She Explores

This is the last episode of She Explores. In it, we say farewell, reflect on endings, and invite past guests of the show to share the lessons they’ve learned in the outdoors over the last few years. Through these women’s stories, we’re reminded how important it is to have the space we need to show up as ourselves when we’re spending time outside.  Thank you to everyone who has touched the show ove...

Mugdha Flores is proof of where your passion for science and the natural world can take you. From playing in tide pools as a child in Southern India, to mapping the undiscovered corners of the ocean, to surveying salmon as they make their long journey to the Pacific. For Mugdha, all her exploration has resulted in a deeper connection with the environment, and herself. Mugdha is a marine biologist...

When Irene Marcoux was growing up and playing at her local pool, she didn’t dream of becoming a mermaid. She was a mermaid. Those early days of freedom and play were her gateway to a life in the water. And because she’s a big believer in the fact that every BODY can dive - Irene is all about helping others embrace their inner mermaid too. Irene is a safety focused mermaid with over 30 years of aqu...

A life-changing rappelling accident lead Antoinette Lee Toscano to choose to live the life of outdoor adventure she’d always dreamed of. And since then, she’s dedicated herself to helping others make it easier to shape their lives for the better, too. Antoinette Lee Toscano is an outdoor industry consultant, writer, philanthropist, and motivational health and wellness speaker. In the Women & Water...

Olivia VanDamme’s hope is that one day, in her older years, she’ll be at the beach, covered in seaweed and still contributing to community science. Olivia has always felt comforted, alive, and happy in the ocean. And as an educator, poet, singer, environmentalist, surfer, and more – Olivia celebrates that in everything she does. On this episode, Olivia shares an original poem, “Tu Perteneces! Nada...

Eden Elgeti is a wild and pool swimmer in the United Kingdom, and is featured in our new book, Women and Water. The first line in her profile is, “I often joke through winter that I’d be more than happy to not swim and just turn up for the post-swim coffee and cake.” Of course, she goes on to share that she has always swum when given the opportunity, and it’s taken her so many places, literally an...

Bonnie Tsui's book, Why We Swim , dropped at a time when we were all looking for guidance on how to move our bodies in ways that took us out of our heads and into our element. But its message is continuous. Why We Swim is a must-read whether you think of yourself as a swimmer or not. It takes you to the source of our innately human relationship with water and weaves together history, science, and...

In the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing a series of interviews with some incredible humans who are featured in Women and Water - a new book from the team behind She Explores. We’ll take the conversation off the page and into their relationship with water today. And you’ll hear from swimmers, surfers, paddlers, fishers, and more.  But today, we’re bringing you a special episode of Wild for Scotland ,...

Noami Grevemberg is a leader in the world of vanlife, and the founder of Diversify Vanlife, a platform that highlights less-heard voices in vanlife, road travel, and nomadic communities. It’s also a resource that helps break down barriers to accessing life on the road, a lifestyle that Noami and her husband Dustin embarked on in 2016. We chatted with Noami towards the end of 2022, when she was com...

When writer Florence Williams’ 25-year marriage falls apart, it sets her on a journey to explore the science behind loneliness. Photographer Alexandra de Steiguer has spent the last quarter century spending her winters solo as a caretaker in the Isle of Shoals. With the help of these two creatives, we explore what spending time alone means for ourselves, our creativity, and our connections to the...

Victoria Amico would say that hiking 100% ruined her life, but in the best way possible. Seven years ago, she thought she knew what she wanted in her career and devoted her whole self to achieving her goals. But then hiking came along and forced her to examine what she really wanted. In the process, Victoria ended up learning how to choose herself and take up space with her body on the trail. Vict...

Whether she’s rock climbing or sailing, McKayla Bower is motivated by always moving forward. And by setting her sights on becoming the first trans woman and queer person to circumnavigate the world solo in her sailboat Swirl, she’s moving forward in more ways than one. We talk about what inspired the trip, how McKayla is preparing for the journey, the kinds of marine life she will encounter, and t...

A hello, what we've been up to, a new podcast Gale's working on called "Creative Fuel", and a fresh episode of She Explores comes back next week.  Resources Follow Creative Fuel wherever you get podcasts Creative Fuel on Apple Podcasts Creative Fuel on Spotify Follow About the Journey wherever you get podcasts About the Journey on Apple Podcasts About the Journey on Spotify She-Explores.com Music...

