SHIVONNE Peters had no formal training in business management when she assumed the position of managing director of Top Catch Charters in 2019.

Up until that point, she assisted merely with social media marketing and promotion for its predecessor Padee Again Fishing Charters, which had been in operation since 2013.

“With Top Catch, I was there from the beginning when we held our first meeting to discuss the feasibility of this new vessel. It was both exciting and terrifying for me since I had no formal training in business management whatsoever. But I decided to take the chance. I had to prove to myself that I could do it,” Peters, 38, told WMN.

She described her first few weeks in the role as “a trial and error process."

“I had to learn the business, learn the clientele and trust my instincts, all at the same time.”

That leap of faith has paid off.

Last December, the Buccoo-based tour boat won the prestigious Blue Flag award. It is the first boat operator in the English-speaking Caribbean to receive the award.

Owned and managed by the Denmark-based non-governmental, non-profit organisation, Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), Blue Flag is an eco-label with high brand recognition in the international tourism market.

It is also one of the world's most recognised voluntary eco-labels awarded to beaches, marinas, and sustainable boat operators.

What does the Blue Flag award represent for her?

[caption id="attachment_943174" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Shivonne Peters took a leap of faith to manage Top Catch Charters although she’s a marine scientist.- PHOTO BY DAVID REID[/caption]

“It is the translation of my educational and professional background into a successful business model. It shows my commitment to protecting Tobago’s environment and a step in the right direction for the island as a whole.”

A marine scientist by profession, Peters has dedicated more than ten years of her career to protecting the Buccoo Reef Marine Park, the country’s only marine protected area.

From 2011 to 2018, she worked as the marine park manager for the Buccoo Reef Marine Park in the Tobago House of Assembly.

During that time, Peters pursued a second post-graduate degree with the sole intention of using the knowledge to enhance the management of the Buccoo Reef.

As park manager, she produced several policies, including the Buccoo Reef Marine Park User Policy and the Tobago Jet Ski Policy.

From 2020 to 2021, Peters worked as policy adviser to former chief secretary Ancil Dennis and was deputy chairman of the Buccoo Reef Policy Implementation Task Force.

She completed her undergraduate degree in geography at UWI’s Mona campus, Jamaica in 2006 and her first post-graduate degree in environment and sustainable development at the University College London, UK, two years later.

Peters did her second master's degree in integrated coastal and ocean management at the UTT from 2014-2016, winning the top student award.

She worked as the Tobago-based consultant on the voluntary national review of