2020 FLagship guest speakers
alexis krauss
Alexis Krauss is a singer, songwriter and front-woman of the band, Sleigh Bells. A long time lover of the outdoors, Alexis is a Senior Guide for Discover Outdoors, an outdoor educator for Wild Earth, a Wilderness First Responder and an AMGA certified Single Pitch Instructor. She is a co-founder of Young Women Who Crush a climbing and leadership development program that provides opportunities for high school girls in NYC to experience the physical, mental, and emotional benefits of rock climbing, indoors and outdoors.
Amanda Hankison
Amanda Hankison is a snowboarder, filmmaker and writer from Salt Lake City, Utah. She received the 2017 NMLFF filmmaker grant to produce High Again, a film with the hope of increasing mental health awareness and advocacy. Cursed with a perpetual lack of contentment and blessed with the talent to succeed at whatever she puts her mind to, she began to take an interest in backcountry snowboarding, and after discovering the doors that a splitboard can open, she's been on a tear, bagging peaks throughout the Wasatch with her sights set on more, local and beyond.
beth bradley
Beth Bradley is a storyteller, hiker and adventurer from Denver, CO. Starting with her first solo hike in 2017, Beth discovered the healing joy of being in nature and appreciating what her plus-size body can do. She hasn't really been able to stop talking about it since then, speaking out about inclusivity in the outdoors every chance she gets. When she's not on the trail, she works as Content Director at a travel marketing agency, inspiring people to visit destinations near and far. Beth is a two-time Moth Story Slam winner and loves adventures of any kind, her niece Roxy, and all dogs (her own outrageously adorable mini Aussie pup in particular).
Bethany Lebewitz
Before Brown Girls Climb (BGC), Bethany Lebewitz received her undergraduate education at UT Dallas where she studied neuroscience and child development. Through her experience in child advocacy and research, she realized the need for more leaders who represented communities which often go ignored and under-served. Bethany, co-founder of Color the Crag, believes the opportunity to climb can act as a shared tool to empower others. She hopes BGC can connect and encourage women and girls of color to climb, lead, and live fearlessly.
Brittany Leavitt
Brittany Leavitt, a Trans-racial Adoptee, has always connected to the outdoors from spending time by the mountains in upstate New York, to the ocean side of Massachusetts, to city life of Washington DC. Her passion is to teach others how to enjoy the outdoors while focusing on clearing pathways for the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) community. Working with organizations such as Outdoor Afro, Brown Girls Climb, Appalachian Trail Conservancy, and REI, she tries to ensure that all voices are heard and accurately represented. In 2018, Brittany was recognized as Blue Ridges Mountain Magazine 30 under 30 and American Alpine Club-DC section “One to Watch”. She has spent the least three years creating the BIPOC climbing festival Color the Crag with Brown Girls Climb and Brothers of Climbing. When Brittany is not climbing outside, you can find her teaching at the Smithsonian, as her passion spreads to other spaces such as music, photography, art, and early education.
carrie highman
Carrie Highman is a documentary filmmaker who is passionate about telling stories that inspire. Starting her professional career as a broadcast reporter, producer and anchor on an award-winning news team, she fell in love with the power of stories to produce change. She made the transition to documentary filmmaking so she could pour more time and attention into stories she felt passionate about. Carrie has shot and directed films on a variety of topics from features on elite athletes to food sustainability issues to public lands topics. She's committed to authentic storytelling and shining a light on the people making real impact on a personal and global level.
chelsea rude
Chelsea Rude is a professional climber who spent her early years competing across the country and in World Cup competitions in Europe. She was crowned National Champion and was a member of the US Climbing Team for a decade. Chelsea became the first female US Team coach and coached for four years. She has onsighted multiple 5.13c's across the world and redpointed up to 5.14b. Most recently, she applied to PA school and is launching She Sends Collective, a women's community serving women (cis + trans) across the country, in 2020. Chelsea enjoys personal coaching, spending time with her three dogs, and pursuing her own personal climbing goals.
emma athena
Emma Athena is a writer and yoga instructor with an obsession for truth. Through both words and movement, she explores the mind-body connection and the relationships that exist between our environments, society, and ourselves. Living in Boulder, Colorado, she teaches vinyasa flows and writes about adventure, public lands, and people doing good work in the world.
gale straub
Gale Straub is a podcaster, writer and photographer who thrives when she's solving creative problems. Gale is the host and producer of She Explores, a podcast featuring women who are inspired by time outside. It covers themes such as solo hiking, entrepreneurship, aging, conservation, motherhood, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), chronic illness, and feminism as they intersect with outdoor experiences. She is terrible at writing bios.
Gina Lucrezi
Gina has always been stubborn and bold, so when it came to advocating for women’s rights and equality in the outdoors, she was bound to make some changes. As the founder of Trail Sisters, Gina’s goal is to help create opportunities and grow participation in women’s trail running. Gina is also a professional ultra trail runner, and when she’s not on the trails logging miles, she’s most likely trying to potty train her new Airedale pup, Ezra.
