My name is Sean Paxton. I'm a life-long adventurer, big game angler and overall wildlife interaction enthusiast. Since early childhood, I've been fascinated with the history of expeditionary exploration and people who stretch the perceived limits of what's possible in an effort to discover what else is out there, how it all works, and what we should do to keep it running properly. Thanks to a family environment and upbringing that supported such thinking and behavior, I've been fortunate to stretch a few limits of my own over the years.
Professionally, my first paycheck was earned at the age of fourteen playing drums in my parent's show band at the Mint Hotel in Las Vegas. After a colorful string of successful years banging away in the entertainment industry with my family and other great artists and performers around the world, I pursued other entrepreneurial adventures (and some misadventures) that ultimately led to where I am, and what I’m doing today. There's a plenty of geography peppered throughout that time, and always an obsession with the world's wild parts and spending as much time there as possible.
Occupational travel with my family took me around the globe from an early age, which for my brothers and me, was like growing up in a giant zoo without cages. I was born and raised until the age of 8 in western Pennsylvania (Go Steelers), but amidst all the miles, Florida has been home since 1978. It's where I live now, with the rest of my immediate family including my parents, two brothers, a couple uncles and my hairy, four-legged daughter -- an Australian shepherd and chow mix-up named JD. Relocating back to the insanely rich bio-diversity of southwest Florida from California in 1998 was probably the tipping point for a pivotal career decision I made shortly after the turn of this century.
That decision to finally pursue, as a true vocation, what keeps me up late, and wakes me up early, was inspired by the practice of early explorers who would ‘burn their ships’ once they reached a destination so that they would be unable to return from where they came and instead would be required to go forward. I had realized by that time, the opportunity to torch my own ship had a limited shelf life. Nothing lasts forever. There’s only so much time to answer the call when it howls. Out came the matches. I haven’t looked back since.
By taking my recreational motives in the outdoors, along with my passion for adventure and wildlife to heart, opportunities began presenting themselves. Along with opportunity, also came a heightened sense of obligation and commitment. Now, as a dedicated explorer, researcher, diver, performer and filmmaker, I’m leveraging my entertainment background to shine a different kind of spotlight on what’s going on ‘out there’. I have a simple belief that when used effectively, entertainment and other means of communication can be powerful tools to educate, inspire and motivate. I’m a perfect example of that with my own early, but vivid memories of Marlin Perkins and Jacques Cousteau chasing alligators and sharks on the television, and the words of Hemingway and Zane Grey painting pictures and planting seeds in my imagination, as a child. It’s been said that sometimes you choose what to do, and other times, what you do chooses you.
Instead of trying to figure that one out, as I have in the past, these days, when the gut says go, I’m just answering instead of questioning the call. It feels right, and I’m having a hell of a time, while getting to collaborate with some of the best and the brightest in their fields on a variety of challenging, but important and beneficial projects. That all sounds like serious business, and it is sometimes, but trust me, it’s a lot of fun juggling the opportunities and challenges that come with the territory. Stick around and you'll see what I mean. If you read this far, thanks for taking the time.
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