See Her Outside: Stories From Women Who Adventure

Just because somebody is physically safe in the outdoors doesn't necessarily mean that they can access a sense of belonging.Sally Steele is co-founder and CEO of Outdoorithm, a platform that makes it easy to find the right campground for your family, and of Outdoorithm Collective, a nonprofit bringing underrepresented families onto public lands for rest, nourishment, movement, and community. Sally and Angie talked about:How slavery, then sharecropping, disrupted her family's relationship to land for generationsGrowing up without any exposure to national parks or outdoor recreationThe barriers to belonging outdoors: logistics, the cost of gear, and physical and psychological safetyWhy "will I be physically safe" and "do I belong here" are two different, equally real questionsScarcity mentality, geotagging, and the difference between gatekeeping and entitlementBuilding a "Community Vibe Score" for campgrounds, modeled on the Negro Motorist Green BookOutdoorithm Collective's free family camping trips, and the mantras that anchor themWhy cultivating belonging on public lands is part of what protects themCheck out these resources:OutdoorithmOutdoorithm CollectiveOutdoorithm on Instagram: @outdoorithm"Why Being Black and Outdoorsy Is a Whole Thing" — NPR"Embracing Our Relationships with Whiteness in the Outdoors" — Melanin Base Camp"The Achilles Heel of Trail Running" — Melanin Base Camp"Five Reasons Why You Should Keep Geotagging" — Melanin Base Camp"Does Geotagging Matter?" — FemignarlyThe Cairn Project on IGThe Cairn Project's newsletterLike this episode? Leave a 5-star rating and review on your podcast app. Make sure you subscribe to the See Her Outside Podcast so you don't miss a story!Follow on SpotifySubscribe on Apple PodcastsListen on: Amazon, Pocket Casts, iHeartRadio, other platforms

Jen started the first women-owned ski and snowboard brand in the universe, ran it for 12 years, and then closed it — and this conversation about what's actually worth fighting for is required listening for anyone who wants to survive capitalism and do some good in the world.Jen Gurecki is a multi-hyphenate entrepreneur who has spent her life doing things differently — founding Zawadisha, a microlending program for women in rural Kenya; starting Coalition Snow, the first women-owned ski and snowboard brand in the universe; and mentoring small business owners on aligning their values with their livelihoods. Her newest venture, Far Out, brings together outdoor adventure travel and creative exploration.Jen and Angie talked about:Growing up as an activist, not an entrepreneur — from a McDonald's playground moment to taking down her principal in the school paperStarting Coalition Snow in 2014 "to fuck with the industry"Why "unisex" gear is a business decision, not changeThe cancer diagnosis that rewrote what's worth fighting forDeciding to close Coalition after 12 yearsFar Out: no fake urgency, no discounts, and a story page for every makerRedefining wealth, enoughness, and why you should stop waiting for someone else to fix itCheck out these resources:Far OutFar Out on Instagram: @letsget_faroutJen on Instagram: @yogureckiJen's Substack: Redefining RadicalThe Cairn Project on IGThe Cairn Project's newsletterBecome a TrailblazerSummit Scholarship FoundationLike this episode? Leave a 5-star rating and review on your podcast app!You can help us close the gender gap outdoors and beyond:Become a Trailblazer. Your Adventure Fundraiser makes wilderness experiences possible for girls and women.Check out the Summit Scholarship Foundation.Send this episode to a friend who wants to survive capitalism and do some good in the world.Make sure you subscribe to the See Her Outside Podcast so you don't miss a story!Follow on SpotifySubscribe on Apple PodcastsListen on: Amazon, Pocket Casts, iHeartRadio, other platforms

