Gender-based violence is, unfortunately, a common issue in any business, and the outdoor industry is no exception. That is why sexual harassment prevention training should become part and parcel of each organization. That’s what Gina McClard, J.D. and Jim Miller are doing. Gina and Jim founded the Respect Outside in 2019 to help provide solutions and increase gender equity through a culture shift approach. They discuss the benefits and the long-term value of this training in helping employees thrive in the workplace and help companies attract diverse and high-quality talent. Gina and Jim also detail the different steps they take to guide companies on this path. Join your host Rick Saez in this insightful conversation on diversity, inclusion, sexual misconduct prevention, and equitable workplace culture in the outdoor industry business.
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Respect Outside: The Importance Of Sexual Harassment Prevention In The Outdoor Industry With Gina McClard, J.D. and Jim Miller
Founded in Bend, Oregon in 2019, Respect Outside provides sexual harassment prevention trainings to businesses in the outdoor industry, including manufacturers, retailers, outfitters, nonprofits, government agencies, camps and universities. I’m excited to have the Founders, Gina McClard and Jim Miller on the show. Welcome to the show.
Thanks for having us.
We appreciate it.
It’s good to have you guys on. I love doing these multiple-person ones. I don’t do them that often. It’s always interesting. It creates little challenges sometimes but it’s always fun. I’m glad you guys made the time to do this so quickly. We put this together in a couple of days. It’s awesome.
It was a conversation that we had at Outdoor Retailer that led to this.
Have either of you been on a podcast before?
We do the event with Outdoor Retailer magazine. That was a web-based presentation and followed by an hour of questions and answers. That was a great format for us because people have a lot of questions about the topics that we work with organizations on. The ability to have feedback was an awesome format for us but this is the first true show we’ve done.
Have you been on any radio shows or anything? Any other media type or TV?
I’ve done a lot of media with radio and TV back in the day before there were podcasts. I love the new format.
I always like to get started with finding out how everybody was introduced to the outdoors. Gina, do you want to tell us how you were introduced to the outdoors?
My family was not outdoorsy at all but my dad was a pilot for Delta Air Lines. We traveled a lot and would go on the occasional ski trip. Mostly, my exposure and love for the outdoors came from growing up in rural Georgia, gardening and fishing a little bit and rafting the Chattahoochee, which is not at all whitewater rafting. It’s very chill, sit-in-the-tube and goes slowly. Sometimes you have to kick.
I took a class in high school on camping. I had these wonderful women that took us up into the North Georgia Mountains. I learned to leave no trace, make a fire and read a topo map. All of that led me to life experiences in the outdoor backcountry camping. It allowed me to feel safe and confident in places where I eventually went like Antarctica and Africa. It was from a high school class.
What did you do in Antarctica?
I was a General Field Assistant down at McMurdo Station on the Ross Island Ice Shelf in 1990. I was there for about ten months and I wintered over in 1990. I’ve done pretty much the opposite. Most people who go down in McMurdo Station or other US scientific bases down in Antarctica come for the summer and leave after three months in. I’ve always chosen things the hard way. I arrived at the closest season, wintered over and then left after the fall. It was very intense.
I was down there on a trip with Sobek. We traced the Shackleton thing and it was a fabulous. It was amazing down there and fantastic. Jim, how about you? How did you get introduced to the outdoors? You’re more of an outdoorsy guy from the get-go, it sounds like.
My family was instrumental, at least my dad. He loved to camp, fish and drove my mom along on that. I have three siblings and we did a lot of RV trips. We piled the family, all the kids and the dog in the RV and headed down the coast of California. Sometimes we went North into Canada but it was a lot of family-related stuff. We lived in the Bay Area. I grew up surfing and skating. That was high school for me. That moving water experience of surfing led to whitewater rafting. That’s what I did in the summers during college. That extended right into post-college following the winter into ski towns throughout the West.
