Amanda Prieto

Amanda Prieto is an intern at the Smithsonian working in activities such as social media post-expedition; writing of Ocean Portal articles, development of facilitated activities, and many more. Before her 21 years, she was terrified of the ocean, specially of sharks. After getting her Open Water Diver’s license she dove into the world of the ocean and its creatures and was immediately hooked. Following her experience of being afraid of the ocean for so long and then discovering how incredible it is, she began on her life mission to educate others on common misconceptions from the ocean and the animals that reside in it. With this and other goals in mind, she founded a marine conservation organization based in her home, Puerto Rico, called AmandOcéano (a play-on-words meaning ‘’loving the ocean’’ in spanish). She will start her Masters in August 2022 on Biological Oceanography at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus, focusing on pelagic fish that are important for commercial and recreational fishing.

Aside from the marine world, she has an intense passion for music. She sings, plays the synthesizer, drums, bass, and is in a band with friends called ‘’Los Berets’’. She also loves making and drinking different kinds of tea, watching shows and movies, spending time with her family, and spending time in nature.