Interview on OIWC (Outdoor Industry Women's Coaltion) January 2012 Newsletter

Microsoft's Premiere Snowboard/Skateboard site, PUSH.CA interview with Claire Smallwood

2011 March issue of Stray Outdoors, "SheJumps encourages women to take the leap outdoors"

2010 Sept. issue of WEND magazine, "Platform section"

My name is Claire Smallwood. I am an activist.

My passion is sharing what I love most—the outdoors. The vision we foster through SheJumps is to create a community of ambitious and compassionate women who are willing to take a “jump” to reach their potential and help others reach their own.

Our main objective is to increase and inspire the participation of women in outdoor activities. We are a multifaceted organization that works on three levels: Jump In (and try something new), Jump Up (challenge yourself to something better) and Jump Out (share it with someone new).

Shejumps.org is our website and main portal of inspiration that highlights the accomplishments and adventures of everyday women. We create many different programs that are opportunities for professional athletes or recreational enthusiasts to give back to their communities, such as our skiing camps at Alta with Boys & Girls Club teens from Salt Lake City.

We offer a multitude of resources to ensure that women have no excuse to not go outside. These resources come in many different ways, including our gear grant program that provides gear through a simple application process. In return, we simply ask that the gear get used and that whoever is using it document the fun she’s having with it.

SheJumps also strives to create community-organized events where women meet up with other women to have outdoor adventures of any nature (including hula-hooping). One of the most memorable is our Backcountry Tour for the Cure, an event for SheJumpers to experience the challenge of winter camping in solidarity to raise money for women with breast cancer.

It’s not that there haven’t always been women excelling in the outdoors as leaders, athletes, activists and enthusiasts; at SheJumps, we believe it’s time for women to become a part of something bigger. We started SheJumps to celebrate the beautiful, empowering camaraderie of what females and genuine, unselfish support can do. After all, “if she can do it, so can I.

Claire Smallwood is the Executive Director of SheJumps.org.

Ski Magazine: High-Country Heroes

Making fresh tracks of a different sort: Giving back more than they take.

skiphoto
BIG-MOUNTAIN freeskier and ski-film star Lynsey Dyer keeps a cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue tacked to a hallway wall in her house as a reminder of the way things are for women in sports: that is to say, largely ignored. “I want it to be a female athlete on the cover, not just models,” she says. “That doesn’t seem to be too much to ask.”

Dyer, with fellow skiers and friends Vanessa Pierce and Claire Smallwood (pictured, from top), founded SheJumps, a Salt Lake City–based nonprofit with an eye toward building a community of like-minded women: strong, active and sick of the status quo. “I’m tired of seeing Britney Spears and Paris Hilton as role models,” she says. “We want to be a part of changing that.”

The group is pushing adventure-based empowerment for three grades of women: the never-evers, the backcountry pros and the active types in need of a little help from talented friends with extra gear. (Their slogan: “What would you dare to accomplish if you knew the only possible outcome was
success?”) This winter, SheJumps is hosting a campaign to get more women avvy-educated and into the backcountry, with classes, discounts and networks of similarly inclined ladies. Last fall, they offered a free two-day career conference for professional female athletes, with seminars on everything from finding an agent to exploiting the media. (Hey, wait a minute....) Salt Lake City contains a growing immigrant population, including a recent wave of Sudanese; SheJumps is working with local social services to gather women who might never otherwise set foot—or snowshoe—in Salt Lake’s surrounding wilderness. “It’s an incredible opportunity to educate people about these open spaces,” says Smallwood, and hopefully instill a passion for preservation.

As a nonprofit, SheJumps is also creating a grant fund to finance women’s adventures. “We’re here to philosophically, logistically and physically support women’s dreams,” Smallwood says. “We want women to make that jump, to build their confidence, to do something they didn’t think they could.”

shejumps.org

Photo by Alexa Miller

 

SheJumps honored in Las Vegas

OIWC
SHEJUMPS FOUNDERS Lynsey Dyer and Vanessa Pierce were awarded the Outdoor Industry Women’s Coalition (OIWC) “Pioneering Woman Award” on Jan. 31, 2008, for their outstanding mentorship and leadership skills in the snowsports industry.

The award, which was presented at the SIA SnowSports Trade Show in Las Vegas, marks an important cornerstone in the brief and vibrant history of SheJumps. As an organization that platforms itself on the basis of “helping women achieve their dreams,” the award is affirmation that the “applied for” nonprofit is, indeed, helping women reach success. The SheJumps crew—including dear friend and SJ executive director Claire Smallwood—stood in front of a room full of inspiring women such as 2007 OIWC Pioneering Woman Award winner Ski Press Publisher Anne-Marie Boissonnault and ‘06 First Ascent Award recipient (for a woman new to the industry who demonstrates strong potential for leadership) pro snowboarder/film producer Amber Stackhouse. There was certainly a lot of motivation to be driven from a crowd such as this particular one, as ‘07 First Ascent Award winner Sarah Bennett reminded us in her acceptance speech. SheJumps is extremely honored to receive this award.

If you are new to SheJumps or perhaps an old friend, the award might not have your name engraved on it, but you are right there with us. It’s this sort of communal motivation that we seek and hope to share with everyone. All Jumpers are part of this honor. Thanks everyone!!

For more on OIWC, visit www.oiwc.org. PHOTOS: (Top) Friends and family from left to right: A.J. Cargill, Vanessa Pierce, Marcia Dyer, Lynsey Dyer, Sunny Fenton (kneeling), Claire Smallwood, and Silvie Cargill; (Bottom) Vanessa Pierce, left, and Lynsey Dyer
OIWC