Today we’d like to introduce you to Mirna Martinez.
Hi Mirna , please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I grew up in the ancient ocean of the Permian basin and I moved to the modern day ocean to pursue my dreams of becoming a marine biologist. Despite being land locked for all of my adolescent life the ocean called to me. Since I was a little girl, I would collect anything ocean related that I could get my hands on. I got ocean themed plushies, sea shells, dolphin and sea turtle figurines. In addition to collecting these treasures I wanted to learn more about them. Where did they come from? Can I have a dolphin as a pet?
In addition to my collecting ocean themed items I also loved animals. I loved learning about them and I loved having some of them as pets. I had tortoises, rabbits, ferrets, hermit crabs, chickens, goats, sheep, and of course fish. Because of the cost of saltwater aquariums, I was only ever allowed to have fresh water aquariums. At one point I had five different types of tanks set up. I began to wonder if I could do this as a career.
In high school, like everyone else, I had to figure out what I wanted my career to be. For a long time I wanted to be a veterinarian. I wanted to help animals. But the additional schooling ended up detouring me. While surfing the internet for a major I stumbled across marine biology. This seemed like the perfect career that combined my love for the ocean and for animals.
Like I mentioned early I eventually moved to the modern day sea in Galveston. There I immersed myself with learning everything about the ocean and the creatures that inhabit it. I graduated from Texas A&M University at Galveston with my bachelor’s degrees in marine biology and in marine fisheries. I was ready to take on the world.
Right now my mission is to teach as many people as I can about marine biology . I am currently doing that through sharing short form content on the internet. I am able to utilize the animals that I work with and the environment I live in to teach others about it. I love doing this style of outreach because I can capture a larger audience.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The road has been full of rough paths and redirections. One of the challenges I have faced is simply learning to believe in myself. I grew up in a small town where not many people were willing to chase their dreams. I’ve had to be brave as I chase opportunities no one around me has been willing to but it has taught me to lean into my faith and appreciate my strengths.
Being a first generation student in college was full of challenges. Navigating university life applying to internships trying to get as ahead as I could. There was also the challenge that I moved 8 hours away from home and support was not simply a phone call away. But I persevered, learned some lessons and started to create a life.
After graduation I found my next challenge, what do I do? Everyone else seemed to have a direction, a dream job, I didn’t. I could imagine myself doing certain jobs, but not for the rest of my life. My indecisiveness ultimately ended up in nothing. The job I got after graduating had nothing to do at all with my degree. During this time I still couldn’t make up my mind what to pursue. Eventually I decided that I could spread my love for the ocean without an official job title.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Whenever I chose to pursue marine biology, I thought I would have to give up my love for art. However in one of my classes my professor introduced the concept of sci-art to the class. This concept stuck with me. So I began to create mini coral reef sculptures on recycled glass bottles. I am so proud of my art collection. It was my first step into using social media to promote a positive message. I continued to create my miniature ocean world on tin cans, glass, and plastic bottles.
I eventually switched gears. I loved taking pictures of things I found on the beach and of cool fish in aquariums. Therefore I decided to create an account dedicated to sharing facts about these amazing creatures. This recent work has been really fun to create because it is something I care about. Right now I am working on creating a series covering beachcombing. One of the things that I believe sets me apart is the use of biofacts in my videos to build a connection.
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
Something that may surprise people about me is that I am not a very strong swimmer even though I am a marine biologist. One of my goals is to get scuba certified but for now I am a novice swimmer. I also volunteer at a sea turtle rehabilitation hospital which has been a dream come true.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/marinebiom.martiny5?utm_source=linktree_profile_share<sid=d16fe080-5393-4482-a78f-ce7cd408f34a
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marinebio_m.martiny5?igsi=azA1aDJkcnJvYWM4&utm_source=qr
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mirna-martinez-7584a5262
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@m.martiny
