The outdoors is my life.
I grew up with a magnifying glass in hand studying bugs and fungi in the woods surrounding our home in North Carolina. In college I stumbled into the outdoor industry, working as a camp counselor and photographer at Alpine Camp in Mentone, Alabama, every summer. Getting kids outside and inspiring them to enjoy the land taught me that I would never be able to take a “normal” job.
As I grew in my career, I channeled my love for the outdoors and active recreation into work with a specialty outdoor retailer, Rock/Creek Outfitters. There, we operated on the mantra that “the outdoors is for everyone” and that it wasn’t our business to quantify adventure. A leisurely walk outside was valued as much as a first ascent; the point was simply to get off the couch and out from behind our many screens.
Later, I co-founded a company just to answer the question we heard so often from our customers: “where do I go outdoors around here?” Today I’m fortunate to work to help people across the tri-state region to reconnect with nature and discover the magic of this incredibly biodiverse ecosystem in which we live.
I’m passionate about reconnecting Chattanoogans with nature and our wealth of natural resources – mountains for trail running and rock climbing, lakes and riverfront for fishing, kayaking and paddle boarding – make it an easy sell.