A Sea Full Of Inspiration

From nursing to marketing to engineering to defending clients in court, over the years, women have found themselves progressively breaking boundaries in terms of career goals. Dr. Asha De Vos, marine biologist and pioneer of blue whale research, found the strength to break boundaries paving the way for other women to follow in her footsteps. The road she took was rocky, to say the least, and she met with resistance at every turn. But, she didn’t give up. She went after what she wanted, and got it.

- Lakshika Pinto

Q/ HOW DID YOU GET INTO MARINE BIOLOGY?

A/ My mom’s convinced the journey started when I was 2 weeks old and she, along with my dad and brother took me to Hikkaduwa to head out on a glass bottom boat. Needless to say, I have absolutely no recollection of this but what I do remember is flipping through National Geographic magazines at the age of 6 and lying under the blue whale skeleton in the Colombo museum, being mad curious about what this creature was.

Growing up, my brother was my idol. He lived life as an active participant rather than a passive recipient of the world around him and this coupled with my own curiosity and my parents’ constant nudge of support, pushed me right into the depths of the big blue. So after I finished school, I went on to do my undergrad in Marine and Environmental Biology at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. After this, I did my Master’s at the University of Oxford and after a break back in Lanka, I headed to the University of Western Australia for my PhD and wrapped up with a Post-Doctoral Research position at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Q/ HOW HAS IT BEEN BRINGING BACK ALL THIS KNOWLEDGE TO SRI LANKA?