From Law to Finance to Spearfishing

As I’ve written in the past, everyone has his or her own path to a career in seafood. For Valentine Thomas JD , it began with a chance encounter on a plane. Valentine is French-Canadian and grew up in Montreal. She studied law. She moved to London, switching to a career in finance. But after befriending a spearfishing enthusiast on a plane, she took up freediving and spearfishing and eventually left her job in hedge funds to relocate to Florida.

“In 2016 I was hired to film a documentary. And that’s when I realized that I could do something pretty frickin’ cool for a living. So I quit everything and moved to Florida to become a professional spearfisherwoman, a job that does not exist,” jokes Valentine,?guest of this week’s Aquademia podcast, the 18th episode in the “Career Pathways” series.

Her family and friends thought she was crazy. But she’s an entrepreneur and risk taker at heart, and she made it work by diversifying her skill set. Today, Valentine is a freediving instructor, public speaker, chef, sustainable seafood advocate,?brand ambassador?and social media influencer, with more than 255,000 followers on?Facebook,?YouTube,?Twitter?and?Instagram. She’s also a cookbook author, and her new cookbook – “Good Catch: A Guide to Sustainable Fish and Seafood with Recipes from the World’s Oceans” – is due out on Tuesday. The book features 75 recipes, from buttermilk fried fish to fish head nachos, inspired by Valentine’s spearfishing expeditions.?

Are more and more people in this industry falling in love with seafood first and then figuring out how to make a living at it? It certainly feels that way.