Halcy Webster
Halcy Webster (she/her) is an adventure enthusiast and a lover of learning and teaching. She is most often found somewhere in the mountains and occasionally in the desert. Her experiences have taken her from studying nuclear physics, to gender advocacy and establishing a remote alpine first ascent as well as everything in between. Having spent several years living on the road and traveling the continent, she now lives on the Front Range in Colorado with her girlfriend and two dogs. She has spoken on topics of gender and the outdoors at the Flash Foxy Festival, Climbing Wall Association Annual Summit, and Outdoor Retailer. She probably loves chocolate more than you do.
henna taylor
Henna Taylor is an award winning filmmaker from Boulder, Colorado. Since 2011, she has been in an epic wrestling match with this particular art form. Sometimes she wins and makes something really neat. Other times she is pinned securely to the floor crying "uncle!" and force to try again. Who knows how long this play of endurance will last, but in the meantime Henna is blessed with the opportunity to make movies and hopes to bring a certain je ne sais quoi to this little industry of adventure films.
Jaylyn Gough
Jaylyn Gough is the Founder and Executive Director of the organization, Native Women's Wilderness, as well as a freelance photographer. The organization provides opportunities for Native women, girls, LGBTQ2S, and non-binaries to get outside, as well as elevate the voices of Native people, ancestral land acknowledgements and history, navigating cultural appropriation, and collectively working with brands to acknowledge Native lands and culture. Jaylyn is proud to be a Navajo Woman who climbs mountains. She holds a WFR, has been a guide, loves to mountain bike, climb, backpack, and chase dreams such as climbing Mt. Denali. You can always find her outside wandering with a camera in her hand.
Jen Zeuner and Anne Keller
Jen Zeuner and Anne Keller are the brainchildren behind The Hot Tomato in Fruita, Colorado, and it’s no coincidence that it’s become a haven for mountain bikers and outdoor recreationalists in the southwestern Colorado area. For Jen and Anne, the connection to the outdoors is a way to build a community they feel inspired by and welcome in. Well, that and a slice or two. Jen and Anne are featured in the Flagship film “Life of Pie” and are answering our questions about community, belonging, mountain biking, and— yes, pizza— during the Filmmakers Dinner on Thursday night of Flagship.
julia hanlon
Julia Hanlon is a storyteller, yoga teacher, and endurance athlete. Julia is the host of the Running On Om Podcast, featuring long form conversations with women who have committed their lives to endurance sports and the outdoors. Julia has lived in Ethiopia, working with the Yaya Girls Running program and recently co-directed Bekoji 100, a film featuring the female scholar athletes of Girls Gotta Run Foundation in Bekoji, Ethiopia. She currently lives in Cambridge, MA where she can be found teaching yoga, studying for her graduate program in Mindfulness Based Transpersonal Counseling, or exploring the New England outdoors.
Katie Sugarman
Katie Sugarman is a photographer and filmmaker who has worked in commercial film and photography production since 2007. She has a B.A. in photography from Lewis & Clark College. But, her passion lies in non-profit and social documentary projects that use the power of photography and film to tell important and honest stories of inspirational people and places that may not otherwise be told. Her most recent exhibition, in partnership with Donor Network West, shares the powerful stories of Bay Area African American transplant recipients. Katie has been on the Board of Directors of Naretoi non-profit (a small volunteer run organization), for the last five years. Their projects focus on collaborating with Maasai communities in Kenya in order to empower women in sustainable ways through education, cultural exchange, and local economic efforts.
Kayla Nolan
Kayla Nolan is a global advocate for girls and women and an outdoors enthusiast. Kayla is the Executive Director of the Girls Gotta Run Foundation (GGRF), the first and only organization to invest in girls using running and education to empower themselves and their communities in Ethiopia. She has spent more than four years living in Ethiopia, and eight years leading GGRF from an all volunteer organization to one that currently impacts more than 1,300 girls and women. Kayla recently produced the Bekoji 100 Relay, Ethiopia’s first ultra relay for peace and women’s empowerment, as well as the subsequent Bekoji 100 Film. Kayla currently lives in Seattle,WA and travels frequently to Ethiopia with GGRF.
Kelsey Doyle
Kelsey Doyle is a producer and documentary filmmaker. She creates and directs films targeted for web and big screen. Her work has taken her and her teams around the world, from the jungles of Sumatra to the outermost Pacific islands of Micronesia and has been published by Stanford, National Geographic, Oceanic Society, National Science Foundation, UN, PBS, UCB, NYU, and the Harvard Business Review. She is a proud board member of Naretoi, a non-profit that empowers Maasai women in Kenya through mountaineering and is contributor to One People One Reef. Kelsey holds an M.A. in News and Documentary Journalism from New York University and a B.A. in Film and Digital Media from the University of California. She's lived in Buenos Aires, Brooklyn, London and is currently based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Madaleine Sorkin
Professional climber Madaleine Sorkin has a passion for difficult traditional routes, particularly up big walls. She is a certified AMGA Rock guide and coaches climbers to engage their performance edge. Recipient of the American Alpine Club Bates award in 2014, Madaleine has traveled from Colorado to California, and internationally to Kyrgyzstan, Patagonia, Jordan and Canada making several first or early ascents up to 5.13+ Grade VI (multi-day) rock walls, often in female teams and in remote areas. At the heart of her climbing are the partnerships, wild dreams, struggle and humor that make the pursuit meaningful. In 2018, impacted by climbing-related tragedies in her community, Madaleine founded The Climbing Grief Fund (CGF) in partnership with the American Alpine Club. As the Fund Director, Madaleine hopes CGF will grow to be a resource hub for mental health in the community and support individual’s paths towards healing and integration of grief or trauma.
