About Us
Expertise Rooted In Community
Meet the people behind Outerlands, where every instructor on this team brings expertise and a deep care for the communities we are training.
Our Story
Let’s be honest: most workplace safety training is a video you click through while checking your email. We think you deserve better. Outerlands courses are hands-on, interactive and built around your group, so you’re learning the skills that matter for your team, your worksite, your trail or your neighborhood. Our instructors are skilled, certified educators who love what they teach, and they’ll have you practicing real scenarios until you feel confident, not just watching someone else do it. That’s what makes an Outerlands course feel different: you walk away ready to act.
At our core, we see medical training as a form of mutual aid, a way of looking out for one another. Healthcare isn’t always close, affordable or built with people in mind, and emergencies like wildfires, floods and earthquakes don’t wait for help to arrive. The more of us who know what to do, the more we can care for each other in those first critical moments, keep small problems from becoming big ones, and stay out of the hospital when we don’t need to be there. Whether it’s your coworkers, your community or your family, training together now means being ready for whatever comes next. Our instructors bring that spirit to every course. Get to know them below.
Meet the Team
Alicia
Founder & Instructor
Alicia is a Remote EMT and WFR with experience working on ambulances as well as numerous years of outdoor guiding and care providing.
Prior to starting Outerlands, she was a Wilderness Medical Instructor & Swiftwater Rescue Instructor at Sierra Rescue, a Youth LEAD Program Manager and Sea Kayak Guide at Environmental Traveling Companions, and a Backpacking Instructor for Outward Bound California, among various other outdoor & medical roles.
When not galivanting outside, Alicia can be found woodworking, biking, making herbal tinctures, dipping in oceans and rivers, and cuddling her cat.
Alicia
Founder & Instructor
Alicia is a Remote EMT and WFR with experience working on ambulances as well as numerous years of outdoor guiding and care providing.
Prior to starting Outerlands, she was a Wilderness Medical Instructor & Swiftwater Rescue Instructor at Sierra Rescue, a Youth LEAD Program Manager and Sea Kayak Guide at Environmental Traveling Companions, and a Backpacking Instructor for Outward Bound California, among various other outdoor & medical roles.
When not galivanting outside, Alicia can be found woodworking, biking, making herbal tinctures, dipping in oceans and rivers, and cuddling her cat.
Ryn
Instructor
Ryn Sullivan is a Wilderness First Responder and co-instructor with Outerlands. With over a decade of experience across outdoor guiding, emergency response, wildfire risk consulting, and backcountry education, they bring a calm, improvisational approach to high-pressure situations.
Ryn serves on the Board of Directors for Camp Unalayee as Chair of the Risk Management Committee.
When not in the field, they can be found foraging the intertidal zone, playing underwater hockey, or slip-casting sea urchins.
Ryn
Instructor
Ryn Sullivan is a Wilderness First Responder and co-instructor with Outerlands. With over a decade of experience across outdoor guiding, emergency response, wildfire risk consulting, and backcountry education, they bring a calm, improvisational approach to high-pressure situations.
Ryn serves on the Board of Directors for Camp Unalayee as Chair of the Risk Management Committee.
When not in the field, they can be found foraging the intertidal zone, playing underwater hockey, or slip-casting sea urchins.
Narinda
Instructor
Narinda Heng has maintained a Wilderness First Responder certification since 2015 and began teaching with Outerlands in 2022.
She is a relationship-centered facilitator and believes all people should have access to medical knowledge and training to care for their communities.
Aside from wilderness medicine instruction, Narinda is an AMGA Apprentice Rock Guide, backpacking instructor, and artist.
http://longcoolhallway.com/
Narinda
Instructor
Narinda Heng has maintained a Wilderness First Responder certification since 2015 and began teaching with Outerlands in 2022.
She is a relationship-centered facilitator and believes all people should have access to medical knowledge and training to care for their communities.
Aside from wilderness medicine instruction, Narinda is an AMGA Apprentice Rock Guide, backpacking instructor, and artist.
http://longcoolhallway.com/
Antonella
Instructor
Bio coming soon!
Antonella
Instructor
Bio coming soon!
Toby
Instructor
Toby Briggs most recently worked as a Wilderness Ranger in Yosemite National Park. No stranger to teaching about and exploring within the Sierra Nevada, she started teaching wilderness medicine over a decade ago drawing from years of leading young people on multi-day adventures, conducting backcountry research and leading expeditions.
