Back
JJ Stranan
Founder - Recycled Mats
Biography
Proud Mum & Wife. Head of everything at RM. Culture Lover, Adventurer. Recycler & Bouncy Castle Master.
I was born in NZ to a Canadian Dad and Lithuanian/Australian Mum, and I am a first generation born Kiwi and now proudly an Aussie too. After leaving school at 17 I lived in Thailand for five years, I obtained my PADI Divemaster Diver’s license and spent the time running the local dive shop and out on the boat taking tourists below the waves exploring the undersea world off Phuket, one of Thailands premier diving areas in the late 90’s. After a brief return to NZ and achieving a Diploma in Travel Studies I returned to Thailand to manage the three dive shops. Meeting the man of my dreams as he sailed in on a magnificent super yacht as the engineer on board, I then decided that I needed to get a move on and see some more of the world, so I joined the Super Yacht community. My first yacht was “Stormvogel” of which many people know as the white-hulled boat of out the “Dead Calm” movie which made Sam Neil and Nicole Kidman famous back in the day… And no there is no spear gun hole remaining in the aft cabin where Billy Zane shot the dog!!! LOL.
After sailing around the world to many amazing locations, meeting some amazing people, learning about exotic cultures, we were settling for a while in the US when 911 happened. An event that shook us like the world and we soon after decided to return to little ole safe NZ in the depths of the Pacific. Five years there and living on 10 acres of NZ native Bush we decided that the lure of Australia was too great to ignore so we packed up shop, threw the dogs in the plane hold and off we came to this great land. Initially working in the corporate environment in the CBD and then after losing my Dad suddenly in a motorbike accident I took stock of my life and decided I wanted to make a difference to the world and corporate wasn’t going to help me achieve that. So my passion of learning about new cultures and travel sent me toward creating Global Kids Oz and Recycled Mats…And the rest shall we just say is history…..
I was born in NZ to a Canadian Dad and Lithuanian/Australian Mum, and I am a first generation born Kiwi and now proudly an Aussie too. After leaving school at 17 I lived in Thailand for five years, I obtained my PADI Divemaster Diver’s license and spent the time running the local dive shop and out on the boat taking tourists below the waves exploring the undersea world off Phuket, one of Thailands premier diving areas in the late 90’s. After a brief return to NZ and achieving a Diploma in Travel Studies I returned to Thailand to manage the three dive shops. Meeting the man of my dreams as he sailed in on a magnificent super yacht as the engineer on board, I then decided that I needed to get a move on and see some more of the world, so I joined the Super Yacht community. My first yacht was “Stormvogel” of which many people know as the white-hulled boat of out the “Dead Calm” movie which made Sam Neil and Nicole Kidman famous back in the day… And no there is no spear gun hole remaining in the aft cabin where Billy Zane shot the dog!!! LOL.
After sailing around the world to many amazing locations, meeting some amazing people, learning about exotic cultures, we were settling for a while in the US when 911 happened. An event that shook us like the world and we soon after decided to return to little ole safe NZ in the depths of the Pacific. Five years there and living on 10 acres of NZ native Bush we decided that the lure of Australia was too great to ignore so we packed up shop, threw the dogs in the plane hold and off we came to this great land. Initially working in the corporate environment in the CBD and then after losing my Dad suddenly in a motorbike accident I took stock of my life and decided I wanted to make a difference to the world and corporate wasn’t going to help me achieve that. So my passion of learning about new cultures and travel sent me toward creating Global Kids Oz and Recycled Mats…And the rest shall we just say is history…..
Sessions
Discounts for sellers
Claim special discounts for Amazon software tools and services.
Don’t Miss Out on the Perfect Amazon Event for You
Get the most up-to-date info on the latest in-person events and virtual summits for Amazon sellers around the world.