What Happens When a Fish Nerd Goes to Business School
I didn't grow up dreaming about email lists and customer retention strategies. I grew up on fishing boats.
Five generations of my family have made their living on the water in Alaska, and for most of my life, that world felt separate from the one I was building as a food scientist — quantifying omega-3s, studying fish handling, getting genuinely excited about things most people find deeply boring at dinner parties.
But at some point, those two worlds collided. And Sena Sea was born.
I recently had the chance to sit down with Andrea Heuston on the Lead Like a Woman Show to talk about what that collision actually looks like in practice — the messy, unglamorous, deeply rewarding work of turning a fishing legacy into a modern direct-to-consumer business.
We talked about a lot of things I don't always get to dig into: why storytelling isn't just a marketing tactic but the actual foundation of customer trust, how a subscription model changed the way we think about our relationship with the people eating our fish, and why sustainability isn't a buzzword for us — it's the whole point.
I also got honest about the harder stuff. Growing a business while staying true to what makes it worth growing. Maintaining consistency when everything feels like it's moving fast. Finding flexibility for family when you're also trying to keep wild Alaskan fish moving from the boat to people's doorsteps.
If you're curious what five generations of fishing knowledge plus a food science degree plus a lot of trial and error actually produces — this one's for you.
Listen here
