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 Eliza Graves. This is her story!

Eliza Graves

I am the Senior Brand Marketing Manager at Vista Outdoor for the Shooting Accessories group. Our team handles all things marketing around such iconic brands as RCBS, Hoppe’s, Champion, and Butler Creek.

My advice for women in the outdoors: Get out there and try that thing that intimidates you – whether hunting or shooting. Any shooting discipline I’ve tried or hunt that I have been a part of have been amazing experiences. I ask a lot of questions (it is how I learn) and have found nothing but extremely helpful and knowledgeable people that want to share their love for the outdoors with me. Just take the first step.  

Why I am proud to be a woman in the outdoors: I love breaking barriers and stereotypes. People never expect me to have this job or that I love to shoot guns and hunt.

Challenges women face in the outdoor industry: Not being taken seriously as a woman in the industry. I have found once people realize I talk the talk, walk the walk, and am knowledgeable about our products and industry, they look at me completely different. Don’t judge a book by its cover, it’s that easy.

Follow Eliza Graves on Instagram @eliza.f.graves

Read more Women in the Outdoors stories!