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 at Savage is Kelly Reisdorf. This is her story!

Kelly Reisdorf

I have a split role between the business and corporate.  I am the Chief Communications Officer for Vista Outdoor which is to oversee communications, government affairs and investor relations.  On the business side, I run a small women’s line of hunting lifestyle inspired fashion.  

My advice for women in the outdoors: Speak up. Trust your gut.  Be curious.  Don’t be afraid to ask questions and don’t take no for an answer.  In many conversations I’ve had with women all across the industry or those that are trying to get into the industry - they will tell me about their experience in a meeting where they had a good idea or an insightful comment but were either too bashful or lacked the confidence to speak their mind. And almost always, they’ll tell me after the fact that another person spoke up, had the same idea, and received the praise and recognition. So my advice is trust your gut, be proud of your ideas and confidently communicate them in small or large settings.

How the outdoor industry can support women: We all have seen the resurgence in outdoor activity over the past 24 months, so I think this question is more about how do we as women recruit and reactivate those who really didn’t embrace the outdoors in the same way. The outdoors provides so many physical, emotional, and spiritual benefits. The best thing we can do is advocate for the outdoors and invite coworkers, friends, or neighbors for an outdoor activity.  And further, as industry leaders, what can each of us do to better understand the barriers and constraints to participation, and let’s speak up and work together to solve and make those barriers and constraints go away!  

How women can get involved in the outdoors: Check out Camber Outdoors!

How I Got Started:  In certain ways, especially as a veteran, hunter and 2A advocate, I feel supported and welcomed.  However, in other ways, it has been very challenging.  There are times where you feel somewhat as though you have to work twice as hard to be recognized half as much.  The good here is that I have had many teachers and many mentors, all with very formative lessons.  I invest a portion of my time in mentoring others (men and women) to help navigate challenge, solve problems, so that they may all have an easier path than I have had.  Bottom line is I wouldn’t trade any of the hard things or challenges for anything.  They’ve shaped who I am today, so I also don’t want to somehow suggest that the solution is to just make everything easy and smooth. I believe strongly in the principle that respect is earned, not given, so it’s a balance that I am continually trying to strive for in my mentorship and my journey. 

How I support other women: Camber mentorship. Internal mentorship. Our team is 60% women, which is well above the company average. I believe our team’s external and internal focus on equity, empowerment and opportunity is something that has been ingrained into my direct reports and its uplifting to see them thrive and export this mindset to others in the company or in their own networks.  I think we are leading by example and its inspiring to watch our team in action!  And while gender is a key piece of this, it’s also about learning as leader, as a company and as an industry to open our eyes to all the places where talent lives, and talent can thrive.  To quote Ben Horowitz, “let’s figure out how to not be talent blind”. 

Why I’m proud to be a woman in the outdoors: So many things.  But the most exciting opportunities for me are to share outdoor recreation and shooting sports activities with my kids.

Read more Women in the Outdoors stories!