How do you navigate your femininity in a male-dominated space like environmental fieldwork research? For Julia Bingham, it's been an exploration of self. Julia is an interdisciplinary marine scientist and currently a PhD candidate at Duke University. Her research is focused on improving conservation and fishery management through local communities’ knowledge and values. But her discipline hasn’t a...

Steph Jagger and her mom, Sheila, took a camping road trip together in 2016 across the Rocky Mountains. So often, the purpose of a road trip, or spending time in the outdoors, is to get away from it all. But in this instance, Steph was driving towards something many of us might rather avoid: her mom had recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer's dementia. And while Alzheimer's is something that’s ha...

Ashley Adkins isn’t a scientist, she simply loves recreational caving and the opportunity it offers folks with non-science background to contribute to the ongoing documentation and understanding of underground ecosystems. Listen as Ashley shares her experience getting into caving, which led to her very own dream seasonal job last summer. In a historically male-dominated activity that’s known for g...

A special announcement from host Gale Straub about the future of this show.  Prefer to read it rather than listen? Find the 3-minute transcript on the episode landing page (or linked in the Simplecast player). Hosted & Produced by Gale Straub A production of Ravel Media Join the She Explores Podcast community on Facebook Visit She-Explores.com & Follow Us on Instagram Resources Rate this podcast R...

Journalist Heather Hansman digs deep into the past, present, and future of skiing in her new book Powder Days . Her love for the sport leaps off the pages, but that doesn’t stop her from looking at skiing through a critical lens as she explores its challenges and triumphs across an expanse of timely subjects: climate, accessibility, culture, and more.  We’re joined from the side of a ski hill by T...

Sarah Dealy was not outdoorsy. But at age 20, during a severe bout of depression, she enrolled in a wilderness therapy program. By the end of the program, she wanted to become an “outdoor girl.” But becoming the outdoorswoman of her dreams didn’t come naturally. Sarah was an indoor kid at heart. She disliked many of the activities she imagined her outdoorsy self doing. On the first episode of Out...

Sometimes adventure looks like picking up and moving 3000 miles away from your home to live in the subarctic. Four years ago, Kristen Berkeley was living in Toronto and blogging about fashion, makeup, and cooking. On a whim, she took a job in Yellowknife, a small city in the Northwest Territories of Canada.  As a Black woman, Kristen was a bit nervous to move to a city that lacked the diversity of...

Kenya Jackson-Saulters believes in the power of pairing meditation with time outside and cultivating rituals to help her channel the spirituality and peace of mind she finds in nature. In this episode, we hear all about the Nature Meditations deck she recently authored through Chronicle Books. It’s a beautiful offering for her Outdoor Journal Tour community (and beyond) and a true reflection of he...

Listen to a preview of "This is Our Time" a storytelling podcast that takes you on an immersive adventure on a ship to Antarctica with host Samantha Hodder and 80 women who all work in STEM. About This is Our Time Launched in 2018, This is Our Time is a storytelling podcast that takes you on adventure to the end of the world. Season 2 follows Samantha, step by step, as podcaster-in-residence… as s...

The idea that everything comes back around can be a comforting thought - especially as Anna Brones shares it: “I think that that's what we've really been doing in a larger way in the last two years. We've had to reckon with some of these larger questions about what it means to be human, what it means to exist, who we are when we don't have all of the external distractions. And so I think that that...

The Outdoor F.U.T.U.R.E. Initiative is a coalition of ethnically and racially diverse leaders dedicated to ensuring youth from historically excluded communities have access to meaningful experiences in the outdoors. As a team, the Outdoor F.U.T.U.R.E. Initiative is campaigning for the creation of a national fund that could secure long term investments in programs that provide opportunities for all...

Join environmental artist Claire Giordano in the field as she teaches plein air painting in stunning landscapes like alpine lakes, old growth forests, beneath sandstone cliffs, oceanside, and glaciers. While Claire loves sharing the fun and beauty of experiencing these places through her virtual course, The Adventure Art Academy, there’s an intention behind the class that is more than meets the ey...