Hey, everybody. Welcome to Pillars. How's it going? Thank you so much for being here.

As always, I'm your host, Dylan Bowman, and today I'm thrilled to bring you a conversation with Stephanie Case. Stephanie is a

Canadian human rights lawyer and ultra runner based in the trail running heaven that is Chamonie, France.

Stephanie works for the United Nations,

the UN, devoting her life to humanitarian causes all over the world and often in war zones.

For those who follow Stephanie on social, you know that she often posts about this work in far-flung places,

and she often posts just really eloquently about the mission that she carries in her career,

and it's something that I have long wanted to talk to her about. We go into how she got into

human rights law, what it demands, and how she deals with the heaviness of the

emotional burden that the work often carries. But in addition to her work at the UN, Stephanie also

founded a charity called Free to Run, which we talk about a lot. This charity endeavors to support women and girls in these

conflict areas that Stephanie is so passionate about through the simple yet beautiful sport of running

and other outdoor recreation. So we talk a lot about that organization, the circumstances in which it was founded, and how we as privileged outdoor enthusiasts ourselves can be of assistance to that mission.

The organization won a big award in 2020, which we talk about.

But one thing that we didn't get to talk about,

because it happened a few days after we recorded, was that Stephanie herself received a

governor general of Canada's meritorious service medal for her work with Free to Run.

So Stephanie does amazing things.

She's well recognized for the amazing work that she does.

And she is making a huge difference in the world fighting for the underdog.

And in addition to all that, she's also an amazing ultra-runner with top finishes at some of the

world's hardest races, including four proud finishes at Italy's infamous Tour de Jants.

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