Communicator & Storyteller
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Kim Merrikin (she/her)
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Kim is a fat, autistic, PNW-raised woman with a love for communications, storytelling, and playing in and on the water. She has always wanted to be involved in water-based activities, but has faced the anti-fat biases and excluding practices of related industries—but in her mid-30s finally decided to do it anyways, despite the barriers, taking up swimming, paddle boarding, and surfing. As a relatively new water woman, she is excited to be on the 2023 board with Seastr PNW to be able to lend her voice to foster a safe and inclusive waterborne environment for ALL women, regardless of size or ability—or any other factor that has historically compounded the already harsh exclusion that women experience in those spaces.