Recent Stories
From Kindergarten to Pilotage: Two Mariners, One Goal, and a Career Built on Persistence
Editor's Note: This article is adapted from a story originally published in the BPC Pilotage Quarterly – Winter 2026 Special Edition by the Washington State Board of Pilotage Commissioners. The original article shared the journey of Captains Joel Michelson and Harlow...
Building a Career at Sea with Ade Tiznado Solorzano
Maritime careers rarely follow a straight path. Every vessel, operation, and crew presents new challenges and opportunities for growth. In Episode 259 of the Women Offshore Podcast, we sit down with Women Offshore Ambassador Ade Tiznado Solorzano, a Merchant Navy Deck...
Insights from Successful Mariners in Offshore Careers
The offshore industry asks a lot of the people who choose it. Long rotations. Demanding work. Time away from home. It is not an easy path, and for many, it can feel like you are figuring it out on your own. At Women Offshore, we hear that often. We also see something...
Women Offshore Ambassador Zanele Mthembu, a Navigation Officer working in the oil and chemical tanker industry
Zanele Mthembu has built her career navigating the demands of the oil and chemical tanker industry, where precision, safety, and decision making under pressure are part of daily life. As a Navigation Officer, her work centers on vessel operations, maritime safety, and...
Ambassador Feature Esra Konak- From Sea to Strategy
Esra Konak, a Master Captain and Women Offshore Ambassador, has built her career in one of the most demanding sectors of shipping, oil and chemical tankers. A graduate of Istanbul Technical University in Maritime Transportation and Management Engineering, she combines...
Christy Nandlal: A Global Career in Marine Seismic Operations and Leadership at Sea
Christy Nandlal has spent nearly two decades working across the world’s oceans supporting complex geophysical operations. As a Chief Field Geophysicist, her career has taken her from the Gulf of Mexico to the North Sea, contributing to marine seismic exploration and...
Featured Sea Stories
Insights from Successful Mariners in Offshore Careers
The offshore industry asks a lot of the people who choose it. Long rotations. Demanding work. Time away from home. It is not an easy path, and for many, it can feel like you are figuring it out on your own. At Women Offshore, we hear that often. We also see something...
Women Offshore Ambassador Zanele Mthembu, a Navigation Officer working in the oil and chemical tanker industry
Zanele Mthembu has built her career navigating the demands of the oil and chemical tanker industry, where precision, safety, and decision making under pressure are part of daily life. As a Navigation Officer, her work centers on vessel operations, maritime safety, and...
Ade Solorzano: Chief Mate Advocating for Safety, Visibility, and the Next Generation of Women at Sea
Ade Solorzano understands firsthand what it means to build a maritime career in spaces where women are still underrepresented. As a Chief Mate with Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, she has spent years navigating the operational demands of life at sea while developing...
From Divemaster to Dive Safety Officer: Kim Malkoski’s Career Underwater
By Liz Schmidt | Women Offshore Blog | Podcast Episode 252 Scientific diving is a specialized discipline that blends operational precision, safety management, and marine research. In Episode 252 of the Women Offshore Podcast, we speak with Kim Malkoski, Assistant...
Trailblazer Feature: Spyridoula Zova
From First Responder to Offshore Paramedic, Following the Call Beyond Fear Spyridoula Zova’s career didn’t begin with a long-term plan or a childhood dream of emergency medicine. It began on the side of a road. As a first-year Business Administration student in...
From Idea to Impact: Celebrating 250 Episodes of the Women Offshore Podcast
By Liz Schmidt & Christine MacMillan | Women Offshore Blog | Podcast Episode 250 Episode 250 of the Women Offshore Podcast marks a major milestone, not just in episode count, but in the evolution of Women Offshore itself. In this special episode, Executive...
Navigate Your Career
What Nearly 20 Years in Recruiting Can Teach Us About Building Careers
Behind every job posting is a hiring decision. Behind every hiring decision is a person evaluating experience, potential, leadership, and fit. In this episode of the Women Offshore Podcast, we sit down with Shasta Kahoalii, Founder of Athena Talent Group, to discuss...
Building a Career at Sea with Ade Tiznado Solorzano
Maritime careers rarely follow a straight path. Every vessel, operation, and crew presents new challenges and opportunities for growth. In Episode 259 of the Women Offshore Podcast, we sit down with Women Offshore Ambassador Ade Tiznado Solorzano, a Merchant Navy Deck...