The empowerment gained from wilderness medicine courses where student develop problem solving skills for wilderness emergencies motivates and inspires Toby to keep teaching and adapting classes for those who lean in to learn. Toby can also be found cooking up delicious food, cycling to distant bakeries or breweries or dreaming up her next international adventure.
Toby
Instructor
Toby Briggs most recently worked as a Wilderness Ranger in Yosemite National Park. No stranger to teaching about and exploring within the Sierra Nevada, she started teaching wilderness medicine over a decade ago drawing from years of leading young people on multi-day adventures, conducting backcountry research and leading expeditions.
The empowerment gained from wilderness medicine courses where student develop problem solving skills for wilderness emergencies motivates and inspires Toby to keep teaching and adapting classes for those who lean in to learn. Toby can also be found cooking up delicious food, cycling to distant bakeries or breweries or dreaming up her next international adventure.
Stephanie (Fani)
Instructor
Hola, I'm Stephanie Valencia — but most people know me as Fani. I've spent over 15 years working in medicine, starting out as a phlebotomist and EKG tech, and going on to become a certified clinical medical assistant, NREMT, and Wilderness EMT.
I'm passionate about expanding access to medical education for BIPOC folks and those from low socioeconomic backgrounds, and I approach my work through the lens of social emergency medicine. Outside of medicine, I've been camping and rock climbing since I was a kid exploring Yosemite — a love for the outdoors that continues to shape how I think about care, community, and access.
Stephanie (Fani)
Instructor
Hola, I'm Stephanie Valencia — but most people know me as Fani. I've spent over 15 years working in medicine, starting out as a phlebotomist and EKG tech, and going on to become a certified clinical medical assistant, NREMT, and Wilderness EMT.
I'm passionate about expanding access to medical education for BIPOC folks and those from low socioeconomic backgrounds, and I approach my work through the lens of social emergency medicine. Outside of medicine, I've been camping and rock climbing since I was a kid exploring Yosemite — a love for the outdoors that continues to shape how I think about care, community, and access.
Victoria
Instructor
By trade, I work as a nurse in correctional facilities in the Fresno area, and have for 8 years. My love though is in the outdoors - backpacking, hiking, snowboarding, and mountain biking. Not everyone has access or resources to enjoy these experiences and I wanted to find a way to spread this knowledge and empower my community. In 2021 I started volunteering with Latino Outdoors as an Outings Leader, leading trips for others and cultivating community experiences that eliminate barriers to our natural world, and ensuring that folks feel safe in their journey. Combining my love of medicine, the outdoors, and working with others, I am so fortunate to join Outerlands as an Instructor.
Victoria
Instructor
By trade, I work as a nurse in correctional facilities in the Fresno area, and have for 8 years. My love though is in the outdoors - backpacking, hiking, snowboarding, and mountain biking. Not everyone has access or resources to enjoy these experiences and I wanted to find a way to spread this knowledge and empower my community. In 2021 I started volunteering with Latino Outdoors as an Outings Leader, leading trips for others and cultivating community experiences that eliminate barriers to our natural world, and ensuring that folks feel safe in their journey. Combining my love of medicine, the outdoors, and working with others, I am so fortunate to join Outerlands as an Instructor.
Miranda
Administrator & Business Strategist
Miranda Fry brings business management, creative program design, and collaborative leadership to Outerlands, with a focus on community-partnerships and strategic problem-solving.
She believes the climate crisis is a justice issue, and focuses her professional and personal time on centering community, gender liberation, racial justice, and the planet. She hopes to design systems and grow programs that branch off the org's human- and LGBTQ-centered goals.
As an artist, she seeks to create connection between people and California outdoor spaces.
Miranda
Administrator & Business Strategist
Miranda Fry brings business management, creative program design, and collaborative leadership to Outerlands, with a focus on community-partnerships and strategic problem-solving.
She believes the climate crisis is a justice issue, and focuses her professional and personal time on centering community, gender liberation, racial justice, and the planet. She hopes to design systems and grow programs that branch off the org's human- and LGBTQ-centered goals.
As an artist, she seeks to create connection between people and California outdoor spaces.
Instructors in Action
Interested in Being an Instructor?
Teaching wilderness medicine is equal parts serious and silly — one minute you're covering how to stop life-threatening bleeding, the next you're staging a scenario or cheering someone on as they find their first pulse. You'll take your expertise to train groups of all sorts, from biologists to hardcore adventure athletes to school staff and students. It's meaningful work, and honestly, a lot of fun.