"Leadership is not about being in charge.
Leadership is about taking care of those in your charge."
--Simon Sinek
Addrianna
Founder & President
Addrianna is a HR and Internal Comms professional with over ten years of experience building teams for startups, curating internal comms content, coaching executives, and building company cultures that consistently produce enterprising teams and emotionally intelligent leaders. A collaborative and entrepreneurial leader, she thrives in dynamic, fast paced environments that foster belonging and challenge the status quo.
After moving to Los Angeles in 2018, Addrianna discovered the sport of Spearfishing and immediately decided to start a women’s community that combined her love for the ocean with her appetite for adventure. In 2020, SoCal Dive Babes was formed and quickly grew into a robust coastal community for women interested in Freediving and Spearfishing, as well as environmental conservation and sustainability. SoCal Dive Babes is committed to reducing barriers for women to these sports, engaging in measurable conservation activites that repair the CA coast, and cultivating female friendships that will last a lifetime.
In addition to holding presidential responsibilities for SCDB, she runs social media, sponsorship relationships, events, public relations, and fundraising. When not evangelizing for SCDB, you can find her in the water!
Natalie
Secretary & Events Lead
Natalie is an EMT and recent graduate of Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. She is an avid conservationist and has worked with the Aquarium of the Pacific and One Ocean Diving. She believes that experience is the most effective way in creating environmentalists and loves taking friends and family out to explore the beauty of the California coast.
Natalie is an all-around waterwoman, whether it be swimming, surfing, paddling, Freediving, or just enjoying the sound of crashing waves (her goal of 2022- learn to spearfish!). When not in the water, she can be found playing with her dog Ziggy, studying for nursing school, sewing her own bikinis, and tending to her garden.
Natalie explains her relationship with the ocean as a lifelong love affair. A former competitive swimmer, her journey into Freediving is one that was inevitable and has been completely life-giving. Natalie is stoked to help build the inclusive, inspirational community that is SoCal Dive Babes, and feels it is an absolute honor to help pave the way for women to thrive in the Freediving and spearfishing community.
Beven
Treasurer
Beven is currently working as a chemist with a background in entomology. She has worked in fighting Vector Borne Diseases all over the world for over ten years through her time in the ARMY and government services. A mermaid at heart, she was a competitive diver and rower. She has a background in sailing and her undergrad research was studying Coral Reef Ecology in Honduras for two years.
She believes in learning and bettering herself every day, which is why being a good steward of natural resources and sustainable foraging is a top priority. She can usually be found enjoying the local beaches or traveling to more beaches. She enjoys making art and music as well and singing takes up most of her free time. Her newest passion is staying Freedive fit by playing Underwater Hockey weekly with a goal of competing in worlds one day.
Beven is excited about the opportunity to contribute to the SoCal Dive Babes and sees this as an opportunity to learn and grow from each other in an open and encouraging environment. She is truly inspired by the women who make up this community and is looking forward to many adventures ahead.
Allison
Director of Conservation & Sustainability
Allison's extensive 12-year career in marine science as a Research Associate has included modeling whale-watching vessel impact on spinner dolphin survival rates, identifying invertebrate and fish samples for the BP/Deep Water Horizon oil spill investigation, interviewing boat-operators about their livelihood in the Philippines, examining egg cannibalism in the California grunion, mapping the Elegant tern migration, and was the first mate at Captain Dave’s Dolphin and Whale Watching Safari in Orange County, CA.
She has also volunteered for 9 years with NGOs including Balyena.org, Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust, Aquarium of the Pacific, Marine Animal Rescue Society, and Pacific Marine Mammal Center.
With SoCal Dive Babes, Allison is passionate about bringing together women, women of color, divers, fishers, scientists, businesses, and government to protect our oceans and the communities that rely on them. She is responsible for developing projects related to marine conservation and citizen science. If you need to geek out on a particular species or want to pursue a career in the underworld, she is your go-to scientist!
