09 Nov Member Spotlight: Jill Kuehnert
I co-own and operate Lucky Fish Scuba, a private dive and snorkel boat charter in Key Largo, Florida, where we help families explore the magical marine environments of the Florida Keys and make memories that last forever. I’m also a science communications consultant working with international agriculture researchers in Africa.
With degrees in International Studies and Philosophy, my career started in Washington DC at the World Bank, and then in St Louis working in Public Policy and Public Affairs for a large agriculture company.
In 2003, the company sent me on an international assignment to live in Singapore for a couple years as head of Public and Government Affairs for the Asia Pacific region. I met my husband there and ended up staying more than 10 years. That’s where I learned to scuba dive and we were fortunate to travel all over Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand on dive vacations.
When the time came to finally leave Asia, we decided pretty quickly to relocate to south Florida as the only place in the continental US where we can stay warm and dive year-round!
We settled in Key Largo in 2017 and a year later started Lucky Fish Scuba. It’s a small business by design, so we can run it ourselves. We take only one group of up to 4 diving guests at a time on our comfy 29’ World Cat and run only one trip per day.
Lucky Fish Scuba is a real family business: my husband Glenn is our Captain and a PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer while I’m the First Mate, PADI Divemaster, bookkeeper, snack maker and marketing department. Even our puppy dog Suzelle serves as the Second Mate for customer relations!
Although I don’t work at any one profession full-time, I stay pretty busy between conference calls with colleagues in Kenya, watching bubbles from the back of the scuba boat, and keeping up with all the details in running a small business. I love reading and am an avid participant in more than one book club! In ‘normal’ years, we travel a lot to visit family in Virginia and South Africa.
I’m also on our BPW/Upper Keys Board as Secretary this year as well as serving on the Marketing and Public Policy Committees. After living overseas for so long, it’s a real privilege to get involved in this community and I was truly honored to be named Woman of the Year last month by our membership.
I would love for any and all BPW/Florida members visiting the Keys to come out on the water with us for a private scuba diving and snorkeling tours in Key Largo! Learn more and contact us through our Lucky Fish Scuba website (https://www.luckyfishscuba.com/) or find us @luckyfishscuba on Facebook and Instagram.
For everything else on me professionally, please connect to my LinkedIn profile https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillkuehnert/ !