Lauren Sanchez worked at waterpark; 40 years later, she takes luxurious ocean trips

Lauren Sanchez, a former journalist and television anchor, has a unique career journey. In 1987, at the age of 17, she was working at The Beach Waterpark in New Mexico, a waterpark that featured a 700,000-gallon wave pool. This job marked the beginning of her career path that would lead to her current role as Vice Chair of the Bezos Earth Fund.

Forty years later, Sanchez is using her platform to highlight ocean conservation efforts. During a recent expedition to the Galápagos Islands, she swam alongside whitetip reef sharks and shared her knowledge about their crucial role in ocean ecosystems. "Some of them travel thousands of miles between deep and shallow water, and everywhere they go, they move nutrients that the rest of the ocean depends on," she wrote in a social media post.

Sanchez's latest expedition also highlighted the work supported by the Bezos Earth Fund. The fund has allocated $1.32 million for conservation efforts in the Galápagos Marine Reserve and Ecuador’s Hermandad Marine Reserve, which together cover more than 202,000 square kilometers. These protected marine areas provide habitats and migration routes for nearly 3,000 species.

Additionally, the Bezos Earth Fund has committed another $60 million for projects across the Eastern Tropical Pacific, focusing on coastal restoration, tracking sharks and whales, and providing equipment and training to rangers.

Sanchez's journey from a New Mexico waterpark to the Galápagos Islands showcases her transformation from a teenage waterpark employee to a prominent advocate for marine conservation. Her work today is a stark contrast to her early career, yet it continues to focus on protecting ocean ecosystems and the diverse marine life that inhabits them.