Emily VanCleve

Emily was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. She spent her formative years in the rainy city of roses; riding bikes, playing in city parks, and swimming in the river. She was a youth ambassador in Santa Rita Paraguay during her junior year of high school. That experience sparked her love of exploration and cultural diversity. After high school she decided to escape the concrete jungle and devote her life to roaming the world. She studied Biology at Southern Oregon University, while leading and participating on countless backpacking trips in the Klamath and Siskiyou Mountains. For half a year she worked on an organic bee farm on the Big Island of Hawaii. She worked in the Conservation world, leading and coordinating youth crews throughout Oregon and Washington. Most recently, she traveled to the Andes of Peru to study Permaculture Design and trek the Salcantay pass. Emily loves to run, hike, and climb in her current backyard, the Cascade Mountain Range. When she is not exploring, she loves to read in coffee shops, practice yoga, and play the ukulele.