Surface Time with Stephanie

What if I told you that 2026 will rewrite rules of the games? It will stress-test leaders (i.e. all of us) as well as be the launchpad for visionaries! Let's dive in! The eBook - "The Power of Unseen Leadership" - is now available on Amazon , Apple Books and Kobo . ==================================== About Surface Time, Confessions of a Diving Junkie Collections of conversations about scuba divin...

During the Surface Time today, I spoke with Fi Dinh, a senior executive in the fund finance world, with the heart of the Ocean. I first met Fi through Women in Fund Finance, where she serves as the co-chair for APAC region. Very quickly the original agenda of our meeting got cast aside. Instead, we spoke at length about personal transformation, wellness management and the pursuit of spiritual grow...

Welcome back. This is the second part of the dialogue with Fi Dinh. Continuing on the subject of personal transformation and spirituality development, we delve deeper on terms like “Divine Feminine” and “Divine Masculine”. And how you embody them as you sail through your day. In essence, these would be another expression of “Authenticity” and “Authentic Leadership”. For the longest time, like over...

Something about the ocean water. It somehow gets your happy hormones flowing. And activate your sense of wonder, curiosity and imagination. And today, let’s hear from Stephanie about the side effects that you may get from scuba diving. Key Messages In scuba diving, being OCD about your dive equipment is paramount to ensure your personal safety. It is about self-control. To know yourself is true wi...

In last episode, we were reminded that how everyone processes things differently at own timeline and the importance of adjusting our communication approach. Whether it is in the context of scuba diving or work environment. Today, Stephanie will talk about team. Yep, when scuba diving with your buddy, you are a team together. Let’s hear more from her. Key Messages Establish the Common Point of Refe...

I hope that you have been practicing mindful breathing since the last episode. Even better, you have completed your Confidence Builder Worksheet and got personalised guidance from Stephanie. Today she will delve deeper into the topic of leadership. In particular, how scuba diving has impacted on her leadership attitude and style. Key Messages Everyone processes information differently. Everyone is...

A bonus track of Guided Mindful Breathing Practice. This is suitable for beginners as well as experienced practitioners. Save this to your favourite. When you feel like a pick-me-up, use this track. About Surface Time, Confessions of a Diving Junkie Collections of conversations about scuba diving, our love for the blue ocean and underwater world as well as the land side…everything that can inspire...

In the last episode, Stephanie shared some tactics on managing fear. Have you managed to complete and send in your Confidence Builder Worksheet? So today, she will talk about the importance of breathing consciously. Apparently, NITROX is the happy gas for scuba diving. Let’s find out why from her. Key Messages To live, we need to breathe. To feel alive, we need to breathe consciously. Never hold y...

In this new series, Stephanie has curated a collection of transferrable experiences from scuba diving. Essentially, these are expressions demonstrating different perspective about life. Which are all intricately connected to all the roles we play. In this episode, the topic is about Fear. The little bugger that can be so powerful, it can paralyse us. Stephanie has found some hacks to deal with Fea...

Instead of my usual chinwag with other Diving Junkies, for this Series, I have curated a collection of transferrable experiences from scuba diving. Essentially, these are expressions demonstrating different perspective about life. They are all intricately connected to all the roles we play. About Surface Time, Confessions of a Diving Junkie Collections of conversations about scuba diving, our love...

Adriana Basques, a corporate executive turned wildlife photographer. She has been using her camera to document moments of her encounters of beautiful creatures both on land and underwater. In fact, her photography specialty is split landscape photo – where top part is the land and bottom part is underwater. This allows her to share with everyone the wonders and beauties of this fragile blue planet...

Recently, I went diving in Coron, Philippines. This place is famous for wreck diving where you get to explore some Japanese ships that were sunk by US Task Force during World War II in 1944. We dived with Pirate Divers for a week. I think on the second or third day after we finished diving for the day and on the way back to the resort, the lady crew members of Pirate Divers – Michiko and Sherrie -...

