For The Love Of: Trade-offs we make in pursuit of our passions Angie Marie + Jeni Stembridge

What if the day you faced a life-threatening sports injury was one of the best days of your life? And what does that mean for your loved ones?
 
Married couple Sensi Graves and Brandon Scheid are professional wind sport athletes. Sensi is a pro kiter, retreat host, founder of Sensi Graves Swim, and speaker. Brandon is a pro athlete and kite designer, as well as a survivor of a recent traumatic brain injury who’s been coming to terms with his injuries.
 
 
We talk about…
 
- Brandon’s November 2023 speed flying accident that could’ve killed him
- Falling at 60mph, crashing into a cliff, fracturing his pelvis and back, and experiencing two brain injuries on impact
- The lasting effects of one of the TBIs: judgment, criticism, anger, and lack of compassion, often towards Sensi
- Sensi's experience of hearing the news that her husband might not make it
- The early days of traumatic brain injury recovery: experiencing mania, frustration, and having no filter
- Flying FPV drones as a direct replacement for speed flying: getting adrenaline rushes and feeling like he’s flying
- Discovering 2 weeks after the accident that Sensi is pregnant
- What Brandon and Sensi would tell people who are afraid of experiencing a life-changing injury or illness
- How to support loved ones going through a life-changing injury or illness
- Learning to let yourself be held and supported by other people
- Trusting that despite all the challenges and hard work, everything is going to be okay
- The more you experience the hard parts of life, the more you can experience the great parts
 
PSST! If you like this episode, you’ll love these two:
How a Mountaineering Accident Taught Doug Beardsley to Live Life to the Fullest
How Pro Kitesurfer Jason Slezak Stopped Chasing Highs to Avoid His Past Trauma and Changed His Approach to Sports and Mental Health.
 
How to connect with Sensi and Brandon:
Sensi Graves Swim Sensi on Instagram Brandon on Instagram Brandon’s FPV drone footage Sensi’s website  
👋How to connect with Jeni and Angie:
Jeni on Instagram Angie on Instagram Angie’s website Angie on LinkedIn FTLO on Instagram  
 ⭐Please rate and review For The Love Of:
On Apple Podcasts On Spotify  
 
Shout-Outs:
Music: The Kind of Sandwich Island by Shut-ins Thank you to The Ruins, the best wedding venue in Oregon, for supporting the show.  
Follow FTLO on IG: https://www.instagram.com/for.the.love.of.podcast/
For full show notes and more: https://fortheloveofpod.com
💕
 
 

Sports mirror life. So how can we use sports to live our happiest, healthiest, bravest lives?
 
Bekah Rottenberg is the founder of Brave Endeavors, a professional mountain bike instructor, a NASM certified personal trainer, a Patagonia mountain bike Ambassador, and a former professional enduro racer. She retired from pro racing to focus on coaching and strength training through Brave Endeavors. 
 
 
We talk about…
 
- Discovering confidence in all aspects of life through mountain biking
- Finding self-confidence through what her body could do, even when academics were challenging
- Breaking into pro mountain biking while balancing that with being a teacher
- Not wanting to go all-in on racing since it’d sacrifice other important parts of life
- Building confidence in youth girls as media poses unrealistic expectations
- Sexism and microaggressions in women’s sports, on a small scale and as an industry
- Changing her mind about transgender women in sports; it’s not just about testosterone
- Building a multifaceted business around a passion for the bike
- “The gap between expectations and reality is happiness”
- Building muscle is investing in your body’s retirement bank account; you don’t have forever to build strong bones
- Our minds can limit or push us, like with breaking the four minute mile
- There are many elements to identity, not just being a mountain biker
 
 
How to connect with Bekah:
Brave Endeavors Bekah on Instagram  
👋How to connect with Jeni and Angie:
Jeni on Instagram Angie on Instagram Angie’s website Angie on LinkedIn FTLO on Instagram  
 ⭐Please rate and review For The Love Of:
On Apple Podcasts On Spotify  
 
Shout-Outs:
Music: The Kind of Sandwich Island by Shut-ins Thank you to The Ruins, the best wedding venue in Oregon, for supporting the show.  
Follow FTLO on IG: https://www.instagram.com/for.the.love.of.podcast/
For full show notes and more: https://fortheloveofpod.com
💕
 
 

What do you get when you mix a business idea with an out-of-the-box lifestyle? Wildpreneurship.
 
