Today we’d like to introduce you to Robert Timmons.
Robert, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My story started back in Canada really.
I am from the Toronto area of Canada and I immigrated to the USA just 2 years ago actually. About 10 years ago, I watched this documentary called Sharkwater and learned about the mass decline of sharks in our oceans and how that will not only impact the ocean but impact humans as well. This new found information built a fire within me to do something about it.
As a painter, I started to paint about the sharks issues, then whales, seals, and dolphins too. This fire started to burn inside me so strong that I found my way to the streets supporting these issues, speaking in universities, and organizing fundraisers to generate money for ocean conservation. It was like a massive journey started with passion and later I realized that passion is an energy for actually living. Passion can move mountains while still smiling as it takes away fears and makes you want to do whatever you can. In my case it was for the ocean.
I became a volunteer for an ocean organization called Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Here they asked me if I could build a presence in Toronto to bring awareness to the great work they were doing for the ocean. So, I did just that and built a strong Toronto Chapter that helped build awareness for the ocean work along with generate thousands of dollars to support their ships in the ocean. I had no idea how to go about doing this chapter however the skills I learned with public speaking, organizing events, and interacting with the public was all completed fearlessly as I knew it was to help the ocean.
Later, I married an American and in time immigrated to Florida back in 2015. As I was surrounded by the ocean there was something missing. I felt I needed to do something more to keep helping the ocean. My wife and I helped during sea turtle season with ensuring baby sea turtles made it to the ocean. I still kept painting my ocean animals and donating to ocean conservation fundraisers. However, it wasn’t until we moved to California that Pelagic Love was created and with a focus on building a business with a mission to help ocean conservation organizations with a percentage of sales.
Pelagic Love is a new business and we have been able to generate just over a $2000 to help causes. Currently we are launching a brand called “California Kai” that will initially help the ocean organizations protecting the California Coastline. However, we decided that we want to increase our help towards the California Fires and give 50% of our profits to the Humane Society of Ventura County. We believe the people and animals affected by the fires need immediate help and after that this brand will go towards our initial thoughts and that is the California coastline.
We state we understand passion and as you can see our store has been built by passion. We have a blog that comes out weekly called Ocean Passion Series. We interview people from all around the world and just recently interviewed “Ocean Sanctuaries” of San Diego. We have interviewed some incredible people doing extraordinary things for the ocean from beach clean-ups to even being arrested for trying to save whales. It’s just so exciting to read their own personal unique journey on how they live with passion that drives them to protect the ocean. Just recently we received “Awarded Top 50 Oceanic Blog” where we placed 33 out of the 50 among some impressive ocean organizations like Dr. Sylvia Earle’s Mission Blue and even National Geographic Ocean.
Our business is to give a service to our customers and to the ocean. So as people buy our ocean related products from jewelry to clothing we aim to give some back to help local and distant ocean projects.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Definitely not a calm ocean in our words and thankfully too! How do you learn when everything is handed to you and things are smooth. The struggles are the learning curves we needed in order to build our store with a mission to give back. To build what we have now was to live the passion of helping the ocean. We have given years to building awareness, networks, and skills like public speaking for the ocean.
I personally went to Japan to meet other people from around the world to do my part to protect dolphins. Our efforts to form the business Pelagic Love is purely from passion. We have lived the actions of what we want to support and because of that we understand that every dollar can help change support efforts, every blog can change minds, and every new fundraising campaign can change the world just a little bit at a time.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Pelagic Love story. Tell us more about the business.
Since we are a young company, starting just at the beginning of 2017, our passion for the ocean goes back a decade. We are known for helping Ocean Organizations in this time period and now we have found a way to blend that into a business. We find ocean related products from around the world to give our customers the best deal we can and at the same time we give a portion back to ocean organizations.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
Our first year, we have had some great luck. We find ourselves building a strong foundation and our customers come back to us multiple times. Starting with a few products we have been able to expand from jewelry to now offering clothing. It’s incredible to think that this is really happening and how much we love our business.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.pelagiclove.com
- Email: pelagiclove@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pelagic_love
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/supporttheocean
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/pelagiclove/pins/
Image Credit:
Vanessa Sarges
Getting in touch: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
