Russell Sparkman
President & CEO, Fusionspark Media, Inc.
My first memories of swimming as a child were in Blue Springs, near Orange City, Florida. Now a popular state park and manatee refuge, Blue Springs was where we called home when I was about 5 years old. In my dreamlike memories of that time I can still picture sunfish schooling below our dock, mullet swimming in formation against the current, large snapping turtles cruising through the eel grass and even vague recollections of manatee encounters.
This early exposure to the aquatic world no doubt inspired my SCUBA diving passion, which gripped me my freshman year of high school. Through a series of events and introductions, I ended up spending my summers during high school diving and fishing in Marathon, Florida. This ultimately led me, post-high school, to the Ed Brawley Diving Instructors College in Monterey, CA in the spring of 1978. Three months of non-stop diving in Monterey Bay led to my open water instructors rating, which landed me a job at Hall’s Diving Center, in my old stomping grounds of Marathon.
My life took a few different diversions from there, and away from diving as an occupation, and even as a hobby. I became the typical diver, doing only a couple of dives per year.
Fast forward to 2002, and I found myself working with acclaimed underwater explorer and film maker, Wes Skiles. And ultimately, to my connection with Dive Rite.
As the co-creator of Dive Rite’s web communications strategy, together with Dive Rite marketing VP Kathleen Byars, I’ve gotten back in touch with my diving roots. Diving is now an increasingly important part of my life again, including cave dive training with Kathleen’s husband, Scott Byars. I’m working on additional advanced certifications in the Puget Sound area, where I live in the town of Langley. And I have begun a personal project in which I am combining diving, underwater video and activism in an effort to prevent the Langley Tire Reef from being removed as a part of a larger master plan for renovating our harbor.