Episode 8 : Meet Tiare Hoegerman and Clarissa Kusel, co-founders of The Ocean is Female
Today my guests today are two wonderful surfers from California: Tiare Hoegerman and Clarissa Kusel, the founders of The Ocean is Female.
Listen to Episode 8 here
Show notes
Originally frustrated about the way the surfing industry represents women’s surfing, our two college roommates decided to launch an Instagram account, and a Blog, called The Ocean is Female.
“Why are there all these pictures of girls’ butts?” — Clarissa Kusel
The idea behind this side hustle, was to give an outlet for women surfers who want to share their stories and demonstrate that women’s surfing doesn’t just boil down to a supermodel in a tiny bikini holding a surfboard.
“We just felt that women are generally under represented in terms of what we felt and what we did, and when we paddled out. So we started our Instagram essentially to tell the stories that we felt we weren’t hearing.”
What started as a project in October 2017, is snowballing into an encyclopedia of inspiring and empowering female surf stories. Every day, Tiare and Clarissa are receiving, curating and publishing inspirational women’s surf stories from around the world.
Today’s conversation is a tale of all tales. It’s an opportunity to meet the people behind this beautiful and refreshing non-profit project. Clarissa and Tiare have a contagious sense of humour and share their story about the inception of the project, how you can be a part of it, and their hilarious personal surf and travel stories.
Today they both have desk jobs, but one of the career choices that they took for a while was to travel the world as ESL (English as a Second Language) teachers. Our two besties share their experience and give some useful advice on how to make the most of being a teacher and catching a few waves.
If there is anything to take from the episode, it’s how The Ocean is Female is empowering women from all over the world to share their stories. Today, The Ocean is Female Instagram account has already clocked over 5300 followers in less than 13 months.
If you would like to send in your story, the best way is to connect with Tiare and Clarissa via DM on Instagram @theoceanisfemale or by sending an email to theoceanisfemale@gmail.com. As they mentioned in the podcast, they could do with some help on the blog, so if you want to reach out, just DM them directly.
This episode can be played and replayed on most of the podcast apps such as Stitcher, Spotify, Iheartradio, Overcast, Deezer and Apple Podcasts. You can also stream the episodes directly on your computer by connecting to www.theoceanriderspodcast.com
I’ve created a Facebook group so if you fancy joining the conversation after the episode, you’re welcome to: you can find the group on Facebook at The Oceanriders Community. I have also started posting some job offers that would be perfect for surfers there. You never know, maybe you’ll find your dream job? Please share any offers you have too, so as to get this community going!
The Oceanriders Podcast is also a Twitter account and a Facebook page, so you should be able to connect with me somehow!
I would like to especially thank Clarissa and Tiare for getting up really early in the morning to be on this podcast and for being such gorgeous guests!
Next week I’ll be talking to a University professor who has just launched a Geography of Surfing course at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Australia.
In the meantime, take care, have fun and enjoy the waves!
Ciao!
Imi
Links
If you would like to share your story with The Ocean is Female, the best way is to connect with Tiare and Clarissa via DM on Instagram @theoceanisfemale or by sending an email to theoceanisfemale@gmail.com.
As they mentioned in the podcast, they could do with some help on the blog www.theoceanisfemale.com, so if you want to reach out, just send them an email directly.
You can find their Facebook page here
The brands that they mention in the podcast that they are collaborating with, are Localish and Jungle Mama (sunscreen)
