Growing up in rural Nebraska, Deanne Buck never felt a division between the indoors and outdoors. “When I think about my childhood, I was always outdoors. We were swimming at the lake. We’d go for bike rides. In the winter, we’d go ice skating,” Buck said. “The outdoors was just part of who I was.”

But it wasn’t until a friend introduced her to climbing, at a YMCA in Omaha, Nebraska, 25 years ago, that she started to make life decisions based on her love of the outdoors. As her passion grew, it even informed where she went to law school—the University of Colorado Boulder, naturally, because of its proximity to climbing.

Over the years, she’s worked as a river rafting guide and at a climbing gym. She’s advocated for conservation and access to public lands during her time at the Access Fund and the American Alpine Club. Today, her goal is to achieve equality for all women in the outdoors, from the backcountry to the boardroom, as the Executive Director of Camber Outdoors (formerly the Outdoor Industries Women’s Coalition)…

Read more: WOMEN’S EQUALITY: “THE OUTDOOR INDUSTRY CAN BE A LEADER”