Aug 25, 2026 · 28 min · 9 segments
In Episode 265 of the Women Offshore Podcast, we speak with **Captain** Kamila Calko**, MNI**, founder and owner of SeaLight and founder and director…
Kamila CalkoGuestChristine McMullenHostAnd so now let's go into a little bit about where you made it to, and then what gave you the heart to return some of your love for the industry back to other people?
So a lot through my journey of, you know, doing all the things and being fairly confident in, like, different sectors, while I was studying for the pilotage examinations, I also spent some time interviewing other women across the country in different ranks, sectors, whatnot, and I'm just interested to hear, like, what their organizations were doing to help support, empower.
Retention is a huge issue, you know? And I wasn't hearing anything really t- tangible almost, you know?
It sounded like, it sounded like the same conversation we had when I started twen- y- you know, at that point it was 15 years ago, and I'm like, "What?" So, and I was, and, and also through those conversations, I was hearing things that were shared, and almost up until that point, I didn't appreciate they were shared.
So some of, like, the challenges and the hardships and the nuanced barriers that we don't necessarily know how to name-
... were being reflected in other women, and I was like, "We need to talk about this." Something else that happened in tangent with that was while I was on that route to become a pilot, I knew I was gonna be the only woman on that, at the table, and I also internalized that, oh, well, I have to represent all women, right? Like-
And not only was it something that I had, like, really embodied in my narrative, it was always sort of spoken to me throughout my journey as well.
... expectations, like perfection, flawlessness, rockstar, you know, all these things that we're like, "Oh, it's really good to be this." I'm like, "And we're burning a lot of energy."
So I, I felt like I needed to be educated, [laughs] 'cause I am a mariner by trade, and so I took a Cornet course through Cornell University online called Executive Women in Leadership, just so I could present myself properly.
And through that course, I learned about gender dynamics, I learned about biases, I learned about, like, this leaky pipeline where even though we have women entering these male-dominated workforces, they're just not making it to the top.
And I realized that this wasn't just a common issue in our industry, it was very common in these, like, other workforces, but also no one was talking about it, and it gave me a language.
And it gave me a language and made me realize that, oh, like, this is happening to a lot of us.
And so now let's go into a little bit about where you made it to, and then what gave you the heart to return some of your love for the industry back to other people?
So a lot through my journey of, you know, doing all the things and being fairly confident in, like, different sectors, while I was studying for the pilotage examinations, I also spent some time interviewing other women across the country in different ranks, sectors, whatnot, and I'm just interested to hear, like, what their organizations were doing to help support, empower.
Retention is a huge issue, you know? And I wasn't hearing anything really t- tangible almost, you know?
It sounded like, it sounded like the same conversation we had when I started twen- y- you know, at that point it was 15 years ago, and I'm like, "What?" So, and I was, and, and also through those conversations, I was hearing things that were shared, and almost up until that point, I didn't appreciate they were shared.
So some of, like, the challenges and the hardships and the nuanced barriers that we don't necessarily know how to name-
... were being reflected in other women, and I was like, "We need to talk about this." Something else that happened in tangent with that was while I was on that route to become a pilot, I knew I was gonna be the only woman on that, at the table, and I also internalized that, oh, well, I have to represent all women, right? Like-
And not only was it something that I had, like, really embodied in my narrative, it was always sort of spoken to me throughout my journey as well.
... expectations, like perfection, flawlessness, rockstar, you know, all these things that we're like, "Oh, it's really good to be this." I'm like, "And we're burning a lot of energy."
So I, I felt like I needed to be educated, [laughs] 'cause I am a mariner by trade, and so I took a Cornet course through Cornell University online called Executive Women in Leadership, just so I could present myself properly.
And through that course, I learned about gender dynamics, I learned about biases, I learned about, like, this leaky pipeline where even though we have women entering these male-dominated workforces, they're just not making it to the top.
And I realized that this wasn't just a common issue in our industry, it was very common in these, like, other workforces, but also no one was talking about it, and it gave me a language.
And it gave me a language and made me realize that, oh, like, this is happening to a lot of us.
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