For The Love Of: Trade-offs we make in pursuit of our passions

What if the day you faced a life-threatening sports injury was one of the best days of your life? And what does that mean for your loved ones?   Married couple Sensi Graves and Brandon Scheid are professional wind sport athletes. Sensi is a pro kiter, retreat host, founder of Sensi Graves Swim, and speaker. Brandon is a pro athlete and kite designer, as well as a survivor of a recent traumati...

Sports mirror life. So how can we use sports to live our happiest, healthiest, bravest lives?   Bekah Rottenberg is the founder of Brave Endeavors, a professional mountain bike instructor, a NASM certified personal trainer, a Patagonia mountain bike Ambassador, and a former professional enduro racer. She retired from pro racing to focus on coaching and strength training through Brave Endeavor...

What do you get when you mix a business idea with an out-of-the-box lifestyle? Wildpreneurship.   Tamara Jacobi is the author of “Wildpreneurs” and founder of the Tailwind Jungle Lodge in San Pancho, Mexico. She's lived in the jungle on the Mexican Pacific for nearly 20 years.     We talk about…   - Blending personal and professional dreams to build an unconventional busin...

Raising tiny humans is, for many people, the ultimate life trade-off. What happens when you’re a professional athlete, traveling the world and pushing your body, who then finds out you’re pregnant– with twins?!   Majka Burhardt (she/her) is a professional climber, social entrepreneur, author, filmmaker, mother of twins and the Founder and Executive Director of Legado, an international organiz...

Having produced and released 12 podcast episodes into the wild feels like a reason to celebrate.   Listen as Angie and Jeni revisit some of the thought nuggets that guests shared that they haven’t stopped thinking about.   So far on For The Love Of, we’ve spoken with…   A BFF who threw her life upside down to go to Antarctica A Mt. Everest guide who made a first ski descent on K2 A...

Most people see lichens as the weird stuff that grows on rock. But did you know their more glamorous role as “innovations arising from collaboration”?!   Dr. Hannah Prather (she/her) is a NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology whose research has focused on the intricate relationship among lichens, bryophytes, and host trees. Her work’s taken place around...

Being a woman isn’t easy, period. But being a woman who climbed the high points of all seven continents fresh after a cancer diagnosis? We’ve got a lot to learn from Lisa.   Lisa Thompson ventured into mountaineering after overhearing others’ adventures in her corporate office. She was climbing globally and had eyes on some of the world’s highest mountains when breast cancer entered the scene...

After losing a toe in a mountaineering incident, Doug vowed to never let that stop him from living the adventures and seeking the awe he craved.   Doug Beardsley has a background in pediatric neuroscience and as a public school science teacher. He’s filled his life with adventure, from velodrome racing to alpine guiding and from the first known solo completion of the High Sierra Route to cros...

Women have made huge strides in sports to work towards equality, but there’s still far to go.   As one of the most accomplished competitive snowboarders in the world, Erika “The Viking” Vikander has spent the better part of her life chasing snow and podiums all over the globe.    Over the years, she became disappointed to see the lack of gender equality and care for athletes on one...

After over 30 years of devotion to whitewater kayaking, what can one learn about life from the river?   Anna Levesque is a mental agility and white water kayak coach who is passionate about empowering her clients with courage and confidence through her company, Mind Body Paddle.   Anna is the author of the book Yoga for Paddling, was named one of the most inspirational paddlers alive by...

When talking about huge, scary topics like climate, it's easy to get all doom 'n' gloom. But nothing is ever black and white. Graham Zimmerman is an award-winning professional alpinist who's climbed across Alaska, Patagonia, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, and all over the lower 48 and Canada. He holds leadership roles in a range of nonprofits and outdoor companies, including the American Alpine Club and Pr...

When your sport is closely linked to your relationships, how can you find your own path and feel fulfilled on your own? We chat with a rock climber, writer, and mother who’s been through decades of ups and downs, from losing a partner in an avalanche to ending an unhealthy marriage and from putting herself in death-defying outdoor situations to building a new relationship with risk. Jan Redford is...

A passion can add so much happiness to your life, but it can also be a way to run from trauma. We get to hear what that looks like from a pro athlete who’s experienced the highs in lows on the water, in relationships, and in his own mind. Jason Slezak is a professional kitesurfer and Patagonia Kitesurf Ambassador who has a 25 year (and counting) career and passion in kitesurfing.  He finds hi...

Home to rapids with names like “The Hole that Ate Chicago”, the Stikine River Canyon in British Columbia is a Class V boater’s paradise. It’s packed with three days of big volume, remote whitewater, with no ways to leave until you make it through the staggering canyon. We get to dive into the mind of someone who recently paddled it all. Julian Stocker is a Swiss whitewater kayaker with 22 years of...

From booty-shaking to crying in the dish pit, we’re welcoming the breadth of human emotions with Nika Kermani of NK STUDIOS! Nika is an artist, dance and yoga instructor, and the creative visionary behind NK STUDIOS, a repurposed autobody shop turned dance studio catering to movement, dance, art & community in Bingen, WA. Nika lights up any room she walks into as she stunningly fuses music, moveme...

There are some stellar photos of the alpine facets of Dave’s life: a handful of Everest summits, two decades of ski patrol, the first ski descent of the Bottleneck Couloir on K2… But, more than anything else, Dave is a rad dad. After growing up in Connecticut and learning to ski at age 9, Dave found himself drawn to the mysterious call of the Himalaya. Since his scrappier start, he’s built a caree...

At age 29, Katie pulled a classic career move: throw your desk upside down, leave your stable 6-figure recruiting job, and go work in Antarctica. You know… as we do. 🤷‍♀️ What started as a bartending gig in Antarctica quickly grew into a multi-year career as a Polar Expedition Guide: lecturing aboard the National Geographic ships in Antarctica, leading 10-day wilderness trips in East Greenland, a...