As a lifelong storyteller turned manned submersible pilot, Erika is a passionate ocean explorer.

She is co-founder of Girls Engineering and Exploration Counselors, providing a network of marine engineering camps to girls around the world. She studied chemical oceanography at the University of Washington while working as a diesel engineer aboard the tall ship S/V Lady Washington and a steam ship engineer aboard the S/S Virginia V. Since then she has worked as a submersible pilot for exploration, research and filmmaking. Erika is also the editor of OpenExplorer.com, a site dedicated to supporting and curating a new era of connected, citizen exploration.

Follow Erika’s adventures on Twitter @erika_bergman, her blog (Deep Blue From Below), and National Geographic’s Explorer’s Journal.