Owner

Sami was born and raised in Lotus, CA. She started her whitewater career in 2010 guiding rafts on the American River in California. After a few years of rafting she was bit by the kayaking bug. Sami then pursued the option of becoming a kayak instructor. In 2012 she took her first ACA L:4 Kayak Instructor Course with Mary DeRiemer and J.R. Weir. Shortly after that she started teaching kayaking for the Chico State Adventure Outings program. Once graduated with a BA in Kinesiology with an option in Outdoor Education, she began work with JR Weir and Sundance Kayak School in Southern Oregon. With Sundance she taught on the Rogue River doing beginner through intermediate courses, as well as kids camps and First Descents camps for young people impacted by cancer. During a course on the Rogue River she met Melissa DeMarie owner of California Women’s Watersport Collective. Based out of her home town in Lotus, CA, Cali Collective was a welcome addition to her summer activities. With them she teaches and works with beginner through advanced kayakers on the South Fork of the American River in California, and internationally on numerous rivers in the Araucania and Los Rios Regions in Chile. Around the same time she began working with Cali Collective she found her way into a swing season job with Sierra Rescue. Here she teaches Wilderness Medicine, CPR, and River Rescue during the spring and fall seasons up and down the state of California. Her latest addition to her flurry of jobs, is an instructor and guide position with DeRiemer Adventure Kayaking. With them she guides and instructs multiple trips on the Middle Fork Salmon and Main Salmon Rivers in Idaho, Rogue River in Oregon, Grand Canyon of the Colorado River in Arizona, and on international expeditions in Buthan. This medley of job opportunities has kept her busy year round allowing her to maintain that illusive nomadic lifestyle.