About Me

It all started when…

I took a six-week certificate course from Jane Goodall’s Roots and Shoots organization called “Growing Compassionate Young Leaders through Service Learning” in 2018. We had bought a ranch six months earlier with the aim of making it a center for celebrations, camps, horse enthusiasts and more.

The goal of Roots and Shoots is to “develop compassionate leaders to make the world a better place for people, animals and the environment.” Inspired by Jane Goodall’s emphasis on youth leadership, her connection to animals and desire to leave the Earth a better place, I decided to create summer camp experiences for girls that help them develop confidence and become aware of the ecosystems in which we live and their impact on them, all the while enabling them to connect with animals who live on our ranch.

My experience runs deep in outdoor youth education. I am a National Outdoor Leadership graduate, having completed a 96-day National Outdoor Leadership School Semester in the Rockies. I spent four summers working for Williams, Massachusetts-based Overland, leading month-long hiking, biking and rafting trips for pre-teens and teens across the West.

In the classroom, I’ve taught English as A Second Language to teens and adults in Ecuador and Nepal and spent three years teaching writing at CU-Boulder. Today, I work as editor, writer and co-brand director for National Park Trips Media in Boulder. As part of my job, I lead photography workshops, in conjunction with two professional photographers, several times a year in national parks throughout the West.

I have also volunteered at I Have A Dream Foundation, tutoring elementary school-aged kids. Tutoring, along with having two amazing daughters and leading photo workshops, inspired me to get back to my roots for a few weeks in the summer. It’s been a passion of mine to create empowering day camps where girls can build their leadership skills and confidence in a ranch setting.

As camp director, I lead the camps each day with the help of university-age counselors and middle school counselors-in-training, all of whom teach your children while developing their own leadership skills. All staff hold First-Aid and CPR certifications, plus have taken all state-required safety and medical training classes. We have our early childhood education center license from the state of Colorado.