Meet our Teen Camp Staff 2019

“Wow, what a dream team we’ve assembled for 2019. These women are selected to be a part of our teen camp staff for their expertise in their fields, mentorship skills, and their enthusiastic spirit. Our campers are in for an exciting summer of growing and exploring, lead by some of the most inspiring women I’ve ever had the privilege to work with.  Camp is coming up in less than a month, and we’re excited introduce our team for 2019!” – Dustin Tester, MSG Founder and Director

Lucy Woodward, Assistant Director & First Aid 

Lucy has been at MSG almost as long as our camp has been in existence-  since she was 14! She knows our surf camp inside and out — from being a camper, around camp staffer, surf instructor and now assistant director. We are so proud of the contributions, commitments, and contagious passion she has brought to Maui Surfer Girls through the years. Lucy is a strong water women having grown up in and around the ocean near SouthHampton, NY. One of her greatest accomplishments was her bicycle tour across the United States (NY to CA) & around Europe. Lucy’s humorous and goofy personality mixed with her adventurous spirit really lets campers feel at ease, try new things, give it their all, while laughing the whole time. Lucy is also a graduate of Prescott College, with a degree in Environmental studies & marine conservation. In early 2019, Lucy also became a registered EMT.

Kelly Potts, Lead Surf Instructor

Kelly has been a part of the MSG team since 2004. She is a professional surfer, an exceptional surf instructor and a proud prAna ambassador. Kelly’s graceful and innovative long boarding style serves as inspiration on the water, and her amazing spirit and zest for life is contagious to everyone she meets. Kelly moved to Maui when she was 14 years old, and, having been an avid athlete her whole life, took up surfing. By 18, Kelly started her career as a professional surfer, and has been surf coaching ever since.

In 2010, Kelly hosted her first free surfing clinic, Maui Women’s Surfing Retreat, in hopes to bring together local women who suffered a traumatic experience learning how to surf for their first time, and provide them with a safe, comfortable and positive surf-learning environment to break past their fears. She witnessed a new kind of community come to life – a supportive female surfing community. She has provided the event every year since. 

From that event spawned free Kelly Clinics for local teen girls of Maui, and, in 2016, a reconnection with her Pacific Northwestern roots, providing free Indigenous Surfer Girls Retreats for girls and women of the Makah Tribe, Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation, and Confederated Tribe of Siletz Indians.  In 2019, Kelly officially  launched the All Are We Water Collective, a non-profit organization currently offering free surfing programs for girls and women on the island of Maui and the Pacific Northwest.

Kelly broke through the barriers of being a female in a male dominated industry, and finds her passion in giving back to communities.

Carole Berthiaume, Lead Surf Instructor

Carole Berthiaume was a surf instructor with Maui Surfer Girls from 2013-14. In 2018, she returned to Maui after a few years back in the mainland running her own surf school in South Carolina. Carole has 23 years of surfing experience including competitive surfing. Her degree in Marine Biology goes hand in hand with her love of the ocean. She is ecstatic to be back teaching surf lessons with MSG and coming back to her second Teen Camp in 2019, helping to inspire the next generation of female surfers!

Kelsey Willison, Lead Surf Instructor

Kelsey recently joined the Maui Surfer Girls Ohana in December 2018. Originally from Maryland, Kelsey grew up competitive surfing up and down the east coast including Puerto Rico and California for many years. Once she found Maui 5 years ago though, it was clear she was home. Beside surf lessons, Kelsey also teaches yoga and does surfboard repairs for a living. She loves sharing the stoke and her passion for the ocean with others. This is Kelsey’s first year at teen camp!

Raye Teyssier, Lead Surf Instructor

After several years of going back and forth between Maui and Oahu, we are so excited to have Raye a full-time Maui Surfer Girl now!  She’s worked at both our women’s and teen camps, and helped us with our surf lessons during our busy seasons.  She’s moved to Maui with her son Raiden and partner Lance, who is also teaching for us now!

Raye is known for her versatility; she dabbles in a variety of other sports, including cycling, Capoeira, pole vault, circus arts, etc.  In addition to teaching sports, she has also worked as a musician, artist, actor, and balloon twister.

Rachael Zimmerman, Van Driver, & Staff Photographer

Rachael is an award-winning photographer based in the Rocky Mountains. For the past decade she has photographed professional action sports, portraits and landscapes all over the world. Rachael’s love for life is fueled by her passion to capture authentic moments throughout time. You can usually find her skiing, exploring with her pups or searching for the next adventure. Rachael is so stoked to join the MSG Team this year to fulfill her childhood dream of photographing surf camp!

Cara Griffin, Van Driver, Activity Leader & Yoga Instructor

Cara is thrilled to be welcomed to the MSG team. She’s a global yoga leader, multi-modal artist, and community activist. Cara’s charisma and creativity encourage community building to inspire growth. She volunteers for the Auwahi Forest Restoration Project, and is currently working with the East Maui Watershed Partnership to create art advocacy for Maui’s unique marine ecosystem. After recently returning from a mainland yoga tour, Cara’s enthusiastic about sharing the incredible potential of movement culture to shape who we want to be in the world. You can find more about her yoga offerings at www.breathnbarefeet.com

Nicole Nakamura, Van Driver, Activity Leader & Art Therapist

Nicole is flying in from Boulder Colorado to join us after four summers as a camper, and two more summers as an activity leader! Nicole is from Illinois but living in Colorado currently. She has been surfing (as much as one can being landlocked) since she was about 15, starting at Maui Surfer Girls, and has been part of MSG off and on ever since. 

Kelly Kaspar, Van Driver, Activity Leader & Logistics

Kelly, aka, KK has been a part of the camp MSG Team since 2012. During camp, you’ll find KK helping out with the logistics of camp as well as leading the camper’s on afternoon adventures. Her free spirit, creativity and imagination mixed with her love for nature make for fun adventures for campers of all ages. In 2018 & 2019, KK was awarded the title of, “Maui’s Top Activity Expert” for her love for Maui, her extensive knowledge of the island and marine life. When she’s not in camp, she continues sharing her love for the island by helping families plan their Maui vacation, so they too, can experience the magic of Maui.

Mielle Chénier-Cowan Rose, Lead Caterer

Mielle joined us last summer as the lead caterer for Teen Camp Week 2, and we’re thrilled to have her positive spirit and delicious and healthy food once again! 

Mielle has been a natural foods chef and advocate for natural living for over 15 years. She completed the nutritional culinary program at Bauman College in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2000 and continues to draw inspiration from the healing properties of the foods she prepares.

She self-published the first version of Veganish in 2011 as Piece of My Heart: A Collection of Vegan Recipes & Cooking Techniques, while giving up her 20-year long vegetarian diet to heal her young daughter’s tooth decay with nutrient-dense animal-based foods.

Mielle has seen that food heals—body, mind and spirit—and she strives to integrate compassionate food choices with the realization that some animal-based foods are actually an important element of her family’s diet. Her meals and culinary writing radiate with the uncommon reverence she has for her ingredients, for cooking, and for every being on the planet.

She lives with her daughter in the Sierra foothills of Northern California, where she’s delighted to have left behind the noisy chaos of her beloved city life for the quieter chaos of the country. Surrounded and inspired by a community of talented farmers and foodies, she manages the Mountain Bounty Farm CSA program and acts as their liaison with  Nevada City School of the Arts for the Sierra Harvest Farm-to-School program. She also caters retreats and events, teaches classes, consults about food and nutrition, and keeps her kitchen at home teeming with interesting projects.

Mielle’s meals were once compared to the excitement of an amusement park ride, and she enjoys the challenge of living up to the compliment!