International Women’s Day: Role Models In Travel

The female-led team at Kokomo’s PADI Dive Center is an example of how women empower other women in a field traditionally dominated by men.

Cliona O’Flahtery is Kokomo’s Marine Operations Manager and leads the Marine Biology team. She also manages the dive center’s alliance with the Manta Trust. Cliona came to Fiji to volunteer but soon realized she wanted to work in a field devoted to protecting and preserving the environment under the sea.

Cliona’s leadership has inspired other members of her team to pursue a career in diving and break stereotypes.

Viviana Taubera is a PADI Dive Master, who, through the encouragement of Cliona, is one of the most recent PADI Scholarship Recipients in Fiji. She’s currently on one of PADI’s Instructor Development courses so she can become a PADI Scuba Instructor — showing others from her small island of Taveuni that anything is possible.

“I studied Marine Science at the University of the South Pacific where I realized how detrimental diving is to my role as a Marine Scientist,” says Taubera. “As an ocean advocate, my mission is to be the voice of the sea and to spread awareness for its conservation. What better way to do this then through safe diving practices. I am able to reach people of all ages and different walks of life and utilize my knowledge as a Marine Biologist as well as my diving experience to achieve my mission.”

Viviana is not the only woman on the team that Cliona has helped mentor. Christine Riley is one of Kokomo’s PADI Scuba Instructors who has ambitions to become Fiji’s first PADI Course Director in Fiji. Also hailing from the small island of Taveuni, Christine is showing the younger generation of women that there are no limitations to the depths of what you can accomplish – even if no woman has done it before.

“Diving was something women were not encouraged to partake in,” says Riley. “However, I am happy to say that this is slowly changing with times. Women are good with dealing with unexpected events and others—which are important qualities for underwater explorers and change makers.”

Riley is a role model in her village—and that makes her feel proud of her accomplishments.

“Women are providing the world with hope for our shared future—and the future of our blue planet—through a range of female-led initiatives and teams in the scuba diving industry,” says Julie Andersen, Global Director, Brand for PADI Worldwide.

Other impressive women include one of PADI’s AmbassaDivers, Nouf Alosaimi, who created Pink Bubbles, a female diving community to empower and encourage Saudi women to scuba dive. Nouf recently spoke at the World Economic Forum as Saudi Arabia’s first female PADI Technical Diver. She was also featured in the opening concert “I Sea You”, where she filmed footage of the Red Sea Corals.

Then there’s Edhaa Al-Barwani, who not only became Oman’s first female PADI Divemaster, but has created women-only dive courses at Aura Divers.

“The swell of women making a difference for this industry keeps getting more powerful,” says Andersen.