field staff

Liz is one of Global Route’s most seasoned and valued trip leaders and has supported Global Routes in program development from 2014-2018. She was Valedictorian at Sierra Nevada College and holds a holds a BA in Humanities. Her certifications include: Teaching English as a Foreign Language Certification, TEFL International, Wilderness First Responder w/ CPR, PADI Rescue Diver, and ACA Sea Kayak Instructor & Guide.

She has left her wake in every ocean but the Arctic. Liz has studied, worked, volunteered, and traveled throughout Central and South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. She is fluent in Spanish and spends her free time exploring and paddling in new places, visiting family/friends, singing monster rock ballads at open mics, and breaking taco-eating records in obscure port towns.

A 5-time Global Routes Leader (Tanzania x 4 and Nepal) Mary is an explorer, a boundary pusher, a pump-up giver, a lover of humanity, and a hopeless believer in the good. She spent her youth moving around to five different states before finally settling into life in Colorado. Once settled in the land of mountains, sunshine, and smiles she stumbled into her passion of human equality and women’s empowerment. Beautifully powerful people surrounding her along with an open-mindedness created the perfect opportunity for further developing her passion of female empowerment and exploration. She immersed herself in these passions while serving in the Peace Corps. Nothing has ever been as wonderfully difficult or as magically soulful than her time in Tanzania. She has been privileged enough to see the profound impact that integrating with villagers has had on not only herself and the communities, but her students as well. After years of working with student travel programs like Global Routes and Carpe Diem Education, Mary bravely chose to create not one but two businesses, Mama Dunia and Live Dunia. The intention behind these businesses is to create positive impact through sustainable collaboration in Tanzania, specifically with marginalized women. In different ways, both organizations aim to connect mindful consumers and travelers to women’s co-ops, and local villages, in effort to increase income, access to education, health care, and empowerment of the entire community. Live Dunia is, for her, the way to keep the stream of consciousness, joy, and peace flowing through humanity. Mary prides herself on her guac making abilities, can spit a mean Swahili rap, affirms others like there is no tomorrow, and loves cracking jokes. The way to her heart is through a good, strong cup of coffee, friends, laughter, nature, and a fan blowing in her face. What lights her fire is empowering those around her to explore the world, believe in themselves, and know that they can make a positive

Shankar is the Managing Director of Exotic Mountain Treks in Nepal, where he has worked for 25 years, organizing treks and guiding hikers throughout the Himalayas.

He has an MBA from Tribhuban University in Kathmandu and has worked with Global Routes groups since the mid 1990s. He elevates the Global Routes Nepal program by providing opportunities for students to immerse themselves in the culture while providing meaningful service work.

Angela Maria Prieto was born in Bogota, Colombia and grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada. She is bilingual and has a passion for traveling and learning about new cultures. She completed a MA in Intercultural Youth and Family Development from the University of Montana and has a BA in Psychology from the University of Nevada Las Vegas. Angela served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala with the Youth in Development program from 2013 to 2015. She also has taught English in Colombia; mentored high school students in Las Vegas; and worked at a wilderness therapy program in Hawaii. She loves to help people, dance, make art, hike, garden, and swim with dolphins. She is currently residing in Honoka’a, Hawaii where she works with autistic students as a registered behavior technician. She looks forward to leading her first Global Routes trip to Costa Rica and explore the meaning of Pura Vida.

From the Providencia de Páramo de Pérez Zeledón, Carlos has been working in adventure tourism for 22 years. He loves introducing visitors to the natural beauty and adventures to be had throughout Costa Rica! He’s excited to be a leader on the 2022 Costa Rica program because he believes it’s essential for the development and social growth of young adventurers in today’s world.

He’s the father of three (two sons and a daughter) and certified in Wilderness First Aid and RCP, White Water Rafting Instructor Rapids, Rope Rescue Operational Level, and as a White Water Rescue Technician.

Mike grew up in the foothills of Colorado. His curiosity and wanderlust has since carried him to all continents of the world. For the past couple of decades, he has been involved in the field of experiential education, both as a group leader and program director.

To date Mike has led programs for Global Routes in Thailand and Ecuador. He enjoys reading, playing music, meditation and motorcycling. He continues to combine travel and education in his personal life as well, visiting old friends and making new ones, in all corners of the world.

