On Growth and Guides
If you've been reading this blog for the past six months or so, you know about my decision to keep Trail Mavens relatively intimate, opting for deep roots in California over national expansion. When I tell women about that decision, they say something like, "Oh! You're keeping Trail Mavens small. Small is good, too!" (When I tell men, I usually just get blank stares.)
When I hear that response as often as I do, it's easy to fall into the mindset of Trail-Mavens-is-just-a-little-itty-bitty-thing. And then, sometimes, I step back, get perspective, and realize things like: Trail Mavens has run more trips in the past two months than in the whole of our first year. I'm not usually one for an abundance of punctuation, but --> !!!!!
In its current form, Trail Mavens is already bigger than I ever imagined it would be. If you've heard our origin story, remember that this idea started with, "I should take my two best friends on a backpacking trip and teach them all the things." We now have adventures on the calendar for every single weekend - sometimes doubling up to take advantage of summer in the Sierras - through the end of this year. That's almost seven times more trips that we ran in 2014, and it doesn't feel small at all, not from the inside.
"But Sasha," you might ask, "you can't be in two places at once. How will you lead all those adventures?" Well, if you haven't checked out our About page recently, you may have missed one notable vestige of our growth: Trail Mavens hired new guides this year! They're an insanely impressive and dynamic group of women who amplify the richness of our community with their backgrounds and interests.
The first of these ladies I'd like to introduce to you is Jessica Mastors, who has the unique distinction of being a guide and being the first person to sign up for Trail Mavens' newsletter over two years ago. She's a Trail Mavens OG. Pretty rad, right?
This was supposed to be a brief preamble to introduce her, but I got carried away. Click here for Jess' full profile. She's amazing.