It wasn’t my introduction to the outdoors but I was a guide in the summers through college. Those were the best years of my life. I had so much fun, made a bunch of money and great friends. It was awesome.
I worked for a company called White Water Voyages in California. We were running all over the state of California up into Oregon. It was a great opportunity to see a lot of different rivers and experience a lot of different places. That organization had a lot of women in it as well. The work that we’re doing is where we hear a lot of stories about women having to make a move into outfitted businesses.
My perspective is very different because with White Water Voyages, we had so many women who were running difficult white water yoga class guidelines. That was what I thought of as normal but then as I started to travel in most of the Western United States, I discovered that’s not indeed how most women are with the level that they’re guiding at and the opportunities that they’re provided.
California has some pretty technical rivers. We don’t get the big water that they get like the Grand Canyon but there are lots of technical rivers in the West that challenge you in different ways. It’s super fun. I had a blast. Gina, you have a lot of experience helping people with challenging environments or life situations. How did you get on that path?
I’ve always been an activist and a champion for the underdog. In college, I became an environmental activist and it’s what drove me to law school. I wanted to be an environmental lawyer. I got to law school and it coincided with the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings, which were broadcasted all over the school on television.
Watching Anita Hill testify for the first time in my life put a name to a lot of the unwelcome behaviors that I had experienced in my life at that point, particularly down on the ice. The ratio of men to women in Antarctica is 10 to 1. It’s a very small group of people. In the summertime, there would be 2,200 people at McMurdo Station but in the wintertime, it’s about 175. It’s a small crew. I worked in the heavy shop or the garage, not me personally. I’m working on heavy equipment but that’s what we did.
It was that kind of pivotal change, putting a name to some unwelcome experiences that I had that helped me shift from environmental activism to anti-gender-based violence work. It stayed with me. I started a nonprofit in Uganda where I worked with survivors of gender-based violence there who are refugees. It’s all about trying to give back and help those who are less fortunate than other populations who have more privilege. That’s how I got into that.
It’s interesting how all these things seem to start out of some kind of a personal experience or journey. It comes back to something when either you were a kid or young adult and you realize, “I got to go do something about that.” That’s good on you, though. That’s great. Jim, your background seems like a more traditional outdoor path. We talked about river guiding. How did you shift gears into your work?
I had the luck to have a wide range of experiences in the outdoor industry. I started at sixteen years old fitting ski boots at a shopping center in California. I found raft guiding in college, which took me all over the Western United States and ultimately to Zambia for six months. We shared having worked with Mountain Travel Sobek. I chased mountain living in places like Squaw Valley and Telluride, Jackson, Wyoming and we made our home in Bend, Oregon.
My first job out of college was teaching outdoor science in a camp setting. I’ve worked for brands like Yakima Racks and Werner Paddles in marketing. I co-owned my own specialty paddle sports store. I had a lot of these experiences and met so many great people, both at work and then the adventures that we’ve had tangentially to that work. It has been formative to me as a person.
The work that I do with Respect Outside, helping shift the industry to a more equitable place, has been incredible for me. Gina has helped open my eyes to some of the inequities that we see in day-to-day living that I didn’t notice before. I’ve had a little bit of an awakening in my partnership with Gina. Ultimately especially the founders of the outdoor industry, I’m a White, able-bodied, cisgender man of privilege. I’m in the perfect position to use my social capital to spark the conversation about what the future of the industry can look like.
In our society with #MeToo, COVID and Black Lives Matter so many individuals are thinking about what’s important to them and how work should fit into what they want out of life. Organizations have to re-imagine what work looks like and react to that in order to keep top talent. A big part of what employees want is to be able to come to work and be their whole selves, not have to contort themselves and fit the box that is work-life. I’m happy to be contributing to helping find the trail for the industry around these topics. I feel like the ability that I have to give back to the community that I had been part of for so long feeds my soul.
Tell our readers a little bit about Respect Outside. Jim, do you want to walk us through that?
