Opportunity: LA Wilderness Training Internship

How many nonprofit Executive Directors do this?

After I wrote about my relationship with rock climbing as a queer, Khmer American, woman, James Mills, a writer and independent producer, contacted me to dialogue further about people of color and the outdoors. James was the first African American sales executive for the The North Face back in the 1990s. I got to learn more about Expedition Denali, the National Outdoor Leadership School's effort "To inspire youth of color—and particularly African American youth—to get outside, get active, and become stewards of our wild places."

I mentioned to James that I was interested in learning traditional climbing, and he told me about Chelsea Griffie, one of the women who will also be on Expedition Denali and who recently moved to Los Angeles to start LA Wilderness Training, modeled after Bay Area Wilderness Training. She's also co-leading a Women of Color backpacking trip in Yosemite this summer with Elizabeth Sy, a Khmer American woman (yay!).  I got to meet Chelsea via Skype a couple of weeks ago and she mentioned that she's looking for interns to help get LAWT off the ground. (Funny that I met James, who lives in Madison, Wisconsin in person, and that due to hectic weekday schedules and LA traffic, Chelsea and I met via Skype.) 

So, those who are interested in getting some experience helping to build an organization from the ground up, get in touch with Chelsea! She's badass (as pictured). As of our conversation, she'd already trained 28 adults who work with youth to lead trips outdoors.