I’ve always been most comfortable working in the shadows.
In the early 2000s, I was a young case officer for the CIA in West Africa. My Chief of Station came to me with an assignment to write a high-level intelligence assessment on terrorism in the region. When I asked if that kind of report required a more seasoned author, he looked me straight in the eyes and said, “Emily, you are the most expert person in the United States government on this subject in this part of the world at this time.”
(I wrote the report and caused a bit of a splash within the intel community as a result of my frank assessment.)
My love of adventure has taken me to all sorts of places, professionally, and since 2010 I've led community and women's strategy at GORUCK, the company I founded with my husband, Jason. Fast forward to what we like to call the Rucking Revolution. As more and more women discover that rucking is an easy way to incorporate strength training into their daily lives, we found ourselves asking a simple question at GRHQ: who should help lead this effort?
We looked for a woman who had experience rucking, believed in the mission, and had the energy and time to dedicate herself to it.
The answer kept pointing back to the same place. It was time for me to step up and help lead from the front.
Being in the spotlight is not my comfort zone, not by a long shot. I’m good at supporting the team and the movement in the background, people I’ve fallen into step with on community rucks around the world are often surprised to learn I co-founded the company. But I know that growth happens at the edges.
What encourages me is that I’m not doing this alone and never have been. Since the early days, strong women have been carrying the weight alongside me. Women who have shown up to events, carried bricks and logs, heavy rucks, and other interesting “coupons”...and helped shape what this community has become.
Now there are more of us.
Recently, the team convinced me to take a big leap out of the shadows and share more of this story in a new GORUCK documentary. It shares a side of GORUCK you may not have seen before, and the journey that brought me to this place.
A personal goal of mine has always been to make rucking accessible enough that my mom would want to do it. I’m proud to report that with the help of all the women who showed up, tested ideas, and helped shape this community, and the team at GORUCK who helped bring the Spy Ruck to life, my mom is now a rucker.
My teenage daughter is, too.
If you have a few minutes, I hope you’ll watch this film. And if the story resonates with you, please share the link with someone who might benefit from it.
The future is strong. And it’s also bright.
xoxo emily
