Greetings!

Susie grew up camping and panning for gold with her grandpa in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest and attending summer camp at Lazy F Camp & Retreat Center in the Eastern cascade mountain foothills. A graduate of Western Washington University's Recreation Department, Susie has worked as Program Director at Lazy F Camp in central WA, Youth Program Director at Aldersgate United Methodist Church near Seattle, as a Peace Corp Volunteer in rural South Africa, and Program Coordinator and Mentor for Wild Whatcom in Bellingham, WA. Here in the Bay Area, Susie has worked as Program Manager and Instructor for GirlVentures, as a facilitator and Course Advisor for Outward Bound CA, and as a Recreation Coordinator with the City of Fairfield. She holds a Master’s degree from San Francisco State University with an emphasis in Young Women’s Empowerment through Outdoor Recreation, and now teaches alongside her former professors! She is a graduate of the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) Rocky Mountain Outdoor Educator Course (2011), she has held a Wilderness First Responder (WFR) certification since 2001, and she is published in the Journal of Outdoor Recreation, Education, and Leadership, The Palgrave International Handbook of Women and Outdoor Learning, and the Diversity, Equity, Belonging, & Inclusion Field Guide: Stories of Lived Experience. Susie’s favorite pastimes include hiking with her partner and their two kids, practicing yoga, making smoothies and gluten-free treats, rock-climbing, and hosting theme parties.