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Kayvon Malek
California native and “phyco-semantic” Kayvon Malek discovered his love of oceans when taking a scuba course during his time at UC-Santa Cruz. Four years later he had assisted in teaching every level of scuba at the UCSC and was working as a research diver assisting various labs and researchers at the University.
After graduating, he began working at the Monterey Bay Aquarium as a diver and ocean ambassador. There while feeding leopard sharks, taking children with disabilities surface-scuba diving, and teaching children about marine protected areas, he discovered a new passion when gifted a GoPro: bringing the ocean to his ocean-less loved ones through underwater photography.
This new passion quickly turned into obsession, and then primary occupation. When not assisting with marine research or trying to convince aquarium visitors that rockfish are cool too, Kayvon could be found underwater with his increasingly bulky and expensive camera system trying to make sea cucumbers look majestic.
Now nearly 10 years since that first dive and his career as a Subtidal Paparazzo as robust as a Californian kelp forest, Kayvon brings oceans ecosystems to the public at large working as an Undersea Specialist with Lindblad Expeditions. He also has branched into the world of blue-chip nature documentaries and has worked on titles such as Our Planet on Netflix and other upcoming series. It is through his work here at Lindblad and on documentary films that he hopes to inspire ocean conservation by uncovering an often secretive, hidden world so that we may understand, cherish, and conserve the life it contains.