The Wild Woman Podcast with Becca Ploener

Mara MacDonell has a Masters of Environmental Science from Yale, where she grew her interest for community development, natural resource management, science education, outdoor recreation and environmental justice, with a particular focus on rural communities adjacent to public lands. Mara grew up near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northern Minnesota and has spent significant time in Telluride, CO. She’s coached Nordic skiing, served as an AmeriCorps VISTA, and guided raft, canoe, and

Carrie Soulliere is a South Eastern rafter and insurance agent who serves the whitewater community nationwide. Carrie focuses on affordable health insurance. Most members of the guiding and tourism communities qualify for health coverage that is generally free or less than $10 a month but still provides excellent coverage. She understands our community and the important things in our health plans. Things such as low-cost urgent care, free generic drugs, free physical therapy, and no cost mental

Morri Stewart has been a whitewater river guide for 30+ years, navigating rivers in the Western United States and the world, from the Colorado River to the Tatenshini/Alsek, the Tuolumne and Kern Rivers, California, the Salmon River, Idaho, and the Zambezi River, bordering Zambia and Zimbabwe. For the past two years, when she is not traveling the roads of Baja and the US in her conversion van, Morri has embraced the more laid-back lifestyle of Costa Rica, working remotely as a developmental and copy

Matty Alpert, they/them is newer to the whitewater kayaking world, but has been a part of the outdoor industry for the past 6 years. They started working for their university's outdoor program and now works for NCOBS (North Carolina Outward Bound School) as a logistics manager. Matty feel for whitewater kayaking about 3 years ago when they went to their first roll clinic and since then they have tried to get on the water as much as possible while being a summers only paddler. Matty also enjoys

Claudia Behringer-Smith(she/her/hers), works for Camp Merrie-Woode as their Adventure Program Coordinator and has been working in the Outdoor Industry since she was 18. Claudia's been recreating outside her entire life, and has also been fat her entire life, which is a really complex thing since its uncommon to find fat people who are also outdoor professionals. She adores paddling in any form, whether that's whitewater or flatwater kayaking or canoeing, sailing, etc. She is happiest by the

Julia Yanker is an adventurer and paddler, as well as a coach for outdoor enthusiasts. She specializes in treating stress injury after a traumatic incident, and also coaches adventurers with everyday problems like honing their mindset, group dynamics, anxiety, and other obstacles that keep them from achieving their objectives. She’s been wandering the wilds for 15 years and navigating how her authentic expression and needs can co-exist in close partnership with others – something they don’t teach us