Trudi van der Walt currently works as a deck cadet on LNG tankers. Born and raised in South Africa, Trudi joined the maritime industry when she was 21 as a housekeeping supervisor on cruise ships. She was inspired by the deck officers she met on board the cruise liners to go back to school to study navigation. In 2018, Trudi enrolled he SSTG academy in Cape Town and is almost finished with her cadet training requirements.