Focusing on what lasts, and who gets to build it

Focusing on what lasts, and who gets to build it

WHO I AM

Some people know me as a climber. Others as the founder of Legado and Thriving Futures, an author, or the person raising twins through all of it.

To me, none of it has ever been separate. These are simply different expressions of the same curiosity about people, possibility, and what endures.

About

About

Ice is never fixed.

The ephemeral is exactly the point.

SELECTED

Things worth your time

  • More: Life on the Edge of Adventure and Motherhood

    I had a plan for motherhood. It did not include twins. More is six years of letters, written in real time to Irenna and Kaz — through pregnancy, 2 a.m. feedings, ice climbing, and building Legado, all at once. I wrote it from inside the mess, not looking back on it. A Next Big Idea Club Must Read, recommended by Emily Oster, Anne-Marie Slaughter, and Tommy Caldwell.

    More about More

    More about More

  • More: Life on the Edge of Adventure and Motherhood

    I had a plan for motherhood. It did not include twins. More is six years of letters, written in real time to Irenna and Kaz — through pregnancy, 2 a.m. feedings, ice climbing, and building Legado, all at once. I wrote it from inside the mess, not looking back on it. A Next Big Idea Club Must Read, recommended by Emily Oster, Anne-Marie Slaughter, and Tommy Caldwell.

    More about More

    More about More

  • More: Life on the Edge of Adventure and Motherhood

    I had a plan for motherhood. It did not include twins. More is six years of letters, written in real time to Irenna and Kaz — through pregnancy, 2 a.m. feedings, ice climbing, and building Legado, all at once. I wrote it from inside the mess, not looking back on it. A Next Big Idea Club Must Read, recommended by Emily Oster, Anne-Marie Slaughter, and Tommy Caldwell.

    More about More

    More about More

  • What it takes to build a Thriving Future

    I went to Mozambique with a plan. The communities there had their own — and theirs was better. Thriving Futures became the name of what we created together when we stopped arriving with answers and started building around the priorities people set for themselves. This four-minute film, shot in Mozambique and Kenya, features Mayanae Lemojong and Inácio Josefe Napalacué as they build their version of Thriving Futures with their Samburu and Lomwe communities.

    Watch the film

    Watch the film

  • What it takes to build a Thriving Future

    I went to Mozambique with a plan. The communities there had their own — and theirs was better. Thriving Futures became the name of what we created together when we stopped arriving with answers and started building around the priorities people set for themselves. This four-minute film, shot in Mozambique and Kenya, features Mayanae Lemojong and Inácio Josefe Napalacué as they build their version of Thriving Futures with their Samburu and Lomwe communities.

    Watch the film

    Watch the film

  • What it takes to build a Thriving Future

    I went to Mozambique with a plan. The communities there had their own — and theirs was better. Thriving Futures became the name of what we created together when we stopped arriving with answers and started building around the priorities people set for themselves. This four-minute film, shot in Mozambique and Kenya, features Mayanae Lemojong and Inácio Josefe Napalacué as they build their version of Thriving Futures with their Samburu and Lomwe communities.

    Watch the film

    Watch the film

  • Fortune: We were doing conservation wrong

    Seven years into building Legado, I thought I knew what it meant to work for climate justice. Then I had twins—and began to question something much bigger: what if the way we were doing conservation was part of the problem? Motherhood taught me to listen first: to adapt, to let go of the plan, to trust that the people in front of you know more than you do. Which is exactly what the communities in Mozambique had told me from the beginning. Fortune featured my essay where the two lessons became one.

    Read the essay

    Read the essay

  • Fortune: We were doing conservation wrong

    Seven years into building Legado, I thought I knew what it meant to work for climate justice. Then I had twins—and began to question something much bigger: what if the way we were doing conservation was part of the problem? Motherhood taught me to listen first: to adapt, to let go of the plan, to trust that the people in front of you know more than you do. Which is exactly what the communities in Mozambique had told me from the beginning. Fortune featured my essay where the two lessons became one.

    Read the essay

    Read the essay

  • Fortune: We were doing conservation wrong

    Seven years into building Legado, I thought I knew what it meant to work for climate justice. Then I had twins—and began to question something much bigger: what if the way we were doing conservation was part of the problem? Motherhood taught me to listen first: to adapt, to let go of the plan, to trust that the people in front of you know more than you do. Which is exactly what the communities in Mozambique had told me from the beginning. Fortune featured my essay where the two lessons became one.

    Read the essay

    Read the essay

There is more

There is more

Legado started with $11,000 and a photograph of an unclimbed granite mountain. Today, its whole-life methodology, Thriving Futures, is used by more than 100 communities across three continents as they define their own priorities and turn them into lasting action.

Conversations worth having out loud

I join conversations about climate justice, what community-led change actually takes, and what climbing and motherhood have taught me about leading through the parts you can’t plan.

I’ve had these conversations at Google, Harvard Medical School, Banff, the Commonwealth Club, TEDx, and many more.

If one of these conversations belongs in a room you’re convening, I’d love to hear from you.

Reach out

Reach out

A smiling woman with blonde hair stands with her arms crossed, wearing a black shirt against a dark background.
A smiling woman with blonde hair stands with her arms crossed, wearing a black shirt against a dark background.

Three books, and the one that matters most is addressed to these two. It's about refusing to choose between the parts of a life.

Three books, and the one that matters most is addressed to these two. It's about refusing to choose between the parts of a life.

Three books, and the one that matters most is addressed to these two. It's about refusing to choose between the parts of a life.