Respect Outside provides solutions to the outdoor industry to increase gender equity and sexual misconduct discrimination. We do this by using the trust and communication found in outdoor pursuits. Think of being on wall climbing as an example or safety protocols found in other outdoor adventures. Imagine how you debrief after a raft trip to talk through any safety issues that might have come up. We want to use these values and practices that already exist to normalize the conversation around sexual misconduct and gender roles in the workplace. Gina, I would love for you to jump in here and add to that.
In a big picture sense, we advanced a culture-shift approach for organizations and companies in the outdoor space. We have two main pillars. We take a look at setting the table with the code of conduct for your organization with civility as a floor and baseline of expected conduct. We also train people to interrupt unwelcome behaviors at work.
It’s a communal effort that it’s not just top-down leadership that brings us all to the table but that their permission is given to employees to be able to speak up when they find that they’re confronted with unwelcome behavior. We take that one step further to also encourage people to speak up when they are experiencing behavior that they find positive and that they want to reinforce. It’s not to be too cavalier but it’s very much like training a dog. You want to use positive reinforcement as much as possible.
Organizations are having to re-imagine what work looks like now, and react to that in order to keep top talent.
Between civility and interrupting behaviors, we weave that as the bedrock into policies and procedures, which helped codify this behavior that you want to start seeing, expect of your employees and have that be baked into the organization beyond a nice mission statement or some other corporate documents that may live in a bottom drawer that isn’t living. We encourage that you take an active approach to utilize your policies and procedures as a very strong living document that guides behavior in the workplace.
I love to know that you do the positive reinforcement too because, too many times, like dogs, we beat up on the negative side and don’t reinforce the positive side. It takes both to come up with a well-rounded environment.
We’re pretty much about calling a call-in for inclusion, equity and diversity to the outdoor spaces. As organizations, they want to do this work but a lot of people are afraid truthfully of the change that is coming in the industry. They need some help and guidance to get there. For the vast majority of people, people want to do the right thing. They want to be good employers and employees. They want everyone to get along and have equitable relationships. Part of the problem is the transition from where we are to how do we get there. That’s the bridge that we help build.
Gina, is there anything to add to that?
We have this culture-shift approach that’s based on more concrete compliance elements but altogether, what we’re trying to do is to create safe work environments that are respectful for all employees so that everybody can thrive at work. We know that increased diversity and inclusion help the bottom line but you need to set the table with equitable practices and bake them into your company before you start bringing on more diverse individuals in your workplace because it’s not fair to them.
We are steeped in equity work and making sure that an organization and a company has done the work that they need to do so that when your employees start looking different, as we all hope that workplaces will become more diverse and when your guests or clients, depending on if you’re an outfitter start looking more like the population at large and not just a White male, everybody feels like they belong. We’re one piece in the puzzle of working to create a more equitable and diverse outdoor industry.
I love your tagline, “The difference between corporate values and company culture is action.” All the stuff is all about action. Tell our readers about what that means and why it’s important.
Employees and consumers are looking at organizations in how they’re bringing their stated values to light. You can have words on your website and a document that sits in a drawer. That’s going to ring hollow. The industry is looking to diversify their workforce and attract more clients that are more diverse but you must first set the table around equity and inclusion to do that. For example, one of your values is to have a more equitable workplace. You need to create environments where everyone is invited to the table, listened to and able to fully participate without interruption.
Gone are the days where we’re allowing the loudest voice in the room to take up all the space. How that becomes actionable would be to create policies and procedures that foster behaviors that support equity and inclusion, such as interrupting unwelcome behaviors and amplifying those positive messages that we were talking about. You need to train on those updated policies and procedures and routinely revisit them throughout the year.