Although Puerto Rico is less than a four-hour flight from East Coast hubs like New York City and Washington, D.C., many continental Americans haven't experienced its stunning ecosystems and culture: rainforest, mangroves, bioluminescent bays, and one of the largest underground cave systems in the world.Writer, athlete, and engineer Alex Garcia grew up in that landscape, and this conversation traces how she carried it with her through a hard relocation to the mainland US, a period of major injuries and professional upheaval, and back out into some of the biggest adventures of her life.Alex and Angie talked about:The culture shock of relocating to Virginia for workFeeling like a second-class citizen despite being born a US citizenGetting through 2021–2023, a period riddled with major injuries and professional upheaval, and the mantra that carried her: "the only way out is through"Difficult Pursuits: her yearly practice of choosing one hard, self-designed outdoor challengeBecoming the first and fastest person to complete the Veredas Noreste, Puerto Rico's only long-distance backpacking trail, in January 2023How to be a sustainable change agent without burning out — focusing your energy where it's needed mostCheck out these resources:⁠The Cairn Project on IG⁠⁠The Cairn Project's newsletter⁠⁠Become a Trailblazer⁠⁠Summit Scholarship Foundation⁠Like this episode? Leave a 5-star rating and review on your podcast app!You can help us close the gender gap outdoors and beyond:⁠Become a Trailblazer⁠. Your Adventure Fundraiser makes wilderness experiences possible for girls and women.Check out the ⁠Summit Scholarship Foundation⁠.Send this episode to a friend who wants to survive capitalism and do some good in the world.Make sure you subscribe to the See Her Outside Podcast so you don't miss a story!⁠Follow on Spotify⁠⁠Subscribe on Apple Podcasts⁠Listen on: ⁠Amazon⁠, ⁠Pocket Casts⁠, ⁠iHeartRadio⁠, ⁠other platforms

If you've ever worried that becoming a parent means losing the adventurous parts of yourself, this conversation is the antidote: Julie mountain biked through both of her pregnancies, and she's built a community of thousands of moms proving you don't have to shrink your world after kids.Julie Bacon is the founder of Mothership Collective, a community helping moms stay connected to the outdoors, adventure, creativity, and themselves through motherhood. (And they fully embrace "alien disco ball vibes" as feral moms.)Julie and Angie talked about:What moms are missing in traditional outdoor communitiesThe viral climbing-wall photo that drew hundreds of critical comments a dayHow pregnant athletes can modify sportsThe hardest parts of the first year of motherhoodBuilding the Mothership: a viral reel, a 10,000-member Facebook group, and 160 Rally the Village events across North America in one monthWhat outdoor brands get wrong when talking to moms and why honesty beats polishHer pep talk for new moms: you don't have to wait, and you can start smallCheck out these resources:Mothership CollectiveMothership Collective on Instagram: @the.mothership.collectiveThe Cairn Project on IGThe Cairn Project's newsletterBecome a TrailblazerSummit Scholarship FoundationLike this episode? Leave a 5-star rating and review on your podcast app!You can help us close the gender gap outdoors and beyond:Become a Trailblazer. Your Adventure Fundraiser makes wilderness experiences possible for girls and women.Check out the Summit Scholarship Foundation.Send this episode to a mom you know — or somebody who's kid-curious.Make sure you subscribe to the See Her Outside Podcast so you don't miss a story!Follow on SpotifySubscribe on Apple PodcastsListen on: Amazon, Pocket Casts, iHeartRadio, other platforms

On day 21 of an instructor course in the Wind River Range, Jeannette Stawski's rope dislodged a 250-pound boulder. It landed on her legs — 15 miles from the nearest trailhead, in a designated wilderness where no helicopter was coming fast.Since then, Jeannette has identified the ingredients that make a fantastic outdoor leader, and resilience is a muscle she's built through an entire career of setbacks that became pivots: Olympic dreams ended by back surgery, multiple NOLS rejections, and that day under the boulder.Jeannette and Angie talked about:Pivoting from pre-Olympic rowing camps to raft guiding in Glacier National Park after back surgery ended her Olympic dreamsGetting rejected by NOLS multiple times and how their coachable rejections shaped her careerThe rappelling accident in the Wind River Range and the rescue that followedThe gift she's giving her kids: a cross-country road trip to climb the Grand Teton without their parentsThe self-deprecation pattern in women outdoor leadersCheck out these resources:The Outdoor Leader by Jeannette StawskiLeading ValiantlyJeannette on Instagram: @leadingvaliantlyJeannette on LinkedInGrand Canyon Rim-to-Rim, October 10, 2026 — women 50+The Cairn Project on IGThe Cairn Project's newsletterBecome a TrailblazerSummit Scholarship FoundationLike this episode? Leave a 5-star rating and review on your podcast app!You can help us close the gender gap outdoors and beyond:Become a Trailblazer. Your Adventure Fundraiser makes wilderness experiences possible for girls and women.Check out the Summit Scholarship Foundation.Send this episode to a friend who leads others outdoors.Make sure you subscribe to the See Her Outside Podcast so you don't miss a story!Follow on SpotifySubscribe on Apple PodcastsListen on: Amazon, Pocket Casts, iHeartRadio, other platforms