E2T Adventures: Explore, Experience, Thrive

Media has made us believe we need to be less, eat less, and control our diet through rules and regulation. Functional and Integrative Nutritionist Alora Frederick debunks the myths and gives us the information we need in order to thrive in our bodies, minds, and our outdoor adventures. 

Mardi Fuller has hiked all 48 of the New Hampshire White Mountain 4000 footers, twice, once in three season (spring/summer/fall) and once in winter. But being a Black woman raised in New England, it hasn't always been an easy journey to simply get outside and experience her passions.

On this episode of the podcast, Mardi shares her experiences as a Black woman in the outdoors. She speaks to the historic invisibilization of Black people in outdoor recreation, breaks down the notion that Black people “just don’t do that,” and talks about finding community and getting into hiking.

To hear more of Mardi’s voice and her thoughts on connection with the outdoors, find her NRDC.org article, “A Place of Freedom and Belonging in the Great Outdoors,” here: https://www.nrdc.org/stories/place-freedom-and-belonging-great-outdoors?utm_source=in&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=Nature

Cover photo by Joe Klementovich

Has your period ever held you back from experiencing the outdoors fully? Are you afraid to hike, kayak, camp, or plan that week long trip during your period? Many women accept these limitations because they’ve been conditioned to believe the outdoors is not a place for women on their periods . . .especially since there has never been gear created for personal hygiene during menstrual cycles in the outdoors.

E2T is on a mission to challenge this, because women belong in the outdoors, PERIOD.

On this episode, Marci talks with .PAC (“Period Pac”) founder, Jasmine Oeinck, a gear designer who broke into the industry to create a product specifically designed for periods in the outdoors. Unsatisfied with the lack of gear made for adventurous women who get their periods, she made .PAC, an ultralight, compact kit designed to make it easy to travel with and pack out your period needs.

Tune into E2T’s conversation with Jaz as we talk about breaking into the ‘boy’s club’, share our period stories, and find empowerment as women who explore.

You can get Jasmine’s .PAC in our store on e2tadventures.com

Instagram: lets_go_.pac

Pull up a chair, pour a glass of wine or tea, and relax as we talk creating your own rules for success and taking big risks.

After graduating college with a Business Administration/Computer Information Systems degree, Colleen Miniuk did what she thought was expected of her: she worked as a software engineer for Intel Corporation for almost 10 years. While the cube walls—and the paycheck—were safe, that’s not what she was built for. She walked out of Corporate America on February 28, 2007—a day she considers her Independence Day and celebrates like her birthday.

Now as a full-time outdoor photographer, writer, publisher, speaker, and instructor, Colleen spends over 100 days a year hiking, camping in her Alaskan Camper, stand-up paddleboarding, or rowing down a river—an unexpected course for a woman who spent 40 years checking all the boxes for the American Dream and fearing swimming in water where she couldn’t see her feet!

Through her photography, writings, and adventures, she hopes to help people, especially women, enjoy the Great Outdoors safely and comfortably. She’s written three guidebooks, including Photographing Acadia National Park: The Essential Guide to When, Where, and How after serving three times as an Artist-in-Residence with Acadia National Park. She writes an online photography advice column called “Dear Bubbles” and teaches photography workshops, women’s photography retreats (called “Sheography™”), webinars, and online critique sessions for camera clubs, organizations, and private clients across the U.S.

Learn more about Colleen and her work at www.colleenminiuk.com"

Social Media Links:

Website: www.colleenminiuk.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/ColleenMiniukPhoto

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/colleenminiuk/

Sheography: www.sheography.com

My books: www.analemmapress.com

For centuries women have hidden, suppressed, and been ashamed of their periods. Society has taught us to ignore our natural cycles of hormones and constantly stay in a stress zone. Furthermore there hasn't been any gear for handling your period in the outdoors.   On this podcast Angie and Marci talk about how to work with the ebb and flow of hormones in a healthy and super power way so that all women can feel their best, avoid burnout and find empowerment in their cycles instead of shame.  

Buy Your .Pac to have the right gear to store your period supplies.

Angie Madsen is your hormone hype girl and hiking partner with the best snacks. As a fertility awareness educator with an adventurous edge, she helps athletic and outdoorsy people interpret their bodies and use the menstrual cycle to feel strong and confident as they get after their goals. Angie teaches people to harness their natural physiology to boost performance and strengthen the mind-body connection through courses @www.TheHormoneHacker.com.  

