Riley Hathaway

At twenty-four, Riley Hathaway has already spent half her life committed to connecting young people to the sea.

The charismatic young wahine from Snells Beach is the co-founder of Young Ocean Explorers (YOE), an organisation which aims to make ocean education easy, accessible, and engaging for students in Aotearoa.

Alongside her dad and fellow YOE co-founder Steve Hathway, she engages with thousands of tamariki every year by visiting schools, developing education resources, and challenging schools across Aotearoa to find different ways to show love and connection to the ocean.

She says it’s been a “crazy journey”, from a shy young teen who was scared of the ocean, to presenting on stages to thousands of tamariki every year.

“I’ve always loved the ocean and felt a deep connection to it. But as a child, I was terrified. And so, through Young Ocean Explorers and diving into my dad’s world I learnt to face my fears and learn to love it as much as he does… Being able to see this underwater world for what it truly is, and see how unique Aotearoa is, and then be able to talk to others about it – it’s very special,” she says.

Riley credits much of her passion and inspiration to her father, a renowned marine videographer and ocean advocate, and says the connection forged between them through this shared passion has been truly special.

“Being around someone like him has helped me grow as a leader, and as a person, beyond words. I used to hate speeches as a kid, and now that’s my job. Every lesson through Young Ocean Explorers has been thanks to him, and I’m so grateful we’ve had this journey together,” she explains.

Young Ocean Explorers was set up in 2013 after a school project about turtles and plastic sparked an idea to create a series of short videos for children about the ocean. These were screened on TV’s ‘What Now’, and are still used in snippets on their social channels today.

Riley went on to deliver a TED talk at age 14, film many more videos, create an ocean related book with her dad, develop lesson plans for schools, collaborate with like-minded organisations, and become a prominent figure for ocean advocacy. She now speaks to thousands of students in schools every year with the aim of connecting children to the ocean.  Their online platform is now used by thousands of classes nationwide.

“Once you care about something, you want to protect it,” she says.

She says one of the best parts is watching their faces light up at the footage of marine animals and learn about the unique habits and characteristics of different species.

Drawing a connection between the ocean and humans sparks a curiosity which Riley says naturally leads to critical thinking, and fresh solutions which can create lasting impact in world increasingly confronted by environmental issues.

“Kids voices are some of the most powerful in society. We’ve seen it through our work, they have fantastic ideas, and it just comes down to putting steps in place to make change,” she explains.

Like any successful campaign, Riley recognizes the power in simple messaging.

“Campaigns that have made a difference in the past have actually been aimed at kids. Seatbelts, make it click. Sunscreen, slip slop slap and wrap. Once they get stuck on an idea, the idea travels, they tell their parents, and ultimately it catches on.

Riley and Steve are currently working on a campaign which involves taking a huge pile of letters, written by children, to the footsteps of parliament,

“A huge part of this campaign is getting kids from all over Aotearoa writing letters to the prime minister about why they love the ocean and why we need to protect more of it. It’s about making sure their voices are heard,” she explains.

The pair will also produce a video that animates the letters, and amplifies the children’s voices to a broad audience.

She says it’s important to ensure kids don’t feel overwhelmed with the state of the ocean, but empowered to make simple changes, which can collectively make a big difference in the future.

“I’m 24 and still get fully overwhelmed by the state of the world. So, it’s really important to have hope and connection first. And learn about what we can do,” she says.

One of the initiatives she is most proud of is the 21-day challenge, which was created with the goal of bringing ocean learning into classrooms across Aotearoa through free lesson plans for teachers that fully aligns with the NZ curriculum.

There are many ways teachers and students can adopt this challenge into their classroom settings.

“They could start as easy as picking up a piece of rubbish a day, or making posters,” she explains.

Ultimately, she says the aim was to give teachers the tools to inspire their students and make their lives easier with lesson plans that were fun, engaging, and ready to use.

With only 0.38% of our ocean protected, Riley says one of her biggest motivators is encouraging children to change how we view the Moana.

“We’re really good at celebrating and protecting our land in New Zealand, but we don’t have that same connection with the moana,” she comments.

Hundreds of thousands of pieces of rubbish have now been collected as part of the challenge, and children have also created videos, posters, slideshows, stories, artwork, and written letters to share their knowledge further.

Riley’s enthusiasm, ability to lead by example, communication style, and personality has made her one of the most adored figures in ocean advocacy for todays’ youth.