Carrie Miller, Storyteller, Author, Traveller. You may recognise her name from the previous episode with her and her husband, Chris Taylor, sharing their stories behind the book, A Diver’s Guide to the World. By the way, I was particularly delighted to find  my birth country, Taiwan with Kenting National Park as one of the 50 destinations in the book. Anyhoo, so Carrie is back and be par...

Hester was the person who got me off my procrastinating mode and started to produce Surface Time. When we did the recording, she has been on the “mummy’s break” from scuba diving for some time. I am sure that all mums who happen to be scuba divers can relate. One thing that really rings true to me from our chat is the Big Picture. Always take a step or more steps back and look at the greater versi...

Kate expresses her creativity through many media, including paintings and upcycling. Water is an element that plays a huge part in her life and how she shapes her own autobiography. I love what she said: we can all be a piece of art ourselves. Speaking as a woman, when a woman knows herself well and is comfortable in her own skin, she can express her thoughts and visions more effectively. This app...

Katherine’s passion for photography fuels her, whether it is for underwater, wildlife or otherwise. Let’s listen to her recounting the incredible experience of diving in Anilao, Philippine when Taal Volcano erupted and the spectacular black water dives when she captured the award-winning photo. When listening to the length that she would go to fine-tune her photography skills and her work, I could...

Since money and investment are the two words naturally connected to her profession as a private banker, it is inevitable that we chatted at length about them. The word “investment” tends to be given a meaning limited monetary terms. When we talk about returns of investment, it tends to be the penny-for-penny calculation on the growth. If we take a step back and look at a bigger picture, it is impo...

You may recall from the episode with Magnus Akerblom-Wiker, where we spoke about one of his editorial photo of a diver holding a bunch of balloon in the Cenote, Mexico. Oh well, Karolina was that diver. My curiosity had to hear from her side of the story, her personal experience in that place. In this mind-opening dialogue, we spoken about creativity, power of imagination, being in the state of fr...

When I first started producing Surface Time, my intention was simply to share the kind of heart-opening dialogues between divers through podcast forum. After producing a few episodes, I started to think that it would be a good forum to get more women who scuba to share their stories and wisdom. Getting guests to produce the episodes has been straightforward. My mental block or challenge was to art...

During the Surface Time today, I spoke with Sam Shu Qin (founder of Our Singapore Reefs) and David Jones (from Jackson Square Aviation) about their collaboration in the project, Dive Against Debris in 2022. It started off with David’s shower idea about doing something that can help to protect the coastal underwater environment, by engaging local community and leveraging available resources from hi...

During the Surface Time today, I Skyped with the Dynamic Trio from South China Diving Club in Hong Kong. Rob Christie, Alex Grioni and Andy Niven. All four of us shared a special memorable dive trip to Timor Leste back in 2010. All of them have returned for a second visit. It just felt right to reminisce the trip and hear their stories on their returned-visit to that country. Just a quick caveat –...

During the Surface Time today, I sat down with my friend Jonny Ma who was visiting Singapore, en route to London. We first met through Project X Team where we did all sorts of adventurous activities like rock climbing and scuba diving. Over the years, we kind of adopt one another as the “unofficial” extended family members. This is one of the occasions where we get to have this “sibling-like” chat...

During the Surface Time today, I spoke with David Joyce and Matt Reed of Evolution Dive Resort in Malapascua, Philippines. So, for all shark-loving divers, Malapascua is the place to go for sightings of thresher sharks. It is a remote island with limited resources. Tourism, especially, scuba diving plays a significant role in the livelihood of the island. When David and Matt first established Evol...

Carrie Miller and Chris Taylor, the wife-husband team who have written a book called “ A Diver’s Guide to the World ” , published by National Geographic.   The book is out in the U.S. on 6 December 2022. Before the chat, I was given a preview to one of the chapters. Immediately, I could see that this book is written with the special and purposeful intentions. It reads more like a story book,...

Hello. I am Stephanie Luo. Welcome to "Surface Time : Confessions of a Diving Junkie", Series 3. In producing this passion project, one of the motivations that have kept my enthusiasm going is the ongoing effort to express and articulate “why it is so easy to open up and make friends with other scuba divers?”. It is a fact that our need to connect with others is fundamental to our well-being, be i...