Tamara Jacobi is the author of “Wildpreneurs” and founder of the Tailwind Jungle Lodge in San Pancho, Mexico. She's lived in the jungle on the Mexican Pacific for nearly 20 years.
 
 
We talk about…
 
- Blending personal and professional dreams to build an unconventional business that involves moving internationally twice a year
- Living and operating a business in a touristed area and leaving an impact on the community
- Writing a business plan in college in Vermont, then moving to the jungle at 21 to build it
- Being mindful of a "Then what?" lifestyle trap, being satisfied with "enough," and learning to say no
- Choosing a small scale business model with no desire to expand
- Following passion first; taking a financially nonviable idea and making it work over time
- Raising children and working with a partner while moving seasonally
- Hosting many visitors, but making sure they leave inspired to protect the natural world
- The process to bring her book to life (through a manuscript, baby, and pandemic to now)
- Creating space and flexibility through shifting roles in business with her husband
 
 
How to connect with Tamara:
Wildpreneurs book Tailwind Jungle Lodge
Thermal
 
👋How to connect with Jeni and Angie:
Jeni on Instagram Angie on Instagram
Angie’s website
Angie on LinkedIn
FTLO on Instagram  
 ⭐Please rate and review For The Love Of:
On Apple Podcasts
On Spotify
 
 
Shout-Outs:
Music: The Kind of Sandwich Island by Shut-ins
Thank you to The Ruins, the best wedding venue in Oregon, for supporting the show.
 
Follow FTLO on IG: https://www.instagram.com/for.the.love.of.podcast/
For full show notes and more: https://fortheloveofpod.com
💕
 
 

Raising tiny humans is, for many people, the ultimate life trade-off. What happens when you’re a professional athlete, traveling the world and pushing your body, who then finds out you’re pregnant– with twins?!
 
Majka Burhardt (she/her) is a professional climber, social entrepreneur, author, filmmaker, mother of twins and the Founder and Executive Director of Legado, an international organization that supports indigenous communities to build healthy communities and landscapes. Majka wrote the book “More: Life on the Edge of Adventure and Motherhood,” a collection of notes, letters, and messages to her twins from pregnancy through toddlerhood.
 
 
We talk about…
 
- The parallels of being an athlete and pregnancy: seeing what our bodies can do, seeking new skills, embracing challenges
- How motherhood affected Majka’s ice climbing skills: more gratitude and efficiency, less extreme overhanging moves
- Wanting to be a high level athlete AND there for her kids, and how she juggles that duality
- Body image as a mom and athlete, like gaining 70 lbs. in pregnancy after having a six pack
- Communicating with your co-parent when things really suck (and not "I'll just handle it myself")
- Creating a family culture of loving time outdoors
- Teaching kids to be resilient, rather than just safe, since they'll encounter risks every day
- Life is messier than anyone wants to admit
- The urge to do it all and do it all well
- Becoming passionate about parenting is badass
 
 
How to connect with Majka:
Majka’s website: https://www.majkaburhardt.com/ Majka on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/majkaburhardt/ Read “More: Life on the Edge of Adventure and Motherhood”: https://www.majkaburhardt.com/more/  
👋How to connect with Jeni and Angie:
https://www.instagram.com/angvswild
https://www.instagram.com/jenistembridge
https://www.itsangiemarie.com/
https://linkedin.com/in/angie-marie/
 
 
 ⭐Please rate and review For The Love Of:
On Apple Podcasts
On Spotify
 
 
Shout-Outs:
Music: The Kind of Sandwich Island by Shut-ins
Thank you to The Ruins, the best wedding venue in Oregon, for supporting the show.
 
Follow FTLO on IG: https://www.instagram.com/for.the.love.of.podcast/
For full show notes and more: https://fortheloveofpod.com
💕
 
 

Having produced and released 12 podcast episodes into the wild feels like a reason to celebrate.
 
Listen as Angie and Jeni revisit some of the thought nuggets that guests shared that they haven’t stopped thinking about.
 