We’re the people that bring those values to life. You can bring these up in weekly meetings but we’ve got to codify them in some way. One of the best ways is in staff evaluations. It’s an example we use a lot. Making sure that you’re reviewing your employees on how they are bringing the values that you want in your organization such as interrupting unwelcome behaviors or amplifying positive behaviors. Use that as a tool in your evaluation process. The additional benefit that people get when they feel like they’re part of the solution is they’re more invested in their workplace. We’re seeing that as a superadd.
Tell us about your train curriculum. How do you guys go in and do the work? That sounds pretty challenging but if the people are welcoming, it’s not as challenging as it could be if they weren’t welcoming to that type of work.
We want to take each client where they are and start there. The first thing we do is the assessment process where we take the temperature of your company’s culture. We do that in two different ways. We’ll do a climate survey, which asks employees in leadership how they feel like the mission of the company is aligned to the practices they see day in and day out at work. We do a knowledge assessment to get an idea of what people know about discriminatory behavior, sexual harassment and respectful behaviors at large.
A lot of times, that’s very illuminating for us because it helps us understand, “Are there problems in your organization that you didn’t know about? Are there good things that are also happening that we can build on and emphasize when we go on to do the training?” After we do the assessment process, we take a deep dive into an organization’s policies and procedures because the federal laws and state laws are changing at the speed of light.
Most likely, unless someone has redone their policies in the last six months, they’re probably not compliant with your state and maybe not with federal law. We can help you with that. As a lawyer, what I am very good at is making sure to do the research about what the law is and make sure that you’re compliant with it.
We train leadership. This is critical for how we approach our work because it’s essential that leadership buys into this process. It’s the voice that introduces us to staff to tell them, “We’re behind this. We are implementing this process. These are the people who are going to lead us through it.” We work with leadership to enforce how important this is and make the big business case to them so they all understand that, “This kind of work is helping the bottom line.” It’s helping you retain your employees and attract more diverse and well-qualified individuals into your company.
We also take this training to staff. We can tailor-make our training to your organization whether that is an online training if you have people in different places all over the place and can’t get together for in-person training or we can do an in-person training anywhere from a day-long training to a down-and-dirty compliance-based training that is about an hour and a half long.
Forty-five states, in one way or another, mandate that organizations train on sexual harassment. It’s more than just having a policy on the books. You actually have to train on that policy. There are seven states that have separate laws in addition to their state-wide organizations on employment discrimination that have codified that sexual harassment training needs to happen on a regular basis. In some cases, it’s every year. In some cases like California, it’s every two years.
We feel that this kind of cultural shift is a combination of taking your temperature, working on ways to embed civility and respect into your workplace, pulling on those safety protocols you might already have in place in your organization and then giving people real-life examples of how you can start using bystander intervention to create a positive workplace, where it’s okay and leadership has said, “We buy into this and support this. We’re going to evaluate you on how well you start incorporating these new values that we are emphasizing.”
That is a critical piece. That’s part of the policies and procedures where you can say to your employees, “Not only do we have this policy and not only are we training you on how you can start living our values but you’re going to be evaluated on how well you get this and reflect back the values in your behavior.” We think that’s critical and cutting-edge.
I bet the assessment part is illuminating to some of the individuals as well. They’re like, “I didn’t realize I even did that.”
We hear on a regular basis that, “We don’t think we need this kind of training because we’ve never had a complaint.” That’s almost more dangerous than if I hear, “We have a problem here. You all need to come in and help us.” Just because you haven’t had a formal complaint doesn’t mean that you don’t have a problem. Our assessments will get at that and that is helpful.
Jim, do you have anything to add to that?
Gina nailed it going through the steps that we take within the organization. She got it.
What kind of groups do you guys work with? Do you work with a lot of outdoor people or is it across the board?
We’re focused exclusively on the outdoor industry. It’s a massive industry with $887 billion in consumer spending. We work across the gamut. We work with brands, retailers, rep agencies, trade organizations, outfitters, camps, outdoor educators, nonprofits, resorts and government agencies. We haven’t hit all of those yet. All of these different segments share a connection to the outdoor recreation economy and have increased risk factors associated such as a culture of drug and alcohol use or dating in the workplace.
