Natalie Parra with Keiko Conservation

A thousand sharks don’t scare Natalie Parra, but a single plastic bag does.

To Parra, saving the ocean doesn’t just mean putting a stop to plastic use, although that’s a huge part of it. There are many underlying problems that are causing the ocean’s downfall, including human’s ignorance with open ocean sharks and mammal captivity. When she began free-diving in Hawaii a few years ago, she couldn’t help but do something about the issues she saw.

“Once you start diving it’s just impossible to ignore everything going on.” Parra said.

Parra has worked extensively to save the ocean since she co-founded Keiko Conservation in January of 2014, an organization that is attentive to numerous issues the ocean is facing. In doing so, she aspires to give a voice to the voiceless and conserve the ocean as much as possible.

Keiko Conservation didn’t immediately take off. Two weeks after Parra and her friend Siena Schaar started the organization, her arm began to have a strange pain and immobility. She ignored it, as it wasn’t severe. The next morning, her opposite arm had pain unlike anything she had felt before, so she admitted herself to the hospital. After waking up from being sedated that same day, she was paralyzed from the neck down.

“I was like ‘I can’t move my arms and I can’t move my legs’ and the doctors were like what do you mean you can’t move your arms or legs?!’”

She was soon diagnosed with Transverse Myelitis, a rare inflammatory disease that caused her to lose mobility in her entire body. She went into respiratory failure, her organs were all in the process of failing and there was only a one in three chance that she would get most of her movement back, otherwise she would either never walk again, or need to live in assisted living. She was one of the lucky ones.

“It’s weird how fast your body forgets how to walk,” Parra said as she began regaining mobility.

Incredibly, over a long period of time, she began getting all of her mobility back aside from her left arm which still has permanent damage. She dove back into Keiko Conservation as much as she could, even though she was still unable to move very much.

“I found all of these ways that I could help even from my mom’s apartment, like, army crawling around,” Parra said.

Phone calls seemingly made a big difference, and between her phone and computer, she was impressed with how strong her voice was during a time where her body was weak.

“I think that really shaped like a lot of the way of how we approached Keiko,” Parra said.

She realized that even the average person can still make an impact with ocean issues, no matter where they live. Simple phone calls asking a governor or organization why they are allowing certain things to take place makes a big difference, and it doesn’t take much time.

“I think everyone thinks, and I thought this before, that like in order to save the world or save the ocean you have to drop everything and leave your job and your home and your family behind and go jump on green peace,” Parra said jokingly.

“And you don’t have to ditch your entire life to contribute, so we’re just trying to find ways that people can contribute in their everyday life and still make an impact.” Parra said.

Fellow ocean conservationist and free-diver, Ocean Ramsay, saw Parra in her time of weakness and encouraged her to get into the ocean while she was still recovering. Not only did Ramsay help get a 50 pound tank on Parra’s back when she was only 90 pounds herself, but she also got Natalie back in the water with sharks. When most of Parra’s friends merely sympathized with her slow recovery, Ocean Ramsay felt there was a different sort of therapy that could help.

“She helped me get my fins on and plopped me in the water and I think being around the sharks helped me get a lot of my confidence back,” Parra said.

Natalie’s recovery was slow but successful, and now she has been healthy enough to focus on issues at hand. Keiko Conservation pairs up with different non-profits in Hawaii to organize regular beach and underwater clean-ups. From micro-plastic to giant nets, each clean-up is different, and the goal is to get as much trash off the beach or out of the water as possible.

Keiko Conservation has now expanded and they have projects in Japan, Ecuador, Norway and more. With their team growing into volunteers and team-members, their voice is getting louder and they don’t anticipate stopping any time soon.

In order to make profits to pay their employees and make donations to the organizations their trying to help, Parra has set up an online clothing and accessory store, called the Thessalonike Collection. With apparel covered in quotes like “Don’t Fear Sharks, Fear for Them,” Parra hopes to increase awareness on many environmental issues in addition to selling eco-friendly clothing.

Cressi, a diving gear company, sponsors Parra and provides her with wetsuits and fins that keep her diving comfortably and gracefully. She is living her ultimate dream by being able to not only experience the ocean and dive in it, but protect it and try to save what’s left

“I grew up by the water obsessed with the water constantly and it just reminds me of all my dreams when I was little girl wanting to be a mermaid and swim with ocean creatures.”

Parra has big dreams for Keiko Conservation and is currently working on large, time consuming projects that require a lot of computer time. Though she is drowning in work above the ocean surface, it is all worth it and she makes sure to take the occasional breather beneath the surface.