Kim Keprios
Executive Director, Wilderness Inquiry
The Basics
Company Name: Wilderness Inquiry
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Founded: 1978
Full-Time Employees: 18
Products: Outdoor recreation and education experiences
Social: Instagram // Facebook // Twitter
Claim to Fame: Canoemobile has brought kids together for over 10 years in cities across our 50 states, through place-based educational outdoor programming. Our floating classrooms engage youth on waterways close to home to improve school performance, cultivate a stewardship ethic and create pathways to pursue educational and career opportunities in the outdoors. As one principal said, “We are an urban school and although the river is in our backyard, many students never had the experience of exploring the river or paddling in a canoe”. In 2019 we served over 32,000 youth.
The Culture
The best thing about working at Wilderness inquiry (WI) is:
The community. From staff, participants, donors, volunteers, and partners, WI believes “everyone belongs” and is committed to the motto “we’re all in this boat together.”
When we’re not working, we’re:
Enjoying the outdoors and exploring new wild spaces with friends and family, including activities such as kayaking, canoeing, biking, hiking, camping, cross-country skiing, SUPing, reading, hammocking, dog-momming, marching, talking, walking, ideating, finding a way, and seeking the exceptional.
What we’re reading:
America’s Largest Classroom: What We Learn from our National Parks; Purple Hibiscus; White Fragility; Where the Crawdads Sing; Interpreter of Maladies; Jhumpa Lahiri; Wilderness: The Gateway to the Soul, and more!
What we’re listening to:
Songs for Singing’ by the Okee Dokee Bros, Christine and the Queens, Òlafur Arnalds, Sylvan Esso, Half Moon Run, the wind, leaves rustling, birds singing, loons calling, chatter and laughter of walkers around the Chain of Lakes.
If they made a movie about our workplace, it would be called:
Past the Edge of Ability: An Outdoor Community for Everyone
Inclusion in the outdoors matters because:
Being able to enjoy nature is a right. Everyone belongs in the outdoors and everyone deserves to feel welcome and have equitable access to wild spaces.
Five years down the line, it’s our hope that:
The outdoors will be a community place where people who, regardless of identity, ability, or economic status, feel like they belong and our organization will reflect the identities of our community with deeper partnerships and engagement across the spectrum of human diversity.