My name is Kristen Stipanov, and I am the new Communications Coordinator here at the Eastern Sierra Land Trust. I couldn’t be more thrilled with my new role at this organization and with my new life in this breathtaking place. You will be hearing from me, and I hope that I will be hearing from you frequently too, so let’s get to know each other!

I was born in San Diego to two Eastern Sierra enthusiasts. Throughout my childhood, my parents would tote my older brother and me along on weekends spent backpacking in the incredible mountains of Inyo and Mono counties. My love for California grew when I moved north for college at Stanford University, where I majored in art history and started practicing photography and photojournalism. I particularly loved learning about the history of photography in the American West, from Carleton Watkins’s solemn accounts of Yosemite Valley to Anne Brigman’s symbolic self-portraiture in Desolation Wilderness. I returned as often as possible to the Sierra while living in the bay area. After a summer internship with the Superintendent’s office of Yosemite National Park, I decided it would be pretty terrific to one day live on the Eastside.

I bring a professional background in nonprofits, journalism, and law to my work here. While I can directly apply journalism and nonprofit experience to my work for ESLT, my time spent as a legal assistant helps me grasp the more technical aspects of a land trust’s multifaceted work.

I hope to use my love for storytelling to help connect people to the land here in the wide open Eastern Sierra. But I know the first step in my path as a communicator will be to listen. Whatever your involvement with ESLT, thank you! I am eager to meet you in person at our events, and to hear your thoughts online as you engage with us via email and social media. Please always feel free to reach out, and I can’t wait to hear your stories.