Ever since I was a child, I’ve been obsessed with sharks. During a family vacation in 1988, my brothers and I stayed inside the cabin that my parents rented every day so that we could watch the very first Shark Week.

As I grew older and learned more about sharks, I was shocked and horrified to learn about shark finning and shark fin soup. I wanted to help these amazing and important animals, but didn’t know how I could. And then I came across the Nakawe Project. 

Nakawe Project is an all volunteer non profit conservation group founded by Regi Domingo. We are a global team of people that are dedicated to helping not only sharks, but all of the world’s oceans. When I saw a post on social media that Nakawe was looking for a graphic designer to join the team, I jumped at the chance and have been part of the Nakawe Tribe since 2016.

During my time with them, I have designed many social media graphics aimed to raise awareness about sharks and other ocean concerns, created educational pieces for children in Costa Rica, worked on graphics for government proposals for laws to protect oceans in Central America, worked on crowdfunding campaigns to raise funding for a full length documentary film about overfishing and it’d effect on all life in the sea and land, and many other projects.

Although sometimes it is hard to work on some pieces when I see photos of large warehouses full of dead sharks, or finless sharks on the seafloor, I know that this work is very important and needs to be done. Working with Nakawe has been one of the most rewarding projects that I have ever done.

Please follow @nakaweproject