My entire life I have been a teacher by nature. I used to play school with my brother and sister and enjoyed teaching them how to read and do math. In elementary school I remember friends and I sitting at the picnic tables during recess with binders full of horse things and we had our own “pony club” where we taught each other the parts of the horse, tack and equipment, and all other horsey things. I thrived on helping and teaching others.
As a teen I started teaching beginner riding lessons to adults and kids and knew I was in my element. Out of high school I went to school to be a vet tech and my favorite part of the job was educating clients on animal wellness, this led to me going to Equine Massage school, then eventually human massage school. I got to share my passion of wellness and biomechanics with my students and clients. This desire to teach led me to getting a bachelors in English, Literature and writing, with intentions of becoming a High School English teacher, but all my teacher friends steered me away from becoming a teacher, so I pursued a Masters Degree in Complimentary Alternative Medicine and Holistic Nutrition so that I could further educate my clients on how to take the best care of their bodies. Since then I have completed a 500 hr yoga teacher training, NASM personal trainer cert., and NASM sports nutrition specialist certs. In Feb 2021 I also completed a wilderness first responder certification through http://www.soloschools.com so that I can educate and guide others in the backcountry. All of these degrees and certifications have enabled me to educate people in how to use their bodies correctly to avoid injury and feel their best self.
As much as I love to educate I also love to learn and push the boundaries of what I can do as a human, so I re-explored my passion of hiking. This sparked interest in others who also wanted to get out into the woods but didn’t really know where to begin, so I offered to help however I could from answering any questions, picking correct gear, directing them to safety resources, and accompanying them on hikes. I knew very clearly that I wanted to become a guide and wilderness educator.
In the meantime I wanted to create a community geared toward women and those that rally for and beside women and summit sister was born. The term summit sister to me means someone who is a supportive friend, confidant, educator, mentor and embraces the spirit of what the wilderness can do for us. The wilderness reflects our fears back to us, allows us to work through the muck that we need to work through, but the wilderness can also be dangerous and I want friends to know HOW to assess and manage risk as they venture off for the multitude of reasons that bring us all to those trails. Being a summit sister means promising that I will continue to educate myself and learn from the best of the best, push myself in a safe but courageous manner to strive to be the best I can be on and off the mountain.
The term Summit means “the highest point of a hill or mountains”…even if you are not a hiker, these hills can be a metaphor for reaching your highest self. The process can be messy and uncomfortable, but when you know you have others who are in your corner cheering for you, you can reach and continue to rise above those dips and valleys in life and achieve each summit feeling more empowered and stronger than the last. That is why, my friends, I have created summit sister, not just for me too help educate, but for ALL of us to learn from one another and help one another rise to your personal summits.