Women Offshore Ambassador Zanele Mthembu, a Navigation Officer working in the oil and chemical tanker industry
Zanele Mthembu has built her career navigating the demands of the oil and chemical tanker industry, where precision, safety, and decision making under pressure are part of daily life. As a Navigation Officer, her work centers on vessel operations, maritime safety, and...
Start Here
Start Here: Navigating Your Career with Women Offshore Leadership For many mariners entering the industry, the biggest challenge isn’t just getting started—it’s knowing where to find guidance along the way. In this episode of the Women Offshore Podcast, Executive...
New Year, New Job? Knowing When It’s Time for a Change
Career change is rarely sudden. More often, it begins quietly, with a feeling that something no longer fits, even if it once did. Across the Women Offshore community, many professionals shared that their decision to make a change was not driven by failure, but by...
Trailblazer Feature: Spyridoula Zova
From First Responder to Offshore Paramedic, Following the Call Beyond Fear Spyridoula Zova’s career didn’t begin with a long-term plan or a childhood dream of emergency medicine. It began on the side of a road. As a first-year Business Administration student in...
Podcast
What Nearly 20 Years in Recruiting Can Teach Us About Building Careers
Behind every job posting is a hiring decision. Behind every hiring decision is a person evaluating experience, potential, leadership, and fit. In this episode of the Women Offshore Podcast, we sit down with Shasta Kahoalii, Founder of Athena Talent Group, to discuss...
Building a Career at Sea with Ade Tiznado Solorzano
Maritime careers rarely follow a straight path. Every vessel, operation, and crew presents new challenges and opportunities for growth. In Episode 259 of the Women Offshore Podcast, we sit down with Women Offshore Ambassador Ade Tiznado Solorzano, a Merchant Navy Deck...
Highlighting Women in Maritime with Heather Ervin
The maritime industry depends on more than vessels, ports, and operations. It also depends on the people documenting the work, elevating industry conversations, and creating visibility for the professionals moving the sector forward. In Episode 258 of the Women...
Building the Maritime Workforce with Denielle Christensen
In this episode of the Women Offshore Podcast, we speak with Denielle Christensen, Executive Director and CEO of WaveWorks Alliance. Denielle’s career began outside of maritime, but she spent more than two decades immersed in the commercial marine industry through her...
Maritime Action Plan: What It Means for the Future of Maritime Careers
Strategic planning doesn’t always feel visible in day-to-day operations, but it plays a direct role in shaping the future of the maritime industry. In Episode 256 of the Women Offshore Podcast, we speak with Caitlin Hardy, Founder and Managing Director of Ness Sea, a...
Moving Mariners Worldwide: A Conversation with Chris Martin of Wings Global Travel
When offshore operations run smoothly, it’s often because the logistics behind them are working just as efficiently. In Episode 255 of the Women Offshore Podcast, we speak with Chris Martin of Wings Global Travel, a global travel management company that supports crew...
WOMEN OFFSHORE MENTORSHIP!
Offshore Lifestyle
Finding Each Other Offshore: Why One Mariner Built a Forum for Connection
Time offshore can be isolating. Long hitches, rotating crews, and limited communication with people back home are part of the job. Especially for those in the queer community, the maritime industry can often feel isolating and alone. But for some mariners, that...
Start Here
Start Here: Navigating Your Career with Women Offshore Leadership For many mariners entering the industry, the biggest challenge isn’t just getting started—it’s knowing where to find guidance along the way. In this episode of the Women Offshore Podcast, Executive...
Love Is in the Sea Air
There’s something about salt air that makes everything feel more honest. Maybe it’s the way the wind strips things down to what matters. Maybe it’s the long watches, the night skies offshore, or the quiet moments leaning on a rail at sunrise. Out here, relationships...
Surviving the Holidays at Sea: Finding Joy Far From Shore
For many mariners, the holiday season is not spent around a family table, beside a decorated tree, or bundled up against winter traditions. Instead, it unfolds across steel decks, long shifts, ocean horizons, and time zones that blur together. Yet even far from shore,...
Ask an Ambassador
By Christine MacMillan | Women Offshore Blog | Podcast Episode 247 In Episode 247 of the Women Offshore Podcast, we’re sharing the audio from a previously recorded Ask an Ambassador event hosted by Women Offshore Executive Director Liz Schmidt. This conversation...
From Cadet to Chief Mate: How Max Kantor Is Navigating Leadership, Integrity, and Life at Sea
For Max Kantor, the maritime industry isn’t just a career; it’s part of her DNA. Growing up in the harbors of Long Beach and Los Angeles, Max spent her childhood surrounded by ships and dockside operations. Her parents both worked in the port where they met, her...
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