Over thirty years ago, Miren Oca was a young single mother in Miami with a practical skill, a backyard pool, and a belief that she could build something meaningful. She started teaching swim lessons. What followed is one of the most quietly remarkable stories in American entrepreneurship.

Those swim lessons grew into Ocaquatics Swim School — now a nationally recognized company that has delivered millions of lessons focused on water safety, confidence, and community. Under Miren's leadership, Ocaquatics became the world's first swim school to earn B Corporation certification. And in 2024, she took an even bolder step: transitioning the company to 100% employee ownership, making her team not just contributors to the mission, but co-owners of it.

That decision was not a departure from the culture she had built. It was the natural expression of it. For decades, Miren had led Ocaquatics as if the people around her had a stake in the outcome — because she believed they did. The Employee Ownership Trust simply made it official.

Miren is also the founder of Ripples of Impact, a nonprofit which provides tuition assistance for swim lessons to families experiencing financial hardship. As a speaker, she brings decades of hard-won, real-world experience to the stage — on purpose-driven leadership, employee ownership, B Corporation certification, and what it actually looks like to build a business that serves everyone it touches.

Her story resonates because it is not theoretical. It began in a backyard. It was built through resilience, values, and an unwillingness to separate profit from purpose. And it continues to ripple outward in ways she could not have imagined when she gave her first swim lesson.