Elevating Women Birders, Continued
Donation protected
Hi there! My name is Tiffany Kersten. I'm a 35-year-old professional bird guide who also happens to be a sexual assault survivor. Three and a half years ago, I was assaulted in a nature setting. Throughout 2021, I traveled the country, fundraising for travel and for gifting personal safety alarm devices to women birders I ran into on the trails during my travels, while attempting be the youngest female to see 700 species of birds in one calendar year in the lower 48 states. Through donations, and matching alarm donations by She’s Birdie, I was able to gift 257 alarms to women I met along the way. I also wound up unexpectedly breaking the record with 726 species.
Now that I am no longer traveling, this fundraiser is taking on a different format, with all of the funds going straight to purchasing alarms. For every $10 raised, and through my continued partnership with She’s Birdie, the funds will be used to purchase She’s Birdie personal safety alarms at a discounted price, which will continue to be gifted to women I meet while birding in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas and beyond.
I feel very thankful to be able to continue this alarm gifting project past the one year scope of my big year.
******
March 2021
The alarm gifting, while helpful, is really placing a band-aid on the root of the problem, so the most important part of this project will be the blogging I do, sharing discussions I have with birders along the way, with regards to women's safety in birding. In order to elevate women birders, we first need to be able to feel safe enough to not be hindered in what we do or where we go. I'll also be sharing the stressful situations I find myself in throughout the year, as I travel solo to different parts of the country. Comments will be open on this blog in an effort to provide opportunities for open conversations and discussions. I don't have all the answers; I merely hope to create a vector within which communication and learning can happen.
Recent events in the birding community have brought this issue to the forefront of many conversations both online and in person. It's time we all work together, have the tough conversations, learn from other points of view, and really think critically about the ways our actions affect others, and how we can come together to make birding a safer and more inclusive space for women, ultimately, elevating women birders.
Now that I am no longer traveling, this fundraiser is taking on a different format, with all of the funds going straight to purchasing alarms. For every $10 raised, and through my continued partnership with She’s Birdie, the funds will be used to purchase She’s Birdie personal safety alarms at a discounted price, which will continue to be gifted to women I meet while birding in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas and beyond.
I feel very thankful to be able to continue this alarm gifting project past the one year scope of my big year.
******
March 2021
The alarm gifting, while helpful, is really placing a band-aid on the root of the problem, so the most important part of this project will be the blogging I do, sharing discussions I have with birders along the way, with regards to women's safety in birding. In order to elevate women birders, we first need to be able to feel safe enough to not be hindered in what we do or where we go. I'll also be sharing the stressful situations I find myself in throughout the year, as I travel solo to different parts of the country. Comments will be open on this blog in an effort to provide opportunities for open conversations and discussions. I don't have all the answers; I merely hope to create a vector within which communication and learning can happen.
Recent events in the birding community have brought this issue to the forefront of many conversations both online and in person. It's time we all work together, have the tough conversations, learn from other points of view, and really think critically about the ways our actions affect others, and how we can come together to make birding a safer and more inclusive space for women, ultimately, elevating women birders.
Organizer
Tiffany Kersten
Organizer
Mission, TX