fear ever shows up in your life, how do you move past it?
To be honest when owning your own business, fear and doubt are emotions that tend to pop up a fair bit.
Quite often it can be so easy to doubt yourself, and there is a very easy and simple way to move past this. Surrounding yourself with passionate and like-minded people always helps lift the spirits. But recently I have discovered meditation. For the last month or so I have really started to tap into this. It’s something that I had heard a lot about over the years, but again I doubted my success. My mind was too busy, too inspired and constantly racing. I just assumed meditation wasn’t for me. I have recently given it a proper go and try to meditate 15 minutes a day, and wow does it completely transform my way of thinking. I have found I am more inspired and pro-active, clear minded, active and positive ☺
How do you keep the passion and inspiration for your creative pursuits alive long-term?
My passion is my purpose. When things get a little heavy and disheartening, I remember my passion for marine conservation, sustainability and swimwear and am back on the road to my purpose. I think for every entrepreneur it can get a little heavy sometimes and we fall off the horse and forget our why. Getting swamped with the administration side of things distracts you from working on the business, and it’s important to stay on track and remember why you are doing what you are doing and to hold onto that. The Sunny Coast community has been so amazing. Supporting OceanZen from day one and believing in me has helped keep me on course. I get such lovely emails sometimes from girls just genuinely wanting to say that they love what OceanZen is all about, and these emails truly make my day.
Creativity is sometimes a constant rollercoaster, and sometimes you need some fresh air. Places like creative co-working spaces and creative hubs like Canggu, Bali and Byron Bay can help with inspiration by networking with like minded people. And to be honest sometimes it’s also just as good to close the laptop and go for a surf and take a day off. I believe it’s 100% about balance, as much as we all know if we want our dreams to come true we have to work hard for them, we also need some “me time”.
What do you think has been the key to your success so far?
The Sunny Coast community has been a massive supporter as well. The community is full of amazing creatives and I’ve been lucky enough to collaborate with numerous brands, we all help each other and know how hard it is to kick start your passion project into a reality. It’s been an honour to be apart of this growing community and having their support has definitely been key to the success of OceanZen.
Last week you mentioned that you go to Canggu 3 months out of the year. Can you tell us a bit about what you do there?
I absolutely love this little hole in the wall community. It is full of pretty #rad people doing pretty #rad things with their life. If you ever feel a lack of inspiration or feeling demotivated, Canggu, or “the gu” as we like to call it will fix that. Surrounding yourself with entrepreneurial minded, creative and magical people is the best way to tap into your own creativity and passions. Canggu is actually changing rapidly by the day though. Every time I go back there are new café’s, even more tourists and new villa’s, shops and bars and it is a little sad knowing that this unique community may be overrun eventually like Kuta and Seminyak. Every year, sometimes even twice a year, we go to Bali to get the collection made. Sometimes this can be a really painful process haha, and quite often there are even tears!! But when the final product comes alive, AHHHHH, is the exact way to describe the feeling! ☺
I sometimes get asked why I choose to manufacture in Bali instead of Australia. Traveling opens your soul to things you would not normally see in our civilized, stable and functional society. We don’t see poverty, starvation and suffering how some other countries see it. Whilst I understand some people want to support the Australian economy, how will these third world countries ever have a chance if we don’t support them where we can? From my personal travel experiences, I want to support these people. I am 100% against sweat shops, child and slave labour and that is not an ethical way to support a country. The manufacturer we use in Bali is a small business and family owned. Our business to them supports their family, they choose their own hours for work and they also charge in USD which for an Aussie isn’t cheap once the conversions hit your bank account. But I love knowing that I am supporting a family that would otherwise not have work, whilst also going to Canggu and getting my creative flow on. I love Bali, I am in love with the culture, the humble hindu’s, the landscape, the waves, the traditional food and the magical people that I meet there every time that are doing weird and wonderful things with their lives.
What advice could you give to someone who knows what they would love to do, but haven’t gone for it?
Don’t even think twice! Go for it and go for it now. Why waste another day doing something that you don’t love? Traveling by myself, indefinitely, was essentially what lead me to where I am today. I broke away from society, from the people I surrounded myself with, from everything that I knew and the comforts of home, and threw myself face first into the unknown. I met soulful people that opened my heart to things I had never really been exposed to before. I learnt how to connect with my body and soul through yoga, sailed from one country to another, learnt all about vegetarianism (I’m no longer a vegetarian) :p, learnt to surf and scuba dive, I bungee jumped off bridges (crazy) and trekked active volcanos with nothing but an ice pick. I even bought a Kombi van with a stranger and drove it through south America!! I did everything and anything that came my way to learn more about who I was and what I loved. Sometimes you have to break free from the life you are living that is giving you no fulfillment and no sense of purpose, to learn and truly be inspired by what your heart desires. From there, only new and incredible things can happen.
