STEPHANIE PEARSON is a 2023 National Geographic Explorer who writes about travel, culture, the environment, people, and cutting-edge gear. Her assignments have included reporting from Mount Everest, meditating with Tibetan Buddhist scholar Bob Thurman in Bhutan, and producing an online science curriculum while traveling through Australia and Latin America with National Geographic Fellow Dan Buettner and his team. After receiving her degree from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, Pearson began her career at Outside magazine, where she was editorial staff for more than a decade and is currently a contributing editor. Her work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, National Geographic Traveler, Bicycling, Wired, CNN, O, the Oprah Magazine, Men's Journal, Travel + Leisure, Lonely Planet, and others. In addition to 100 Great American Parks, she is the author of the illustrated children's book 50 True Tales From Our Great National Parks.