Born on the edge of the North Shore Mountains near Vancouver, BC, Josie found an early love for alpine terrain through early ski adventures at nearby Whistler. At age five, her family moved to Toronto, where she learned to embrace new landscapes—canoeing in Algonquin, running along Lake Ontario and playing soccer across the province. Before university, she spent a gap year in Australia and New Zealand working in ecotourism and environmental community service.

Josie earned her degree in Sport and Event Management with a focus on Adventure-Based Learning at Elon University in North Carolina, where she led the Elon Outdoors program, volunteered on a Costa Rican farm and studied abroad in Dublin.

After graduation, Josie moved to Snowmass, Colorado, where she developed media training materials for a local grocery chain. Then, in a whirlwind turn, she accepted a role with Northeastern University and flew to Greece within days. As an International Coordinator, she supported 212 first-year students and later worked in Boston, Melbourne and Prague. Memorable moments abroad included hiking Ben Lomond in New Zealand, exploring sustainable education in Bali and jetting to Oslo for a concert.

Living within global communities, Josie began to see tourism’s unintended consequences. Motivated to be part of the solution, she pursued a master’s in International Sustainable Tourism Management at Monash University in Melbourne. She now strives to champion tourism that supports local communities, protects heritage and wildlife, and deepens travelers’ relationships with the natural world.