Blair Northen Williamson is from Richmond, Virginia but spent much of her childhood on the coast of North Carolina where she developed a passion for the ocean. After graduating from the University of Virginia, her love of nature, the ocean, and relating to others led her to work for Global Expeditions Group for over a decade. She spent many years working as a sailing captain and scuba diving instructor in the British Virgin Islands and Southeast Asia, where she experienced the problem of plastics in our oceans too many times. Encouraged by Robert Swan's quote, "The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it," Williamson decided to take action. Seeking to inspire change and empower children by spreading awareness about the danger of plastics in our oceans, Williamson wrote her debut picture book, Island Girls: Free the Sea of Plastic.