From English Teacher to Haenyeo Diver: Kylie Genter’s Unconventional Life on Jeju Island

Kylie Genter moved to South Korea after graduating from college in New York, initially to teach English. She had studied communications at SUNY Oswego and considered teaching in Japan before choosing South Korea, where some schools offered housing. Her first teaching job was in Jinju, a high-speed train ride from Seoul, where her schedule included short lessons with children and afternoon speaking classes.

After four years of teaching English in South Korea, Genter learned about the Haenyeo: female freedivers who harvest seafood without modern equipment. She completed diving lessons in 2018 and later pursued an opportunity in a small village on the southwestern side of Jeju Island. After an initial rejection, she was invited back, started as a diving intern in January 2024, and received her Haenyeo license in April after two years of training.

Genter said earning the license required diving 50 days within a year, selling 1.2 million South Korean won, or $884, worth of catch, and receiving a unanimous vote from the divers in the collective. Language remained a challenge, even after years in the country. The work is physically demanding, and she said staying healthy matters because a cold or blocked sinuses can prevent her from equalizing underwater.

Genter now balances diving with several other roles, including running a pet hotel with her husband and sometimes tutoring or giving lectures. In her village, divers typically dive five days a week, with weather shaping whether a dive lasts two or three hours or closer to four or five. She said diving is not a full-time job and that she makes around $2,000 a year from it, while teaching is more financially stable. Still, she values the flexibility, the focus of underwater work, and learning from women who have carried on the tradition for generations.