In this episode, we learn about SeaAhead [https://www.sea-ahead.com/]'s mission to bring together entrepreneurs, investors, industry leaders, and stakeholders to grow an open-innovation ecosystems that produces scalable commercial solutions to modern-day challenges. SeaAhead's Market Lead for Gulf Coast & Federal and State Agencies, Hailey Bathurst, explains how they support early-stage startups in the blue economy with infrastructure and access to funding, two important drivers for success that entrepreneurs are often missing. The result is a proven track record of bringing together entrepreneurs, investors, industry leaders, and stakeholders to scale real world BlueTech solution sets. Hailey tells us about the fascinating life journey that led to her current work, and explains how New Orleans fits into SeaAhead's expansion plans for promoting Blue Economy expansion and startup support in New Orleans. Please visit the episode 14 webpage [https://www.deepblue.institute/ep14haileybseaahead] to find additional links, references and background information. GUEST BIO Hailey Bathurst SeaAhead; Market Lead for Gulf Coast & Federal and State Agencies Hailey Bathurst's awareness of environmental issues began through canvassing and field managing for Clean Water Action in Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts during summer and winter breaks at Roger Williams University. After graduating, she moved to Providence where she became the program manager of the Health and Wellness Initiative at Social Enterprise Greenhouse, building Rhode Island's first health and wellness accelerator program and expert advisory council. She moved on to serve in the Peace Corps in Namibia, focusing on local economic development with entrepreneurship as a means for economic empowerment of vulnerable populations. Upon returning to the United States, Hailey worked for a scaling healthcare startup as an operations manager while earning her graduate degree at University of Chicago in international development and policy. Hailey joined SeaAhead in 2022 to create and execute The Gulf Blue Navigator in partnership with University of Southern Mississippi and now leads SeaAhead's Federal and State Agency work in the Southern United States. The focus of this work is to explore how SeaAhead can support innovation within State and Federal Agencies, while exploring how startups can work with these agencies to further their own development goals. Hailey's LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/haileyliliana514/]