Oftentimes, we see it with outfitted businesses or outdoor educators. They’re living and working together. That’s another increased risk factor. There’s this general vibe within the outdoor industry that is very machismo-oriented and has this go-for-it attitude. We know who the audience is and that’s our secret sauce. Gina comes with a strong background in gender equity and sexual misconduct prevention. I have a wide range of experiences in the outdoor industry so that we can tailor-make our trainings to fit the organization that we’re engaged with.
The additional benefit that people get when they feel like they’re part of the solution is that they’re more invested in their workplace.
It’s smarter to focus on that too because that’s where your backgrounds are and you’ll do a much better job because you’ve lived the life.
It’s helpful when I bring up some legal compliance element or philosophical, cultural approach and then Jim takes that and marries it to his longtime understanding of the outdoor industry. It’s a little bit good cop, bad cop in the sense that I’m bringing up these concepts that are a little bit of a stretch and then Jim helps bring it home and help people understand, “This is how we’ve been doing it. Maybe this is a new way to think about what we’re suggesting.” He is my translator sometimes. That’s very helpful.
It makes it more powerful when you come up with the solutions, training and curriculum because you have both sides of the coin there. Do you guys have a success story you can talk about? Don’t name any names.
We do get expressed permission to use some people. We love to work with organizations that are transformational in nature. What that means is those organizations are looking forward and doing the needed work to create more equity. Outward Bound California comes to mind. The reason I bring them up is they have such a strong sense of community there. When we engaged with them, that was such a springboard for the work and message that we carry forward to their organization. That sense of community helped.
Here’s another one. We worked with an outfitter in the Arkansas River Valley, American Adventure Expeditions. They’ve got such a strong culture of safety on the water. We weren’t able to use that as a way to communicate, “You’re safe on the water. Here’s a way to frame up sexual misconduct prevention that tugs at those same safety protocols.”
These organizations are not just looking for compliance level, check-the-box on sexual misconduct training but they have a deeper desire to look to the future and see the new face of people coming into the outdoor industry, as both participants and employees and creating an environment that will be welcoming to everyone.
How about a situation that was uniquely challenging?
Sometimes our clients are focused on the macro-cultural shifts that they would like to see in their organizations. Sometimes clients come to us when they have an active problem or they have had problems in the recent past and they want to try and avoid those in the future. In those cases, sometimes participants in the training are resistant or non-participatory. It can be a challenge to bring them along but we have found that by having this dual approach between Gina, the lawyer and Jim, the longtime outdoor industry advocate, we can fully bring people around and help them see this rather dry subject matter in a more realistic context. We’ve been very successful in that.
Let’s shift gears a little bit and get back to some traditional questions I usually ask on the show. Do you have any suggestions or advice for people either wanting to get into the outdoor adventure biz or maybe get into the type of work you guys are doing?
COVID came down hard and I took that opportunity. Being at home for extended periods of time, I still wanted to be connected to the outdoor industry and I found that by taking mentoring calls from young people who want exactly that. They want to get into the outdoor business or trying to figure out what their next move is. My advice to them is always like, “Build your network and then lean on your network.” You’re much more likely to be able to want to take a call from a friend as opposed to somebody who is a stranger to you.
At Respect Outside, we’re huge advocates for creating a formal mentoring program within your organization within an equitable lens. What I mean by that is if we want more women, BiPAP people or gender-nonconforming people in leadership positions, which seems to make sense to everyone in the industry then we need to create a pipeline for that. Formalized mentorship programs within your organization help show that commitment and build that pipeline so that you can feed that talent from the lower levels of your staff into those leadership seats.
That has been wildly successful, I would guess.