Molly is a wonderer and a wanderer. She has been afflicted with a severe case of wanderlust since being a child. She loves to combine her passions for education, community building, health & wellness, and fun. Molly has worked as a nanny, a camp counselor, a mentor and tutor, a wilderness guide, a teacher, and a fairy godmother while continuing her intensive education in the School of Life. She has worked in education in Asia, Oceania, and Europe.

Molly has embraced the world of sustainability, farming and growing food and has a great love for vegetables, bicycles, physical fitness and delicious food. Molly has her BA in Sociology and Psychology from Oberlin College and is a certified yoga and group fitness trainer. This is her first time as a Global Routes guide and she is quite delighted about the opportunity.

Raised in the Southwest amongst ravens, junipers & coyotes; Kayla dreamed of one day exploring the far reaches of the world. She received a B.A. in Adventure Education & has since guided in the realm of environmental education, wilderness expedition, international service, and wilderness therapy.

Kayla has had the opportunity to guide in 11 countries over the last 12 years and is grateful to be working her first season with Global Routes this summer.

This is my first summer leading for Global Routes! I love each culture that’s able to come out of strangers coming together and bonding, struggling, reveling, and growing in their unique shared experience.

As a past student, I grew so much with the safe and supportive community that seemed earnest in their excitement of me. As a leader, my heart feels flooded with joy being able to help co-create similar environments for my students to feel safe, seen, and earnestly cared for.

My last name Fast comes from the German word Faust meaning strong, lucky, & fortunate but my life started in the jungles of the Philippines on a large volcano named Mount Pinatubo. After her 1991 eruption, I found myself growing up in one of the two snow belts of the Great Lakes in Northern America. This snow field the Manistee River where my family owned a trout ranch. A river whose name means “the life of the forest.” The other snow belt was located on the upper peninsula of Michigan where I gained a Bachelors degree in Environmental Studies and Sustainability. Here I learned from Ojibwe teachers that emphasized how Earth shows us the way. In Hawai’i we call these kinds of observations as kilo.

I found home on the dormant volcano of Mauna Kea which is named after its snowy peak. This water fuels the lands below where I started Hawai’i Time Farm when the pandemic first started. I was in the middle of student teaching and was fortunate to have graduated early with a teacher’s certificate in secondary science and a focus on Hawaiian studies. My passion throughout life stems from the extinction rates of our fellow earthlings. Solutions I have found are deeply connected with our own species and our relationship with food, water, energy, and economics. I hope to inspire generational thinking to help leave this planet better than when we came to it.

José is passionate about the role education can play in transformation. He is a 9th grade English Teacher in the Bay Area, and has previously worked with all grade levels, PreK-12th. He has a deep love for the outdoors and loves to learn about new ecosystems.

He loves horror movies, reading and also telling dad jokes. José became interested in the field of experiential education when he was in high school, joining student wilderness programs and international cross-cultural programs, both of which were life-changing for José and his path in the world. He is so excited to dive into programs, developing as a professional and helping youth grow and develop as leaders!

Born and raised in Southern Appalachian mountains (ancestral Cherokee land), Topher has spent his life exploring, studying, and communing with the natural world. With a background in mindfulness, Ecopsychology, and biology, he brings his passion and sense of wonder to his work as a nature connection guide and outdoor educator.

He has traveled and led programs throughout India, Southeast Asia, Pacific Islands, Latin America, and the US.

BFA International Development and Musical Theatre; Tulane University. Growing up in southern Maine, Lane’s family took her far and wide, which no doubt kickstarted her hunger to forever continue exploring. The power of immersive travel became clear to Lane in 2007 when her family lived in a beautiful fishing village in the Dominican Republic where she learned Spanish attending the local school, developed friendships across cultures, and became a salty island girl. Lane’s other adventures have had her working on a permaculture farm in eastern Europe, hiking in Southeast Asia and studying the traditional medicine of Chile’s indigenous communities.

When not on the road, Lane spent years singing and acting on stages across New England and New Orleans. She also spent five summers as a counselor and head counselor at Windsor Mountain International Summer Camp deep in the woods of New Hampshire.