Skip Bennett
Island Creek Oysters
Duxbury, MA USA
"The more speed bumps that you hit and you either pivot or figure out a way to get past those speed bumps makes you more resilient. You have a degree of tenacity where you can weather storms."
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Skip's work combines: Environment & Nature, Food, and Accomplishing Goals
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Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Here's the path I took:
High School
Bachelor's Degree
Finance
Merrimack College
Here's the path I recommend for someone who wants to be an Owner:
Bachelor's Degree: Aquaculture
Learn more about different paths to this career
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life has been direct
1.
I spent a lot of my time as a kid out in Duxbury Bay off the coast of Massachusetts because my father was a lobsterman.
2.
Throughout high school and college I would fish in the bay for shellfish but I didn’t think that was something I wanted to do for a career because the shellfish population was unpredictable.
3.
Inspired by some people who were growing clams in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, I decided to try growing my own clams in Duxbury because that would give me more control over my yields.
4.
After five years of experimenting growing clams, my product was wiped out by a parasite and I decided it was time to start thinking about making a career for myself.
5.
I heard about people growing oysters in Maine and decided to try that—I wasn’t sure if it would work because there were no wild oysters in Duxbury Bay but it turned out that they grew and tasted good!
6.
I funded my work with oysters through the wild harvest and sale of mussels and horseshoe crabs until I had enough of an oyster harvest to do that full time.
7.
We currently operate as Island Creek Oysters, a vertically integrated farm out of Duxbury, Massachusetts.
8.
Our oysters are the house oyster at restaurants in both California and New York, and have even been served at White House state dinners!