It’s a proven way. This is the challenge that we see a lot. People see the change that they want, see where they are and there’s this gap. We’re here to help guide people wherever they are to the place that they want to be. We do that again back to that calling in and trying to create inclusivity even in our process of doing that. We’re making sure that all the right people are seated at the table that everyone is being heard. We want to build that process.
The inverse helps us as well. I can’t tell you the number of times that I have had conversations with young people in the outdoor industry or more particularly, in the DEI field, who helped me frame up an issue. They come so naturally these days from a place of understanding equity, inclusion and diversity. They can be helpful to those of us who are a little bit older who look at these workplace designs that are created by laws or the industry itself.
They help us understand the simplicity of how this moves so easily important and how we can craft up new policies around that. Mentoring is awesome. I also have to say that I feel like this younger generation that is so articulate in their strong principles has helped me personally define how I’m going to approach an issue. It goes both ways.
I’m an older White guy. When you interact with some people of color that are younger than you, you’re right. They’re so articulate and they’ve had different experiences. It’s eye-opening to things that you didn’t even realize A) You were doing or B) You were thinking. It’s fantastic to get that education exposure to those people.
The mentorship programs are huge, as well as internship programs. I don’t hear enough or maybe there are things going on that I don’t hear about. It seems like the outdoor space could use a lot more of those types of programs to help people get in or once they get into a company, outfitter or business help them succeed.
I went through an internship program in college in an outdoor business. It was an outdoor camp but it was a great way to indoctrinate myself into that space. I’m glad to know you guys are doing that mentorship program. We need more of that. Maybe I’ll start an outdoor biz mentorship. That would be fun.
That would be great because it helps inform those of us that are doing this work. That’s the generation that’s taking over. These are also the people who aren’t going to put up with historical behaviors that are unwelcome. They come to the table expecting a different kind of workplace. We’re seeing that with people leaving their jobs because after COVID, they’ve taken a hard look at what they expect work to look like for them. A safe and respectful place is the bare minimum that they expect when they walk in the door at work.
This is a fun question I ask everybody. Everybody seems to either have prepared amazingly for it, wing it or don’t have an answer. What is your favorite piece of outdoor gear under $100?
Since COVID, we’ve been traveling. We have a Sprinter that we travel and visit clients in. Part of that is that kind of outdoor living piece as you fold your living room outside of your van. The Kelty Loveseat is coming in at $109. We love it because Gina and I can sit on it together. If you’re on it by yourself, you can spread out. We’ve got dogs. They love to join us up on the loveseat as well.
Do the dogs have their own loveseats?
They don’t have their own but they can share with me quite nicely. They’re very good. Also, it’s my work chair. We chronicle where we work sometimes. We were on this amazing cliff looking at the Pacific Ocean right there in Depoe Bay, Oregon. I was starting my career in a more traditional sense as a lawyer. It’s wild that I’m sitting in this beautiful Kelty Loveseat on the cliffs of the Pacific Ocean. It’s not what I thought life was going to look like when I was 25.
That’s great for you guys to be able to do that. That’s awesome. We all aspire to that. I would love to be taking the podcast on the road, which is the end goal at some point. We should be doing this outside somewhere but unfortunately, it’s not happening but it will. You guys have a special offer for our readers to take advantage of your expertise and services.
Thank you for making this opportunity available to us. We’re extending a 10% discount to engagements that people book with us before the end of 2021.
Do they just mention the Outdoor Biz Podcast and that’s how they get the discount?
Yes, exactly. If they give us a call or email us and mention that as we’re starting our relationship, we’re happy to offer that discount.
There you go. If you want to take advantage of this expertise in your workplace or just personally, reach out to these guys. I’m sure they can help. As we finish up, is there anything else you want to ask or say for our readers?
I would like to encourage people to think about this work that we do as a positive cultural shift work as opposed to sexual misconduct compliance. When you take a more macro-approach to a specific issue like sexual misconduct prevention but you put it in the framework of civility, respect and bystander intervention where everyone is encouraged to speak out, that encompasses the whole culture of an organization.
