Tourists walk on a wooden plank street to reach the 100-year-old building that houses Out to Sea Expedition Company in Ketchikan, Alaska.

They are welcomed by Delaney Murphy ('17), who co-owns the company with her husband, Eric Lunde.

After the couple outfits guests with gear, the travelers ride from the Thomas Basin Boat Harbor to the coast of Southeast Alaska on Zodiac boats -- the black inflatable rafts used for expedition trips in Antarctica and the Arctic. Murphy draws on her degrees in merchandising and digital retailing to offer tourists an authentic excursion so they can see wildlife and wilderness up close.

"The really cool thing is you get to experience Alaska with all of your senses," Murphy says. "You can smell the seaweed from the beach at lower tides, and you can hear the breath of a marine mammal. Sometimes you even get a little bit of the salty splash, and so you're tasting as well. It's just a really neat way to explore."

'Nowhere Else I'd Rather Be'

Murphy credits her time at UNT for forging the path. She grew up in Alaska, with four generations of fishermen on her father's side, but her family moved to Texas when she was a teen.

Originally wanting to go into the fashion industry, Murphy found UNT's programs to be a perfect fit. As a student, she was active in several organizations, serving as president of the National Retail Federation Student Association. One of her projects was spearheading a denim drive for Blue Jeans Go Green, which repurposes the material as insulation for Habitat for Humanity.

"That was a fun project, but it was an odd thing to have my car constantly loaded down with bags of jeans," she says.

After graduation, Murphy began contacting companies in her home state and found work as a manager for a boutique. She then worked as retail coordinator for a tour company that ran large boat tours and an historic salmon cannery, where she led the tours, trained the crew, ran the gift shop and even learned how to fix the 100-year-old canning equipment. She eventually became its retail coordinator, managing five people.

Murphy realized Alaska is made up of small businesses. That's when she and her husband decided to start their own tour company.

"We spent a lot of time in the office. Summer in Southeast Alaska is amazing. There's really nowhere else I'd rather be in the summer."

'A Huge Responsibility'

The couple opened Out to Sea in 2019, but as the COVID-19 lockdown took place, they pivoted the business to an outdoor gear shop. After lockdown was over, they were able to achieve their vision.

"We wanted it to feel how it does when we have friends and family visit. We go out, and we take them out on the water. We don't have necessarily a set destination. We just want to be out there and be close to nature."

They look out for wildlife, which could be a humpback whale or a bird or sea creature.

"It might be the first time they've ever seen a bald eagle. So, I never saw a bald eagle the whole time I was at UNT, right? Except for Scrappy, but I didn't see a live, wild bald eagle. It is fun, and we're pretty used to them. Sometimes you'll have someone who has such a fun reaction. It's like, 'Oh my gosh! That's a bald eagle!'"

In the winter, they work on back-end tasks, such as marketing, touring development and setting sustainability goals, as well as take bookings for the next season for the company.

One of their visitors was Richard Last, a veteran retail executive who taught at UNT from 2011 to 2016 and is now a partner for the consulting company Axcelora. He stopped by when he was on a cruise in June 2023.

"What was pretty neat was she applied her skills in retailing, merchandising and in digital by supporting the business. They sold merchandise in the shop -- products for the tours, but also interesting accessories and gifting items," he says.

While Murphy fulfills her career goals, she also gets to share her favorite place with others.

"It is a fun experience getting to see it through the eyes of people who have never seen Alaska," she says. "We've had a little one whose life goal was to see a jellyfish, which is not hard to find up here. We got to take him to this spot where there were tons of jellyfish, and he's like, 'I have accomplished my life goal at 4 years old.' On the other end, we get people in their 80s that have never made it to Alaska, and this was a bucket list item, and they finally made it. That's obviously a huge responsibility. You're showing them Alaska for the first time, and toward the end of their life, and that's also really special, too."