About Us
We planted our first SEED in 2018 when a small backyard idea took root. Having a deep passion and connection to the Ocean, we recognized a rapidly increasing global problem that had no signs of slowing down. At SEED we practice what we preach.
By revolutionizing how we remove, separate and educate others on plastic pollution we aspire to change the world by planting one SEED at a time.
By creating a business model around People, Planet, Profit, we are committed to empowering the people, giving back to our planet and using our profits to continue those goals. In order for us to accomplish our mission we created Seed.World to financially support SEED’s vision of educating and innovating others. Seed.World is a Limited Liability Corporation and SEED (Stimulating Education and Ecological Design) is our non-profit organization. Our non-profit provides open source technology and information in order to spread education in schools and communities, locally and abroad.
We believe that our plastic pollution problem cannot be solved by any one person or one organization but must be a collective effort that we are all contributing towards.
At Seed, we believe that helping others is about giving credit not taking it, breaking down barriers not building them, destroying corporations not creating them, zeroing in on short-term goals without losing sight of our long-term values, aligning positional and philosophical gaps not setting boundaries, dreaming big and acting bigger, accepting setbacks and learning from them, and most of all, helping others is about love and truly caring for those whom you serve.
Our coasts and beaches are irreplaceable. Let’s save them.
Meet The Team
RAY AIVAZIAN III
Founder & Trashologist
A passionate and dedicated leader who is committed to helping others and changing the climate around plastic pollution. Originally from Chino, California he came to Hawaii in 2013 on Military orders. After spending 8 years as an active duty Combat Engineer, and experiencing more of the world, he resigned in 2017 to make Hawaii his home. Realizing the negative impacts we were having on our world, and reconnecting with the land, he has dedicated his life to helping right the wrongs that have been done and to bring a larger awareness to local and global issues that are still impacting us. Ray is currently Chair for the Surfrider Foundation Oahu Chapter and a research collaborator at the Center for Marine Debris Research (CMDR). At CMDR, he is using the methods and inventions he’s developed to analyze the accumulation of Micro-plastic pollution on Oahu’s shores. Being very active within his local community, Ray has given several educational lectures, demonstrations and public testimonies around plastic pollution and the impact our waste is causing.
KAYLA BRIGNAC
Scientific Advisor & Trash Talker
Kayla is from Oceanside, CA and earned her B.S. in Global Environmental Science and minor in Chemistry from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in 2018. She first began working in the field of plastic pollution back in 2013 when she worked for Environment California, a non-profit political organization that lobbies for environmental legislation. Kayla moved to Hawaiʻi in 2016 and began working with Dr. Jennifer Lynch as a National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow (SURF). Kayla’s thesis work and publication titled, “Marine Debris Polymers on Main Hawaiian Island Beaches, Sea Surface, and Seafloor”, was the first to provide a polymer composition profile of marine debris for the state of Hawaiʻi. After graduation, Kayla became the Research Technician of the Pacific region for the U.S. NIST Biorepository program and proceeded to become the Research and Laboratory Manager for the Center for Marine Debris Research (CMDR). She also started CMDR’s education and outreach program giving lectures, seminars, and field demonstrations to 12 local, national, and international schools and organizations.
Kelsy Sonobe-Morita
Business Development Coordinator
Kelsy is a recent graduate of Shidler College of Business, University of Hawaii at Mānoa, earning her BBA in Marketing with a Japanese minor in May 2021. She is from Aiea, Hawaii and while she loved the ocean as a child, Cathy helped her reestablish that by showing her what was "under the sea." Being fortunate to swim in the oceans surrounding Hawaii, Japan, Thailand, and the Rep. of Palau, in 2017 Kelsy earned her PADI Open Water scuba certification in Koh Tao, Thailand. Her trip to Palau inspired her beliefs that change is possible and steps can be taken to preserve the ocean for future generations. She established and led the Seed.World Venture Competition Team in the spring of 2021, initiating funding opportunities for the organization.
CLAUDIA MUELLER
Marketing Advisor
Claudia is a Marketing Strategist, Project & Environmental Manager based in Byron Bay, Australia. She spent many years in Hawai’i supporting & volunteering with non-profit organizations like Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii, Seed and Kokua Hawai’i Foundation. She has been supporting beach clean-up initiatives in Indonesia with Parley For The Oceans, supported Ben Lecomte on his long-distance The Vortex Swim from Hawaii to California through the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and is currently managing ocean clean-up initiatives for circular economy for-purpose business Zero Co after getting stuck on the beautiful east coast of Australia amidst the pandemic. She loves working with scientists & engineers and to help them get their story out into the world to inspire and create lasting change all over the globe. And she can’t wait to bring & build the first Buoyancy Separation Device down under.
KAI CASEY
Animation Director & Editor
Kai is a content creator specializing in live action video, stop motion, photography, and aerial photo and video. His ability to combine a producer's brain, a videographer's eye and a detective's intuition makes him a master troubleshooter by definition.
DYLAN BOEMAN
Plastic Person
Dylan Boeman is a UH Mānoa student getting his B.S. in Natural Resources and Environmental Management. He spent 8 years in the Air Force as an aircraft mechanic working on cargo aircraft. Recently getting into cycling, he just finished his first century ride. He believes that plastic has a potential place as building or craft material, for products made to last.