Our Wildway Crew highlights ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
Within each of us lies the potential to live life to the fullest. We have the ability to choose our own destiny, live without fear or limits, challenge ourselves and grow, do and be whatever makes us happy. We have the ability to be free. It's how you live a Wildway of life and there are people all around us inspiring others with their actions. We want to celebrate that by highlighting and honoring those who #LiveWild.
Meet the newest Wildway Crew member:
Stephanie Marchant
"Growing up in the Midwest, I spent a lot of summers by the lake and winters in the snow. I had a healthy appreciation for the outside world, but never really considered myself outdoorsy. Sports were also a big part of my childhood - I played volleyball and ran track, but my main focus was figure skating, and more specifically synchronized skating. A team of 20, flowing across the ice in unison to music with the most intricate of costumes and makeup. That was a big part of my life for a long time and I was so fortunate to compete not only throughout the U.S., but internationally as well with my team. We had a really great run, but as with all things, this came to an end when I graduated high school and moved on to college. I studied Biomedical Engineering for my undergraduate degree and as you can probably imagine, between the class load and my part-time job working to try and support myself throughout school, there wasn’t much time left over for myself. It was somewhere between college and beginning my career that I really lost sight of those extra hobbies and activities that gave me a sense of purpose outside of the day-to-day routines.
Fast forward a few years and not a lot had changed - sure there was marriage, a couple of moves that were never very far from the last place, and a job change, but overall there was still that everyday monotony & feeling that there was more out there for us. Everything changed when my partner was contacted by a recruiter for a job out in Washington. Were we really going to pick up and move across the country in only a few weeks time? Leave our friends and families and everything we’ve grown up with and known our whole lives? Could we even afford to make it work? We took a chance on ourselves and said it’s now or never. We didn’t want to spend our days wondering what might’ve been had we not taken the chance, so we sold most of our belongings, packed the essentials and headed west to begin our new adventure.
Doing our best to acclimate to our new surroundings in Seattle, we decided to take up hiking. What better place to do that than the Pacific Northwest?! Every time we were out on a hike, my partner was busy taking photos of the beauty around us. Rather than just stand around and wait for him to finish, I figured I’d pick up a camera too! Hiking & photography became a fun hobby for both of us to enjoy, and it was a great way for us to share our new surroundings with family & friends back home. The more we explored, the more we wanted to explore and every time we crossed one place off of our list, we added at least five more. Hiking has become such an essential part of our lives and we’ve come to love (and need) our escapes out into the mountains. It’s so crazy to think that even just five years ago, I had no idea that half of these places existed, or that I would even remotely enjoy the things I love doing the most now. I guess you could call me outdoorsy."
Follow Stephanie's journey through her stunning Instagram: @stephintotheunknown
