Pull up a chair for a conversation with women who’ve gone far — and then kept going.

From cross-country bike expeditions to solo treks and long-haul journeys like the Camino de Santiago, this roundtable brings together stories, strategy, and hard-earned perspective from women living fully in the outdoors.

Expect honest talk about risk, resilience, freedom, and what it actually takes to do bold things on your own terms.

Come listen, ask questions, and leave with a bigger sense of what’s possible.

CHARLI K. ELDER

Charli K Elder researches and writes about outdoor sports to understand how people learn, take risks, and navigate power. Her peer-reviewed research focuses on gender and representation in action sports media. She holds a Ph.D. in Communications, co-edits Site Zed Journal, and has paddled whitewater across 22 states over 17 years.

Deb Shmerler

Deb’s intro to travel was a 2-year honeymoon where she traveled the U.S., Europe and the middle east on a tandem bicycle.  After her return, she moved on with her career in the field of Graphic Design but always made time to continue her cycling and section-hiking the Appalachian trail. Travel for both work and adventure, brought her to Peru, Norway, Vietnam, Italy and Brazil among other places.  Deb is now a Professor Emerita after teaching for 18 years at the University of Tennessee in the School of Art and spends her retirement free-time doing collage and design work. The passion to to see more of our great world has most recently taken her to paddle the Suwannee River in Southern Georgia, bike across the Island of Sicily and hike the beautiful Laugavegur Trail in Iceland.

LIZA ZENNI

Liza Zenni brings the same curiosity to the trail that she brings to Knoxville’s creative community. A leader with the Knoxville Arts & Culture Alliance, she champions bold ideas, connection, and culture in the city she calls home. Liza’s sense of adventure stretches far beyond Tennessee - most recently hiking England’s Coast to Coast Path, with solo journeys on Scotland’s West Highland Way, the South West Coast Path, and routes through Montenegro and beyond. She joins the panel with the perspective of someone who knows that art and adventure both begin where comfort ends.

DR SARAH LOVE

Dr. Sarah Love is a postdoctoral research fellow with the USGS and Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center. Professionally, she helps federal land managers decide how to deal with ecosystem transformations and habitat loss under climate change. In the outdoors, she says yes. Sarah has been a wilderness guide in the Boundary Waters, was the first woman on the Backcountry Unit Search and Rescue team in the Smoky Mountains, has guided on the Ocoee, hunted in the Gila National Forest and Aldo Leopold Wilderness, and always has her sights set on the next adventure. Being a woman in the outdoors is her life's purpose and greatest joy.

ANGEL HOWARD

Angel Howard is a certified somatic movement therapist, executive coach, retreat host and speaker with over 25 years of experience enhancing personal performance for business leaders, changemakers and entrepreneurs. Founder of Wildheart Expressive and creator of the ChakraMentalMethod™, Howard hosts the Upshift podcast, created the PBS show Women Our Age and wrote Issues in Your Tissues and her latest release, What’ s Messing with Your Messages.

She has held executive positions at Coca-Cola, Legacy Housing Foundation, Tennessee Clean Water Network, and Fort Loudoun Lake Association, experiences she now uses to empower leaders to connect with their inner voice, creativity, and confidence.

KAT BIKE, MODERATOR

Kat lives most of her life outdoors and most of that on two wheels. She’s led coed, women’s, and kids’ group rides, produced events for years, mentors young riders with Little Bellas, and has guided at Blackberry Farm — and when she’s not on a bike, she serves on the Knox County Board of Education and works at UTK.