Sierra has been in love with mountains from the age of three, when she rode a llama 3100 miles along the National Scenic Continental Divide Trail. As an anthropology and geography student at Temple University, she studied the sustainability of Peru’s trekking routes to Machu Picchu and investigated the effectiveness of tourism policy at alleviating poverty in rural, Himalayan communities. After graduation, Sierra spent six months living in China teaching English at a primary school in Sichuan Province. Circling home to the headwaters of the Schuylkill River, Sierra now works for a watershed NGO organizing communities and coordinating conservation projects.