BIOGRAPHY

My grandmother saved everything. In her attic I found stacks of National Geographic dating as far back as the 1940s. The images of Turkana women carrying fish on their heads, clouds hovering over a mysterious Peruvian ruin, and lions gnawing on fresh wildebeest shaped my dreams. By seventh grade I added Travel & Leisure to my mandatory reading list and wrote then-editor-in-chief Pamela Fiori to ask for a job. She wrote back, letting me down gently that she didn’t hire kids out of junior high, but she still gave me good advice on how to pursue a career in magazines.   

In 1992 after I graduated with an English degree from Gustavus Adolphus College, I worked as a wilderness canoe guide in Minnesota, then drove west to ski. Between early-morning powder runs and waitressing shifts, I applied to Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and was accepted. Two years later, with an MSJ in hand, I moved to Santa Fe to work for Outside magazine.

In 1998 I left Outside to see the world. I continued to write the magazine's “Wild File” column and also joined Classroom Connect’s Quest team, a group of archaeologists, biologists, photographers, writers, and videographers led by explorer Dan Buettner, who attempted to solve the world’s most interesting mysteries for an online audience of 50,000 primary school students. In Australia we biked across the outback trying to follow the Aboriginal songlines. After a day of eating witchetty grubs and cycling through clouds of dust, I’d sit around the campfire wired on caffeine, typing columns like “Gross and Disgusting,” for our classroom audience. My job was to turn everyday science into an entertaining, adventurous, and educational interactive curriculum. Six months later we drove 7,500-miles round-trip from Minneapolis to Guatemala for MayaQuest. Our goal was to solve the mystery behind the collapse of the Mayan civilization. We didn’t get very far, but we did explore little-known ruins, discovered a massive cave in Belize, and got caught in the middle of a village revolt in Guatemala’s Cuchumatanes mountains. 

In 2001 I returned to Outside as a senior editor. For the next seven years between assigning and editing stories, I traveled to Bhutan with Buddhist scholar Bob Thurman, drove an RV across new New Zealand, went to Hollywood with polar explorer Will Steger, explored the once-cannibalistic Marquesas Islands, cycled around Sicily, and flew across Brazil with an expat American rancher trying to save the Amazon. Three of these Outside stories have earned honorable mentions in the “Best American Travel Writing” series.  

Currently I'm a freelance writer, contributing editor to Outside and Outside Online’s “Gear Girl” columnist. I live in New Mexico.

PRESS

Globetrotting writer: Duluth upbringing inspired career
By Sam Cook, Duluth News Tribune
Stephanie Pearson has written about an elephant safari in Botswana, traveled with a western Buddhist leader in Bhutan and explored the culture of the Falkland Islands. In April, she will leave for Mount Everest to report on a Canadian climber attempting the peak. Read the story >