So far on For The Love Of, we’ve spoken with…
 
A BFF who threw her life upside down to go to Antarctica
A Mt. Everest guide who made a first ski descent on K2
A dancer who used movement to climb out of depression
A kayaker who completed the "Everest of kayaking"
A kitesurfer who stopped numbing out and faced his trauma
A rock climber who lost a partner in an avalanche then married his friend
A climate activist who teaches us to be imperfect advocates
A kayaking coach who teaches women mental agility
A snowboarder who fights sexism in the freeride world
A teacher who lost a toe on Mt. Rainier, relearned how to walk, and pursued a life of adventure
A mountaineer who left her corporate career to explore high mountains, got cancer, then climbed even higher
A professor who got a PhD at the sacrifice of mental health and is in love with lichens
 
On this episode, Jeni and Angie listen back to some memorable moments and go a bit deeper into some of their favorite guest soundbites.
 
You’ll get some great dinner table discussion starters, including:
 
Have you ever had to release an identity around your previous badassery?
What is something you don’t find risky but most people do?
Would you rather have three ski trips with friends when you’re 65, or one ski trip when you’re 25?
Could a 100 mile race ever feel boring after doing enough of them?
Is midnight too late for an end to board game night? Or is Angie lame and old now?
Why do we become more fearful as adults compared to childhood?
Is the way you do one thing the way you do everything?
What would you do if you were training for the Olympics and tore your ACL?
Would you hide the fact that you’re peeing if you were a woman stuck in a tent with a bunch of men?
Do rules make people more creative?
Are you willing to do your passion for money, or would that take away from it?
How can you get people who disagree with your opinions to consider your view?
Can you name five plant species that live in your neighborhood?
 
Calling all listeners! Yes, you!
 
Want a chance to win a bribe-I-mean-gift in exchange for your opinions on this show?
 
Go to this form and submit your thoughts by 3/13 for a chance to win and have eternal FTLO gratitude!

It’s a short survey about what you think of the show, room for improvement, favorite parts, etc.




👋How to connect with Jeni and Angie:
https://www.instagram.com/angvswild
https://www.instagram.com/jenistembridge
https://www.itsangiemarie.com/
https://linkedin.com/in/angie-marie/
 
 ⭐Please rate and review For The Love Of:
On Apple Podcasts
On Spotify
  
Shout-Outs:
Music: The Kind of Sandwich Island by Shut-ins
Thank you to The Ruins, the best wedding venue in Oregon, for supporting the show.
 
Follow FTLO on IG: https://www.instagram.com/for.the.love.of.podcast/
For full show notes and more: https://fortheloveofpod.com
💕

Most people see lichens as the weird stuff that grows on rock. But did you know their more glamorous role as “innovations arising from collaboration”?!
 
Dr. Hannah Prather (she/her) is a NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology whose research has focused on the intricate relationship among lichens, bryophytes, and host trees. Her work’s taken place around the globe– even Antarctica, where she co-led a project examining warming effects on polar bryophyte communities.
 
 
We talk about…
 
- Starting grad school at 30 and taking almost 7 years to get her PhD
- Traveling for science, including spending months in Antarctica for grad school
- Using slingshots and modified crossbows to get into tree canopies for research
- Sexism from peers once you have a leadership role
- Identity as a scientist, especially when you have skills people deem "soft skills" (boooo)
- Working with imposter syndrome, the pressure for academic excellence and struggling with perfectionism
- Feeling like you’ll have kids, then when it doesn’t line up
- Moving from a student role to a peer role, and starting professorship
- Scientists need empathy and relationship building skills, too
- What are lichens anyway?! Prepare to be mind-blown.
 
 
How to connect with Hannah:
Hannah’s postdoctoral research (video included): https://www.pdx.edu/digital-city/discovery-trees  
 
👋How to connect with Jeni and Angie:
https://www.instagram.com/angvswild
https://www.instagram.com/jenistembridge
https://www.itsangiemarie.com/
https://linkedin.com/in/angie-marie/
 
 
 ⭐Please rate and review For The Love Of:
On Apple Podcasts
On Spotify
 
 
Shout-Outs:
Music: The Kind of Sandwich Island by Shut-ins
Thank you to The Ruins, the best wedding venue in Oregon, for supporting the show.
 
Follow FTLO on IG: https://www.instagram.com/for.the.love.of.podcast/
For full show notes and more: https://fortheloveofpod.com
💕