Brett Veerhusen is originally from Homer, Alaska and spent most of his summers commercial fishing in the Bering Sea. Brett graduated from the University of Puget Sound in 2008 with bachelor degrees in Business Administration and Spanish Literary Studies. For most of his life, Brett has traveled around the world and has lived in Spain and Nicaragua. After graduating college, Brett spent a brief moment in the corporate world within the hedge fund industry, but quickly switched gears and returned to his roots to skipper a commercial fishing vessel in Bristol Bay, Alaska. Brett & Sierra were childhood friends in Chignik, and upon returning to commercial fishing, they decided to create this website to share the lives of real Alaskans.

Mark was born in St. Paul, Minnesota and spent 18 years living in and exploring the state of Minnesota by camping, hiking, and enjoying all of the outdoor activities available in Minnesota. Combining his love for adventure and love of the outdoors, Mark began a 4 year career of wildland fire fighting, fighting wildfires in 6 different states, including Idaho and California. Upon graduating from high school, Mark moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan to pursue a double major of Youth Ministry and Bible at Cornerstone University, and graduated in 2010. A week after graduation, Mark found himself on a plane headed to Alaska, with almost no money and no job offers, but through a Craigslist listing, Mark was hired by a captain that he didn’t even meet until he was on the ferry headed to Chignik, and spent the next 4 months fishing in the 2010 Chignik salmon seining season on board F/V Mylia Lynn.

Sierra was born in Anchorage Alaska and grew up in the commercial fishing scene, participating in such fisheries as Cod, Salmon, and Herring. Sierra is an explorer at heart who enjoys traveling and outdoor adventure sports. As an athlete, she’s successfully competed in several major sports, including downhill ski racing, bike racing, and running, before eventually being recruited to run for Southern Methodist University on a full athletic scholarship. At 25 years old she has traveled to over 45 countries on 6 continents, competed in the NCAA D1 Cross Country National Championships, graduated from SMU COX School of Business, and in 2009 launched a world travel internship sponsored by her University. Sierra met her childhood friend Brett Veerhusen after the 2010 Sitka Sac Roe Herring fishery and they created the idea for this website to showcase the lives of Alaskans.

For as long as she can remember, Rachel Rudwall has been an explorer. Rachel has traveled five continents, lived in three countries, and traveled thirty other nations. She formally studied five foreign languages and taught herself a smattering of basics in at least ten more. She has worked in every stage of TV production, from development and pre-production to field and post. She is also trained with various editing systems, digital cameras, and gear. During the summer of 2007, Rachel worked with STA Travel as their first-ever World Traveler Intern, circling the globe with a computer, a camera, and the goal of inspiring others to travel. Over the course of 12 weeks, she was a one-woman band, traveling 15 countries while producing and hosting travel podcasts. Since then, Rachel has had countless international adventures, ranging from work as photographer and videographer in East Africa -- to presenting research on women in media at a Middle Eastern women's conference -- to working on top-rated TV shows like Deadliest Catch, Ice Road Truckers, Ax Men, and The Colony. (http://www.rachelroams.com)

Sean was born in Juneau, Alaska, and has spent his life on or near the waters of the Pacific Ocean onboard tall ships, commercial fishing boats, dinghies, kayaks, and surfboards. Even frozen water will do: he has shared his love of skiing with others by teaching disabled people how to enjoy the slopes. After completing his Bachelor of Fine Arts in photography at the University of Washington he rode the dot com boom as a web developer. When the bubble burst he returned home to Alaska. On family land in Halibut Cove on Kachemak Bay, he bent a mountain ash down, put a tarp over it and reveled in sleeping on the ground while clearing the land. Now there is a house there and an oyster farm a few miles out in front with a half a million oysters in various stages. Sean is engaged in a shellfish cooperative on the Bay: his goal is to enhance the mariculture industry on the Bay, to grow the very best oysters in the world, and to do both in an environmentally sustainable manner.

Jeff was raised in Girdwood, AK, home of Alaska’s premier ski destination, Alyeska Resort. Girdwood is located in South Central Alaska, just 30 miles south of Anchorage. Growing up in a ski town, Jeff hit the slopes at age four and still considers himself a regular at Mt. Alyeska. At age 17, Jeff began working for the resort, first as a bellman for Alyeska Hotel, then as a ski instructor. The following summer, Jeff returned to the hotel and has been working seasonally as a bellman ever since. Jeff attended college in Colorado and Washington, and upon graduation was offered a job by a bank in Washington. Unfortunately, like many, Jeff fell victim to the financial crisis and found his job offer rescinded before his start date. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise as Jeff was very happy to move back to Alaska and yet again be living in his hometown of Girdwood and working at Alyeska Resort. Jeff considers himself an avid skier,sport fisherman and hiker.

Tucker Vest Burton originates from the small ski town Breckenridge, Colorado, where her childhood was spent indulging in everything outdoors. This included activities such as mountain biking, skiing, hiking, camping, ice-skating, horse-back riding, fishing, snowshoeing, etc. Owing to her outdoor spirit, Tucker developed at a young age a sense of adventure as well as a wandering soul. The one sport, however, that culminated into a 17 year career, was ski racing. Accolades that came from her career were, 2002 Colorado Ski Country USA Athlete of the Year, 2004 recipient of the Rowmark Ski Academy Senior Award, 6 time US Nationals qualifier, captain and member of Middlebury College’s Division I Alpine Ski Team, NCAA qualifier in 2008, and Second Team All East in 2007 and 2008. After graduating from Middlebury College in 2009, with a major in Political Science and a minor in Economics, Tucker headed to the Big Apple where she had a job working as a Sales/PR/Marketing Assistant for the high end fashion designer SHALINI. Owing to the dismal economic climate, Tucker was laid off, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise. She turned back to her adventurous and wandering roots, and decided to move to Queenstown, New Zealand, where she didn’t know a soul. After arriving in NZ, through networking with a Kiwi friend, she was hired as a ski racing coach for Queenstown Alpine Ski Team as well as a Sales/Marketing Assistant for Harris Mountain Heli-Ski. After an amazing winter season in New Zealand, Tucker headed to Southeast Asia where she backpacked around for two months, where thereafter, she headed back to NZ and worked on an organic farm in exchange for free food and rent. After being in Breckenridge, Colorado ski instructing for the 2011 winter season, her restless soul is yet again leading her on a new adventure. This time the place just happens to be the stunning state of Alaska!

Bixler McClure & Krystin Bablinskas grew up in California and met on a study abroad through their college and the California Maritime Academy, cruising the South Pacific for 2 months. Since then, they graduated from college in California, finished graduate school in Hawaii, and decided to move to Alaska (ironically, both had family from Alaska) to explore the Last Frontier and escape the crowds of the lower 48. They can be found most weekends sailing the coastline in their sailboat, doing epic road trips throughout the state, hunting, fishing, and many other activities that make Alaska such a great place. In the summer of 2011 they started filming, photographing, and writing about their experiences to share the wonders of Alaska with the world. Their blog, called Alaskagraphy, can be found at http://alaskagraphy.wordpress.com