NOMIWOMAN SPOTLIGHT Meet Rachel Straughen: A Life Outdoors Rachel Straughen is the Education Director at the Grand Traverse Conservation District, where she’s spent the last seven years leading environmental education programs, staff development, and youth engagement initiatives that connect thousands of learners with the outdoors each year. Outside of GTCD, she’s also the photographer behind Rachel Straughen Photography, a Traverse City-based wedding and event photography business. We caught up with Rachel to talk about noticing the natural world—through a camera lens and otherwise. You grew up in Northern Michigan, spending time outdoors on your family’s farm. How did those experiences shape the way you see the natural world—and eventually the work you do today? I was lucky to grow up being outside A LOT. Visiting and helping out at our family farm, traveling to the Upper Peninsula regularly, exploring the woods and water, and overall being immersed in Northern Michigan’s natural resources from an early age. That only deepened when I attended college up in the Keweenaw at Michigan Tech. The Keweenaw is a wild, rugged, almost otherworldly place, and being surrounded by that kind of landscape day to day changes how you see nature. You start noticing details instead of just scenery. That’s really the foundation of everything I do today. Environmental education, at its core, is about helping people build that same relationship with the natural world, whether that’s through a field trip, GTCD Nature Day Camp & Hickory Hills Day Camp, or a program that gets all ages outside for the first time in a while. We are lucky to live in Northern Michigan. When was the last time you took 10 minutes to sit outside and take it all in?❤️ Whether you’re teaching kids about nature or reaching for your camera when you spot a red-tailed hawk, you have a real instinct for noticing what’s around you. What do you think helps us slow down and really see the world? It’s the same instinct whether I’m leading a program or photographing a wedding—the moment worth noticing is almost never the one you planned for, it’s the one you catch because you were paying attention. But I’ll be honest, my phone is usually right there with me too. My career runs on constant communication, so it’s easy to stay tethered to it even when I’m outside. What’s helped me is being intentional about stepping away: I’ll put my phone on do not disturb, or just tell people up front what I’m doing, like, “I’ll be out on Lake Leelanau today, I’ll follow up when I’m back.” That small boundary makes it a lot easier to actually look up. And when you do, you notice things like a hawk circling overhead, the way light moves across the water. Those things are always there. Most of us just aren’t looking. You’ve spent your career helping people connect with nature. What’s one small way any of us can start doing that in our everyday lives? Start small. Learn the name of one bird you keep hearing (I highly recommend the Merlin Bird ID app!). Notice which trees change color first near your house or office. Step outside for your coffee instead of drinking it at the counter. Connection to nature isn’t about grand wilderness trips, it’s about paying attention to the wild things already sharing your everyday life, whether that’s your backyard, a wedding venue, or a trail. GET OUTSIDE TODAY! |