Instagram: @hormonehacker 

Facebook: @hormonehacker 

Free and private community Facebook Group: facebook.com/groups/hormonehacker

Over 100 years the bra hasn't changed much. Women spend $25 Billion/ Year on their bras and yet 80% are in the wrong size and are uncomfortable. For women in outdoor sports the struggle to find a bra that supports and is comfortable has been one more place that the gear industry has failed women and made them an after-thought.

Catherine Betts, a mom of two small children, who spent her athletic life frustrated and settling with her bras, set out to change the problems women face. With a sewing machine, old sports bras, ace bandages, and saran wrap she made her first prototype. Now the Betts Fit bra is the first of it's kind and with her business partner Danielle Rees they are on a mission to change the way women are supported.

Marci Nault discusses with both owners what it takes to try to change an industry being self-funded, and why women should no longer settle for a bra that hurts their backs, necks, and that makes them uncomfortable. 

Click here to buy Betts Fit Bras and support these incredible women while you support yourself and more female gear designers. 10% of all E2T profits go to the Pay it Forward Grant.

TedX Talk on Bras: You'll Never Look at the Bra the Same Way Again https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrxJ-9_qXeM

Shop:

https://www.e2tadventures.com/gear-store?category=Betts%20Fit%20Products

E2T Adventures talks women in the outdoors and white water kayaking for women with Amanda Major. For many years white water kayaking was dominated by men. Things are rapidly changing as more women find a love for the river, running rapids, surfing waves, and finding peace in the calm of an eddy in the middle of the river. Amanda Major came to the sport and quickly became an instructor. She explains how her love for the outdoors became her career, and how she overcame fear and an old school boys club to do what she loves.   You can take white water kayaking lessons with Amanda through Zoar Outdoor 

Buy Zip Hers on E2T Adventures Website and help fund other innovative products from female gear designers.

It's a fact that it's harder for women to pee when hiking in the woods, running marathons, mountain biking or just going for a neighborhood walk. Debbie Mercer created Zip Hers to empower all women to have more comfort and privacy while peeing by creating a pant that's designed for women in the outdoors. Having the ability to unzip from belly button to lower back makes peeing easier for all women. She talks about the journey to bring the product to market and how we need to consistently listen to women's needs in order to create the right gear. 

These pants are built for women on the go who need to go.

Debbier Mercer is the owner of USA FIT, national marathon training org; founder of Zip Hers athletic pants with a unique zipper design that allows a woman to "answer the call of nature" outdoors without pulling down her pants. Convenient, discreet, comfortable and empowering for all women.

For too long the outdoor industry has shown and supported one body type - that of a thin white woman. Listen in as Marci Nault and Ashley Manning try to disrupt the industry's dysmorphia about what a woman should look like in the outdoor world, and how the gear industry has made women feel wrong in their own bodies instead of helping them to discover the world in a comfortable and safe way with appropriately sized gear. This conversation is for any woman who has ever tried on gear and thought, "If I just was taller, shorter, thinner, less muscular, etc, when she tried on gear. It's time to change the conversation and the image of what a woman should be in the outdoors or really anywhere.

Ashley Manning is an outdoor professional that promotes body diversity, inclusion, and equity in the industry and the natural world.

She's commercially guided on whitewater since 2015 and has been in the outdoor industry for almost a decade. Her feet have taken her 982 miles of the Appalachian trail, while her hands have gripped oars that lead her on 2 different expeditions on the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon.

"My love for the outdoors grew when I was young, being raised in the Appalachian Mountains of Northeast Georgia and only continues to grow as I continue to travel."

You can find Ashley on social media:

https://www.instagram.com/ashleysadventure/?hl=en

https://www.tiktok.com/@ashleysadventure_?

Click here to purchase Kula Cloths or Ziphers 

Let's change the outdoor gear industry together. The outdoors belongs to all women. Please share the podcast and take the survey so that all women can have a safer and more comfortable experience in the outdoors. 

For many women the outdoors hasn't been a comfortable place for one reason - being able to poop, pee and have their periods while on extended hiking, boating, biking, and camping trips. Anastasia Allison the inventor of the Kula Cloth explains to women how to do all three comfortably in the outdoors so it never has to hold you back from any adventure you desire. Learn how and why she invented the innovative Kula Cloth, a piece of gear you won't want to pee in the woods without ever again.

Get Your  Kula Cloth on E2T Adventures Website and help fund other innovative products from female gear designers.