Gale Straub

I am an audio producer eager to apply what I’ve learned the last 5 years shaping audio stories in the outdoor industry to the broader radio and podcasting community. I'm happiest when I can play a role in helping others' work and ideas shine. I ask a lot of questions but I don't like to hold on too tightly to one answer.

In 2014, I left my job in accounting at a venture capital firm to launch She Explores, a multimedia platform highlighting primarily women voices and celebrating the myriad ways we find ourselves in the outdoors. Craving more in-depth conversations and drawn in by the creative possibilities of audio storytelling, I started the podcast in June of 2016.

Almost 200 episodes later, the narrative interview style show doesn’t follow a set format. I’ve sent a field recorder along with a group of plus-sized women called the "Curvy Kili Crew" as they summited Mount Kilimanjaro. I went camping on the Olympic Peninsula and explored the inspiration we find in the outdoors with two artists for Columbia Sportswear. I consulted with experts at the start of the pandemic to help empower people to recreate safely. I’ve led the production on She Explores podcast miniseries in partnership with brands like Subaru USA to help tell a dive into a subject that is as relevant to our listeners as it is evocative of the brand’s ethos. I’ve also had the privilege of interviewing hundreds of outdoor lovers about their intimate relationships with the natural world from my closet.

Since I launched the show, I’ve been intentional about both passing the mic to and featuring women whose narratives have been historically excluded from and underrepresented in the outdoors. Because not only is telling the same story over and over again boring, it'd be foolish to think that one lens is sufficient to help showcase what’s possible when we step outside. To that end, I’ve trained folks to host, produce, and edit episodes who had never spoken into a mic or opened Adobe Audition before. Mentorship and editing the work of others has become the best part of my job.