The following is an unedited, stream-of-consciousness personal journal used to experiment with different subjects outside of assignments and to practice free-writing. It shouldn't (at all) be viewed as a portfolio of polished work.

To see examples of my professional writing, please visit ginabegin.contently.com. For photography, please visit eyeem.com/u/ginabegin or my Instagram channel @ginabegin.

Go Conquer.

I hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people are endowed with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and achieving happiness.

Superpower: Obstacle Crusher

Lives: In British Columbia or in my car as it roams North America in search of a good story and good adventure.

Proudest of: My family

Skills: Skiing. Passionate living. Creative thinking. Smiling. Hiking in flipflops. Climbing. Helping others. Being kind.

Google Can't Help Me: Find my keys.


HiI'm Gina. I grew up in a rad family, extended family and all. They taught me to love life and believe in living big. 

I am the founder of Outdoor Women's Alliance, a nonprofit media & adventure collective promoting leadership & confidence for women, from pre-teen through adulthood, via human-powered outdoor experiences. 

Usually through the lens of outdoor adventure, the words I write in my lil online space are here to challenge you to live outside your box; to go for the gold. I'm here to tell you that if you'll take up this challenge with me, you can — and will — live your version of life the way you've always dreamed it would be. 


Well, maybe minus the 6-year-old dream of owning a galactic starship. But we can talk about that.


Wanna talk about it now? Email: gina@ginabegin.com

Looking for my other social channels? Check out my "Contact" page.


Advertising on ginabegin.com:

Please note: All ads must be in keeping with this site's content: e.g., outdoor adventure, nonprofit work, or living intentionally. I do not accept poorly designed ads.

If you are interested in advertising on ginabegin.com, please email me at gina@ginabegin.com to discuss your organization's needs.


Bio:

Twitter-version:

@ginabegin: Outdoor Martha—minus jail time. Road tripping skier, climber & journalist. Can'merican. Author: Pursuing Reality. Founder . Into bear hugs & Hi5s.

Full-length version: 


Although I'm a Florida girl who calls Utah my second home, I'm unlikely to actually be found in either. Since storing my things nearly three years ago and hitting the road, I've been on a quest to reach the distant places of North America. During this journey, I've skied the backcountry of the Chugach in Alaska,  slept under the northern lights in the Yukon Territory, ice climbed Colorado's frozen canyons and rock climbed across the continent during a 6-month tour, photographed Nova Scotia’s coves, backpacked in southern U.S. wildernesses and munched on sugared tamarindo in the jungles of Mexico. Oh, and I gained dual citizenship with America's friendly northern neighbor. 


Outside of travel, I am the founder of Outdoor Women's Alliance, a nonprofit media and adventure collective focusing on women's outdoor stories — from Iran to Australia — and promoting human-powered athleticism. 
It was born of requests from from local Utah women, where I was living at the time, in 2007; it now reaches over 100,000 women across the world. It's humbling to facilitate the voices and stories of this way-more-rad-than-me community.

I've been asked to be part of both Columbia Sportswear's and Outdoor Research's grassroots teams. 

I'm a freelance writer and photographer for publications such as Outside and Mountain magazines, amongst others. Finally, I'm a small-time author who wrote an multi-media ebook, Pursuing Reality, for Peaks Foundation's 2013 Women's Leadership & Adventure Summit at which I was asked to speak. 

My mantra is "Go Conquer.™" — now adopted as Outdoor Women's Alliance's slogan; the words I live by are "Dream big; live bigger." I've been known to let out a wild "I LOVE LIFE!" yell while tucked deep inside a canyon gorge.

. . . 

My Other Life:

Outdoor Women's Alliance
I am the founder of Outdoor Women's Alliance (OWA) a nonprofit media & adventure collective that serves as a platform for women in human-powered outdoor adventure. On the digital side, OWA works with women to help share their efforts in athleticism, promote fair representation in outdoor media, help female outdoor industry hopefuls get their foot in the door through journalism, marketing and social media training. Our in-person programs work to create confidence and leadership in women of all ages through outdoor adventure. In young women, we are striving to also use these programs to help combat the rate of at-risk young women falling prey to sex traffickers.

Join Outdoor Women's Alliance on Facebook | 
The organization represents women worldwide; our community and contributors include people from Japan, the U.K., Australia, the Middle East, Central and North America, etc.




My past projects include:

The Most Epic Trip: A Journey Benefiting Access Fund

2010-2011: This project turned into a six-month, 15,000-mile rock climbing trip around North America. I organized it in benefit of Access Fund (working with them); it was the catalyst for their traveling team.www.themostepictrip.com


Sugared Magnolia Home

2008-2011: My first entrepreneurial venture, and Utah's first organic bakery. 

















2010-2011: A dining club I organized that visited restaurants that were relatively unknown with groups of people (Yelp foodies, mostly). These were often places in neglected areas of the city had incredible food but no marketing budget. We strove to uncover those places and bring light to the restaurants.


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