Founder’s Bio

Melissa (Esha) Lynn Reed is a transformational wilderness guide with deep and intimate ties to nature. She is the visionary for Women Rising Wild and founder of Wild Heart Revival. Melissa’s pursuit to live close to nature began as a young child growing up in the Bay Area of California where she sought intimate encounters with wilderness everywhere.

Melissa has lived in the Boulder area for twenty-five years. Her academic studies and professional work as a wildlife ecologist served to train and prepare her in body and mind for an unexpected journey of psychospiritual awakening in 2011 when during an extended field study of the biogeography and behavioral ecology of kit foxes on the Colorado Plateau, Melissa experienced abrupt shifts in multi-sensory awareness and environmental attunement. She calls this her wild heart revival and it led to kundalini arousal and a rapid evolution in her personal understandings of human niche consciousness and the healing benefits of a mutual and truly mindful relationship with nature.

Melissa is a fierce and playful lover of life and mother to a teen son. Her constant companions include Dakotah, a shamanistic guardian dog; Bella, a mini Australian shepherd; and Lemon and Radza, two charismatic yin-yang tuxedo kitties. She is driven by deep love for the land, passion for conservation, enthusiasm for learning, and a desire to facilitate fun and meaningful experiences in nature for adults, youth, and families. Her greatest joy is working with students and clients in parks and wilderness settings to assist them in reawakening and reviving their own wild heart. Melissa has led more than 200 nature-based workshops and guided more than 80 multi-day science and adventure retreats for more than 2000 adults and children. In 2023 Melissa will host her 20th retreat as transformational wilderness guide with Wild Heart Revival and Women Rising Wild.

Melissa is currently pursuing a PhD in Psychology at Saybrook University. She is a graduate of the University of Colorado, Boulder. She holds a BA earned in 2002 in Ecology, Population, and Organismic Biology and a MS earned with honors in 2010 in Ecological Field Studies with emphasis in Wildlife Behavior. In 2013, Melissa attended more than 300 combined hours of yoga teacher training with Soul Tree Yoga, Kids Yoga Guide, and Yoga Ed. She studied at the Mind Energy Body School of Transformation and became certified to facilitate the somatic, energy-based consciousness work with clients also in 2013. In 2015, Melissa completed Foundations 1-4 training for nature-connected life coaching at the Earth-Based Institute. Melissa is a life-long student and continues to evolve both personally and professionally through her ongoing research and education.

Melissa’s own wild heart revival and academic and professional preparations have gifted her insight and skill to help others restore deep-rooted nature connection for a powerful, peaceful, inspired, and supported life of creative and compassionate action. Melissa maintains collaborative relationships with the City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks and the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History and she is an active volunteer with various agencies and non-profit organizations including Rocky Mountain Wild.

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