.By Founder and President Kurt Lieber
In the world of “reality TV” there seems to be so many people who win some contest, get a cash prize, and we never hear from them again. Similar to when I learn of lottery winners, I always scratch my head wondering what they’ll do with their landfall and hope they’ll do some good with their winnings.
Well, this is a story of one person who put her prize money to good use.
In 2023, a gal named Mai Whelan, signed up to be a contestant on a Netflix survival-of-the-fittest competition show called “The Squid Games.”
Due to her age, 55 years old, she gained the underdog status in a cast of young people and the nickname “Mother Mai.” Well, guess who won…? She did!
As her website says, “Once a shy, scared and nearly defeated Vietnamese girl, she [Mai] rose to the challenge and out of 456 people, was the first person to ever win Squid Game: The Challenge!”
This is where people usually disappear. Not Mother Mai. She took her multi-million-dollar winnings and started a production company that would shine the spotlight on people and organizations who are not well known, but doing good things for the planet. She and her team then created short documentaries about each of the subjects.
We, at ODA, are humbled that Mother Mai not only made a contribution to ODA but chose our ocean cleanup nonprofit to be the focus of one of her episodes. Late last year she and her film crew pulled up to our Southern California boat dock in their travel van, jumped onto our boat the LegaSea, and interviewed longtime ODA volunteer Kim Cardenas and me.
Check out the really excellent and inspiring video they made about Ocean Defenders Alliance!
We’re thrilled and honored to be part of Mother Mai’s quest to shine a light on good people doing good things. If you’re already an ODA supporter, you’re one of those people and we’re glad to defend the oceans with you.
If you’re not yet a supporter, I invite you to join Mother Mai in donating to help make our seas debris-free!
