Hi everyone it's Gail before we jump in I just wanted to say a quick happy

international women's month I feel honored to link arms with so many

incredible women through this work also if you miss my announcement on Monday, I encourage you to go back and listen.

Long story short, will be relaxing the Shakespeare's podcast schedule after mid-March to leave

room for curiosity and what's best for the show and those who make it.

Thank you as always for being here.

With that, all with the show. I'm Gail Straub and you're listening to She Explores.

Sometimes I think about how many worlds are nested within our one world here on Earth.

The tiny worlds of our households, the microscopic

worlds of our atoms sharing electrons, the communities we cultivate, the vastness of the

ocean.

And then there's the underground world of caves.

We were in there like looking at the fossils and the walls. There was a lot of calcite crystals.

So getting to just like hang out with some ladies and nerd out about crystals was really fun.

This is Ashley Atkins.

Ashley isn't a scientist.

She simply loaves recreational caving and the opportunities that offers folks with

non-science backgrounds to contribute to the ongoing documentation and understanding of

underground ecosystems. Ashley reached out to me because she wanted to share

her experience getting into caving which led to her very own dream seasonal job

last summer. In a historically male-dominated activity that's known for gatekeeping,

Ashley wants us to know about the new generation of cabbers of all genders and

...