Seven months pregnant and apprehensive of the effect motherhood would have on her career as a professional freediver, Kimi Werner took a trip to the island of Jeju in South Korea to meet her heroes, the haenyeo – a group of freediving and fishing women often regarded as Korea’s first working mother’s whose culture dates back centuries.

Expecting her first child, Kimi will explore how the haenyeo represent feminine strength and resilience as a self sufficient sisterhood of diving mothers and grandmothers. As Kimi transitions from a solo underwater adventurist to a mother cultivating a family, she longs to learn from the haenyeo elders – many of which are well into their 70’s and continue to dive.

Join Kimi on her journey in Lessons from Jeju, where she gains a deeper understanding of what it means to pass on her own legacy and learns motherhood for a professional athlete isn’t a roadblock but instead a path forward.

Directed by Nicole Gormley
DP/Editor: Chris Naum U
nderwater DP: Justin Turkowski
Audio/Translator: Nancy Kwon
Produced by: Backroads Pictures