nina williams
Nina Williams is a professional climber based in Boulder, Colorado . She started climbing at twelve-years-old, focusing on competition into her early twenties before moving West for more mountainous terrain. She developed her outdoor resume traveling to world-class areas in the United States, Switzerland, South Africa, Australia, and Brazil. After accomplishing difficult bouldering grades upwards of V13, Nina shifted her attention towards the mental style of the sport. She has bouldered 30-50ft formations with ascents such as Evolution Direct (V11), Ambrosia (V11), and Too Big to Flail (V10) in Bishop, CA. She expanded into traditional climbing after her first visit to Yosemite, testing herself on The Final Frontier (5.13b) on Fifi Buttress and Father Time (5.13b) on Middle Cathedral. Nina seeks a balance between hard bouldering, alpine trad, and keeping up with her studies at the University of Colorado. In her spare time, she enjoys a good cup of coffee and hanging out with friends.
piseth sam
As a licensed massage therapist and certified personal trainer, Piseth Sam’s approach is trauma-informed with the understanding that the body keeps the score of the human experience. Their work is guided by the idea that movement transforms, allowing people to dream of and step into their best selves. Favorite ascents include a winter summit of Mount Washington and anything on ice or trad, especially in New Hampshire's White Mountains. In all of their interactions, whether rock climbing or trail running or working with clients, Piseth seeks to create an inclusive space, where everyone can feel comfortable exploring, expressing, and pushing themselves. Piseth lives and plays in the Boston area with their wife.
Alistair Wilson
Alistair Wilson is a co-founder of the documentary and commercial production company Canopy Films, based in Boston, MA. Alistair leads a team of filmmakers on branded, advocacy, and documentary projects, across the U.S. and internationally, most recently producing documentary projects in China, Ethiopia, and Honduras
brandon belcher
Based out of Atlanta, Georgia, Brandon Belcher is a climber of seven years and is passionate about social justice and creating space for others in the southern climbing community. He has a political science degree from Emory and spends his free time bouldering, traveling with his girlfriend, and eating Korean food. He calls his dreadlocks “locks” because “there’s nothing dreadful about them!” and he has the personality of a weird cat.
Chris Weidner
Chris is a journalist, author and climber based in Boulder, Colorado with his wife. Since 2006, he has written more than 300 articles for the Daily Camera—the only newspaper climbing column in the country, plus dozens of stories in Alpinist, Climbing, Rock and Ice, Gripped and other magazines and websites. In 2019, he co-authored an exhaustive climbing guidebook for Boulder Canyon, and is now working with fellow climber and friend, Katie Brown, on her compelling memoir. A climber since 1988, Chris is experienced in most disciplines of the sport. He has established more than 100 first ascents, from 5.14 sport routes in Colorado to 2,000-foot free routes in Canada, and has climbed major summits from Mt. Foraker in Alaska to Fitzroy in Argentina. He has climbed in 22 different countries.
Sky yardeni
Sky is a Social Worker and Wilderness Therapist originally from Israel and currently lives in Santa Fe, NM. Sky works with individuals, families, and groups with backgrounds of grief, trauma, addictions, incarceration, systemic marginalization, and mental health on a daily basis, and approaches his work with an open heart to facilitate healing and change. His passion lies at the intersection of nature, healing, and social justice. As the Therapeutic Director of the Climbing Grief Fund, he tries to help evolve the conversation of grief, loss, and trauma in our community, creating a network of support, and to uplift the resiliency, wisdom, and resources that already exist in our beloved climbing community.
Rhiannon Klee
Artist and climber Rhiannon Klee lives in her van and makes her living as an artist, selling surreal watercolor paintings of iconic climbing formations. Rhiannon lived in Wales until she was twelve-years-old, then moved to Florida, where she attended high school, and earned a psychology degree from the University of Tampa. When she broke her back in gymnastics a decade ago, she started climbing to help strengthen her lumbar muscles. Since then, she has traveled all over the world, climbing in the Southwest, Yosemite, Patagonia and other iconic areas —the places that inspire her art. Rhiannon is this year’s No Man’s Land Film Festival Featured Artist. You can see more of her work on her website and her Instagram.
courtney wilson
Courtney Wilson is an outdoors/lifestyle photographer based in Phoenix, Arizona. After moving from the midwest, all she wanted to do was explore her new desert home…and everywhere else in between So, that’s what she and her camera and have been doing ever since! When she isn’t hiking, climbing or camping you can probably find her drinking iced coffee by the gallons or at home, cuddled up with her cats. She is our 2020 No Man’s Land Film Festival Featured Photographer. You can check out Courtney’s work on her website and Instagram.