Featuring Brik Maya Gurung & Mingmar Dolma Sherpa

In Episode 5 of The Porter Voices Podcast, Mingmar Dolma Sherpa sits down with Brik Maya Gurung, an emerging guide and participant in the HWTL Women Leadership & Guide Training program.

As someone relatively new to the guiding profession, Brik shares her personal journey into Nepal's trekking and tourism industry, reflecting on the experiences, challenges, and opportunities she has encountered along the way. She speaks candidly about what inspired her to pursue guiding, the skills and confidence she has developed through training, and her aspirations for the future.

Through her conversation with Mingmar, Brik offers valuable insight into what it means to enter a profession that has traditionally been male dominated. She discusses the importance of community and access to training programs that support women in building successful careers in the outdoors.

This episode highlights the experiences of an emerging leader finding her place in the mountain tourism industry and demonstrates the impact that opportunity, determination, and support can have in helping women achieve their goals.

Join us for an inspiring conversation about learning, perseverance, and taking the first steps toward a career in the mountains.

The Porter Voices Podcast amplifies the stories of porters, guides, and mountain workers whose labor and leadership make adventure travel possible. Through authentic storytelling, we explore workforce equity, gender inclusion, human rights, and the evolving future of mountain tourism around the world.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with others who believe in creating a more equitable and inclusive future for mountain communities and tourism workers.

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Want to partner/collaborate with PVC? Send us an email -theportervoice@gmail.com. Also, check out our HWTL ⁠⁠Initiative Brief ⁠⁠and ⁠⁠Program Evaluation⁠⁠ to learn about HWTL and its impact via our ⁠HWTL webpage⁠.

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Listen via ⁠⁠PVC YouTube Channel⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠The Porter Voices Podcast page.⁠⁠

Because every mountain journey has voices that deserve to be heard.

This episode was made possible by our Porter Voices Podcast team:

Marinel M. de Jesus, Esq., Host, Creator & Writer

Mingmar Dolma Sherpa, Guest Host & Interviewer

Translation by Mingma Sherpa

Sound and Video Editing by Marinel M. de Jesus, Esq.

Roger Foye, Music Director

Jowita Kudzia, Theme Music Video Editor

Visuals by Brik Maya Gurung & Mingmar Dolma Sherpa

Special thanks to our volunteers, Amrit Tamang and Darlene Lin, for their support in conducting interviews of our HWTL women guides in Kathmandu.