It’s not based on, “Don’t do this and don’t do that. You can’t say that anymore,” as opposed to, “This is how we want everybody to feel good at work and this is how we get there.” That’s what we would like for people to, “Don’t be afraid of doing this work. This work is feel-good work. It isn’t a scary you-can’t-do-that-anymore kind of work.” That’s what I would say.
The younger generation, that is so articulate in their strong principles, has helped define how to approach an issue.
I would follow with what Gina was saying. Gina and I have the special sauce that when we combine, we get at the issues that people need to be addressing but do it in a way that is relevant to them. Because of my history in the outdoor industry, I get to reflect back. People see me and I get the opportunity to be that person who is reflecting who they are as part of the outdoor industry because of my experiences here and make things not so scary like, “If I can do this work and change the way that I’ve thought about equity, inclusion and diversity in outdoor spaces then everyone can.”
We did a bunch of corporate training at Eagle Creek. It was more along the lines of business training and how to run a better business. A lot of us that had been there a while already adopted the phrase, “I can learn and I can change.” It was a lot of things that we did from the get-go. We’ve all done various things whether it’s corporately business-related or personally related. We’re all capable of change. We just have to find out what it is to change and how to change. It sounds like you guys are creating a path, strategy and tactic to make that happen. Good on you. I appreciate it.
Thank you.
Where can people find you if they would like to follow up? What’s your website? You’re probably on the socials.
You can check out our site at RespectOutside.com. We’re active on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn @RespectOutside. If you would like, follow along, like and share our content there. You can always get me personally on Jim@RespectOutside.com or give me a call at (541) 410-5576.
It has been great talking to you. Thanks for telling us what you do. It sounds like it’s great work and eye-opening to all of us, I’m sure. I appreciate it. Keep up the good work. I’ll see you on the road sometime.
Thanks so much. See you on the road.
Thank you.
Important Links:
- Respect Outside
- Outdoor Retailer
- McMurdo Station
- White Water Voyages
- Mountain Travel Sobek
- Yakima Racks
- Werner Paddles
- Store – Alder Creek Kayak Canoe
- Outward Bound California
- American Adventure Expeditions
- Kelty Loveseat
- Eagle Creek
- Jim@RespectOutside.com
- Instagram – Respect Outside
- Facebook – Respect Outside
- LinkedIn – Respect Outside
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimatrespectoutside/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/ginamcclard/
About Jim Miller
Jim is a graduate of California State University and a lifelong lover of the outdoors. His thirty-year career as a member of the outdoor recreation industry includes raft guiding for Mountain Travel-Sobek, marketing and retail training initiatives for brands such as Yakima Racks and Werner Paddles, ownership of a multi-unit retail specialty store, and consulting to manufacturers and retailers in the outdoor and action-sports areas.
In his time in the industry, Jim has seen a number of game-changing initiatives implemented which have driven outdoor companies to the forefront of social awareness and work-life culture.
These industry values are what first attracted him, and it is these values that he seeks to advance by creating real change in the ways people of different genders relate and interact while at work.
About Gina McClard
Twenty-five years of experience working as a lawyer advocating and litigating for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence including sexual assault and sexual harassment.Law Professor who co-founded the first Crime Victim’s Litigation Clinic and who also started the nation’s first Center for Law and Public Policy on Sexual Violence.A self-driven and dedicated international humanitarian professional and human rights lawyer with a passion for working with conflict and trauma-affected populations.
An innovator who founded and directs a small non-profit working with refugee and conflict-affected women and girls using vocational and educational training as well as microloans in the most underserved and isolated areas of the world.
Twelve years of experience in international development, in Liberia, Uganda, Senegal and Mexico.
Culturally competent and highly adaptable to living and working in diverse environments because of years of living, working & traveling in Africa, Antarctica and throughout the world.
