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We'll talk with the Cole Brown, founder of women who hike about the big hike she has planned this summer. Learn more at Merrill.com. That's M-E-R-E-L-L-D-C-O-C-O-C-O-C-O-O-G-O-T-O-T-O-T-O-O-T-O-T-O-T-T I'm...I'm Gail Strob and you're listening to She Explorers.

One of my friends told me to like be the role model that you needed but also to be the role model that you still need right now today

and that has also been something that I think about all the time. This is Sam Ortiz, a woman who just a few years ago wouldn't have

seen herself climbing or mountaineering or modeling. But with the right

mentors and a willingness to push herself, she

ultimately became the role model she needed to see for herself. Before she

knew it, Sam's path found her.

So I grew up in Kentucky near this place called the Red River Gorge.

It's a really beautiful place.

They have hiking trails there. They also have a lot of rock climbing there. And so I grew up there for most of my life and I spent a fair amount of time going there and doing like little trails at the Red River Gorge,

but it wasn't really a part of my life and I didn't really feel like I belonged there necessarily whenever I would go and so it wasn't until after college

when I moved away to Alaska that I actually started getting into the outdoors. I always loved it but it just didn't seem like it was for me you know and I

think a lot of people have also echoed that same sentiment that I have like talked to

or heard on your podcast or have met online you know people just don't think that the

...