This year for International Women’s Day, we are celebrating the outdoors and those who make it a better place for all. We want to shine a spotlight on some amazing women in the outdoors – leaders, role models, mentors, mothers, sisters, and daughters – by sharing their stories, words of advice and encouragement for other women. We want to uplift and empower all the women who share the outdoors. One of the women we are proud to call our friend and partner at Savage is Christa Forrester. This is her story!

Christa Forrester

My name is Christa Forrester. I am the Chief of Staff at Shoot Like a Girl. I am a firearms instructor, new hunter, and lover of all things outdoors.

My advice for women in the outdoors: It’s as simple as Get Outside. This last two years has been unique on our time outside. On one hand we were all home and had more time to step of the front door and into the woods or walk down the sidewalk. But on the other hand, we all felt compelled to work harder, sitting in our new “home” offices, head down typing away from the time our feet hit the floor in the morning. Often, we never looked up, therefore not seeing that the day had passed us by. Others, brought their families home and school moved to the kitchen table, changing our time outside. Define a time, 10 minutes, 30 minutes, or an hour a day. If you can plan an outdoor event, its usually free or low cost, put it in your calendar and do it. Your soul needs it and will appreciate it.

How the outdoor industry can support women: It really comes down to opportunities and invitation. We have to be better about showing our girlfriends and female family members the path to the outdoors and them taking them there, introducing them to new friends and then continue to invite them back. We love all of the men in our lives, but the connection we have with other women is different and necessary.

How women can get involved in the outdoors: If you are looking for a group, try them all out and if you don’t find one that fits you then start your own!

How I Got Started:  I was fortunate to connect with women across the industry over the last 15 years. This was an important time for me, my children had left home for college, and I was finding myself looking for myself. Many would feel lost, but I felt the call of life and the outdoors answered it.

How I support other women: As a former runner (this is where my daily outdoor need was fertilized), I invited my best friend to run with me. She was a hard no “I can’t do that” but overtime realized she survived off of the sun and air around her and joined me, fertilizing her soul. But my most recent and favorite story is my daughter. She is a trained photographer and young mother. She has dedicated her life to her family and put herself last. Recently, we brought her on a hunt for photo and video capture. The transformation in herself is amazing. She has never really been “outdoorsy” but has now experienced the early morning light on a hunt and sounds of nature, it has changed her life. As a mother, I am gleaming from the inside out.

Why I’m proud to be a woman in the outdoors: I never look at it as proud until I look back and the I realize I did it, whatever it was. It is a personal journey one that often brings tears of joy. Even the strongest women don’t often see their abilities until the task or experience is complete.

Challenges women face in the outdoor industry: We are our first challenge. We often don’t think we can do something or don’t think we are invited or see something as a male experience when it really is coed, we just need to chow up. If we can just get out of our own heads and believe in ourselves, we would see the opportunities and be more comfortable in taking them.

Follow Christa Forrester @christaforrester

Read more Women in the Outdoors stories!