Recap: Sea Sisters Retreat 2024
Hi Everyone!
Here we are a year later, another Sea Sisters Retreat behind us with fond memories and new friends to show for our efforts. Thank you to everyone who came to Sausalito on October 25-27 to make Retreat 2024 a success! From shared meals and hikes in the beautiful Marin Headlands, sunsets on the beach, and craft time over cocktails and birthday cake, this year was one for the books as we enjoyed a change of scenery at the NatureBridge campus on the bluff near Point Bonita, overlooking Rodeo Beach.
I also want to thank our sponsors, the San Francisco Bar Pilots and Foss Maritime Company, for sponsoring the event as well as supporting Sea Sisters and our mission throughout the year.
I wish to express my deep appreciation for the speakers who generously gave their time to present at the event last month.
On Saturday we welcomed Jan Tiura, a retired local tugboat captain who overcame the toughest obstacles to work her way from deck to master on tugs in San Francisco Bay in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, enjoying a long and colorful career in maritime and paving the way for the rest of us. Jan sat for a fascinating interview followed by a discussion about her life and career, and I believe I can speak for our attendees as well as myself that we benefited greatly from our time spent with Jan.
Additionally, we met a group of pilots representing our sponsor, the San Francisco Bar Pilots, who gave a presentation on piloting in SF Bay and continued into a great Q&A session with our group about their personal experiences as pilots, the unique challenges of the region, and how to chart your own path to a piloting career.
Sea Sisters Inc. Receives Grant from First10Forward
We are thrilled to announce that First10Forward has awarded their annual grant to Sea Sisters!
On the final day of our retreat, Sunday, October 27, we welcomed Susan Winfree of First10Forward. Susan presented this grant to our group on behalf of her nonprofit organization, First10Forward, whose mission is to advance the professional goals of women and girls pursuing non-traditional careers. I would like to share the press release directly from F10F here:
The non-profit Sea Sisters Inc. has been selected as the recipient of the 2024 First10Forward (F10F) grant. The decision to award the organization $37,200 was made at the 2024 membership meeting that was held in New York on September 9th.
F10F is a New Jersey non-profit corporation, whose mission is to advance the professional goals of women and girls pursuing non-traditional careers. The organization is the brainchild of a group of women graduates of the United States Merchant Marine Academy (“Kings Point”), who share a sense of gratitude for the life altering, professional and personal opportunities their Kings Point education bestowed upon them, at the same time an awareness of the challenges they had to overcome to succeed in a traditionally male dominated industry. These women share a desire to pay forward their wisdom and financial backing to girls and women embarking on similar non-traditional journeys.
Since its inception in 2017, F10F has awarded over $160, 000 in grants to an array of qualified organizations.
We are honored and overwhelmed with gratitude for this incredible gift from the women at First10Forward. Thank you!
In the November spirit of Thanksgiving and gratitude, I want to give one more shout-out to our friend Jess Hewitt, who took over the Sea Sisters social media accounts a year ago and has been doing an amazing job creating content and highlighting women in the maritime industry from around the globe. Thank you Jess!
As we head into the holiday season and the coming new year, we will be planning for ways to effectively utilize the amazing grant from F10F, and we look forward to keeping our community connected and thriving. Wishing you all fair winds and following seas.
