Let’s see what is made possible when a childhood fascination gets nurtured every step of the way!
Dr. Ingrid Visser has been lucky since childhood. She started with parents who would see the promise in nurturing her unusual interest in snorkeling at 7, and then after that, she made much of her own luck with perseverance and offering new ideas to the right people.

Source Mike Charest // Flickr
Dr. Visser has dedicated her life to researching and saving the most intelligent predator on earth: the Orca, or Killer Whale, as some may call it. She’s expanded her knowledge to actually be able to swim with them safely, often saving them from entanglements with fishing nets, and she’s offered some new thoughts on how to manage the remaining orcas in captivity.
Today, we celebrate another EWC’s thought leaders with another great video share from GoPro. This one was shot on location in New Zealand, and it includes never-before-seen videos of a GoPro mounted to the dorsal fin of a wild orca, plus various archival footage and pictures from the Orca Research Trust.
This is a fantastic story, not only for what we learn about saving killer whales but how we see her passing her gift on, no doubt sparking a fire under children exactly the age when she was bitten by the bug of her own passions.
Take a look at this phenomenal video brought to us by GoPro!
Fabulous, huh? You can check out another of our articles about whales, specifically about an absolutely phenomenal movie of conservation, by clicking below!
So I ask you, I ask everyone, “Why can’t the negative 24-hour news cycle bring us more things like this!”

Source: Rennet Stowe // Flickr
There is no end to the great people doing amazing things these days (we’ve written over 1000 EWC articles to prove it!) If you are just discovering us here at Ever Widening Circles, jump over to our homepage to scroll down through our stories of the past few weeks, and dive in anywhere. You’re sure to come out of a half hour with us, having a spring in your step!
In fact, most of our visitors subscribe, so they can get our one-daily article right in their inbox and read it either to start a good day or end on a good note.
What do these thought leaders show us all?
After enjoying a few more articles with this theme of self-discovery, you may notice there seems to be a similar pattern for success for many of the people we choose as Ever Widening Circles (EWC) thought-leaders in all these articles:
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Source: Dr. Lynda
1. They were encouraged to follow their passions early in life.
- 2. They persevered when others would have folded.
- 3. They offered something completely new in the way of ideas, often connecting things that no one ever thought to combine.
We can all practice #2 and #3, and if we know a kid with a unique interest, we can spur them on, validate their passions, facilitate their access to information!
Scroll down to the bottom of this article if you want to see more wonders and insights.
Meanwhile, stay open, curious and optimistic!
~ Dr. Lynda
There are inspiring people all around us!
If you’d like to enjoy the story of another thought leader who had her “ah-ha” moment at exactly the right time, check out this article!
In fact, we have another fabulous article where 4 famous scientists tell the amazing stories of how their earliest passions were nurtured: the singular moments at age 8, 9 or 10, when they remember the universe calling them!
If you’d like to explore more of our archive, give our “Surprise Me!” button in our sidebar a try!
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Notes:
- GoProCamera. “GoPro: Orca Rescue in 4K.” YouTube. GoPro, 02 Dec. 2014. Web. 29 Jan. 2017. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pRHO1psAYY>. ↩