Publisher/Editor Barbara Baird is a freelance writer in travel and outdoor markets. Before launching “Women’s Outdoor News,” aka The WON, in 2008, she worked as a newspaper and then magazine editor. Her bylines can be found at “Field and Stream,” “American Hunter,” “Outdoor Life,” “America’s 1st Freedom,” “Fly Fisherman,” AAA publications, “St. Louis Post-Dispatch,” “Columbia (Mo.) Tribune,” “Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader,” “SHOT Business,” “SHOT Daily,” “Shooting Illustrated,” “Show Me Missouri” and a host of other magazines and newspapers. She writes a popular travel blog, based on a former self-syndicated newspaper column, “The Accidental Ozarkian.” She is currently writing a book on the water mills of the Ozarks.
Barbara writes “Babbs in the Woods” at The WON, an offshoot of her days as a newspaper columnist who kept getting invites to spend time hunting, fishing and exploring the outdoors.
Barbara is available as a speaker or to conduct workshops on the following topics: women in the outdoors, the women’s outdoor market, traveling Missouri and why content marketing matters. Contact her here at The WON. Visit The Accidental Ozarkian travel blog.
Jackie Baird Richardson is an interior designer, editor at “Women’s Outdoor News,” and avid junker. Jackie brings her knowledge of graphic design and social media acumen to the pages of The WON, and is pivotal in the daily operations of keeping the “content machine” well oiled, and the bookkeeping straight. She created a monthly column that features outdoorsy women called “Gal Gab.” Watch for her design tips and occasional crafting ideas, bringing the outdoors indoors.
Michelle Cerino, aka Princess Gunslinger, is the managing editor at “Women’s Outdoor News.” She also is the author of “Gear Up,” sponsored by Springfield Armory.
Associate editor Ian Richardson lives in Missouri with his beautiful wife and children. He is an outdoor and gun advocate, English teacher and Army veteran. Ian enjoys shooting, reading, junking and above all, being a husband and father! Ian produces Project ChildSafe videos for The WON, as well as writes reviews on products that women would buy for men in their lives, and edits copy.
Kate Ahnstrom, owner of Virginia Shooting Sports, is a certified, professional instructor of the Paragon School of Sporting. She has dedicated her life to sharing her passion for the outdoors and diversifying the dynamics on the clay course and the hunt field. Her tireless dedication to her students’ success is obvious in each and every lesson. Kate is on the pro staff for Syren, the resident pro at Orapax Hunting Preserve and the Preserve at Dundee, department editor for “Woods and Waters” magazine and field staff member of the Sisterhood of the Outdoors. She and her husband, Mike, enjoy their small farm in central Virginia where they have a menagerie of animals and plenty of room to train and work their beloved GSPs. Kate loves getting behind the barrel of her Syren Tempio Sporting in 20 gauge for all things clay and feathered.
Airgun Angie is a wife and a mother who loves the outdoors. She also reviews and tests airguns and shooting products for manufacturers. As Airgun Angie, she spends a fair amount of time outdoors hunting and shooting. Angie loves what she does, since she gets the opportunity to test many different types of shooting and hunting gear. You can follow her on Facebook here.
Jen Barcklay is a retired civilian field helicopter mechanic with a lifelong fascination with anything that goes boom. She has been blessed to be able to help others by spending most of the last 20 years involved in firefighting and EMS operations in various locations around the world. She is also a US Army veteran.
We are here to empower girls and shooting sports. At 15-years old, we are the next generation of female hunters and need to be able to speak up to protect our hunting rights and protect the Second Amendment.”
Lanny Barnes is a three-time Olympian in Biathlon, as well as a National & World Champion in several shooting disciplines. She is currently teaching courses to military, law enforcement and competitive shooters on physiological and psychological aspects of shooting and is the director of Commercial Sales for HIVIZ Sights. Lanny and her twin sister spend much of their free time traveling around to schools, 4-H clubs, Boys & Girls Clubs, etc., talking to them about following their dreams, setting goals, and leading a healthy active lifestyle. Taking wounded vets and terminally ill kids on hunts through Freedom Hunters and OE4A is also one of Lanny’s passions.
Andrea Bogard’s love for the range began at 12 with competitive handgun and expanded to encompass sporting clays a few years later. She became an NSCA instructor at 18 years old and spent the next 18 years getting married and raising two sons, ages 17 and 9 currently.
Andrea started hunting six years ago and learned to shoot a rifle and a bow. She is now 41, a full-time writer, homeschool mom and business owner and has hunted three countries, three continents and 19 states. Her sons and lab (Mr. Moose) are the focus of her world.
Ali Juten is an outdoor enthusiast, hunter, writer and host of Empower Outdoors Podcast. She previously worked in corporate communication in women’s fashion but, has since transitioned to the world of freelance as an outdoor writer and digital media content strategist. Besides her Journalism degree, Ali also has a bachelor’s degree in International Studies and has traveled to a total of 11 different countries. Her background gives her a unique perspective with the hope to inspire other women to participate in all things outdoors. Ali reviews products for us the old-fashioned way. She puts them to the ultimate tests and give us her honest, thorough opinion.
Julie Golob is one of the most accomplished professional shooters in the world and captain of Team Smith & Wesson. She has won more than 120 championship titles in international, national and regional marksmanship competitions in seven different shooting disciplines. Learn more about the champion, author, veteran, hunter and outdoor television personality at JulieGolob.com.
Shelley Hill wears a “bunch of hats.” Her husband, Brian, named her the “Indispensable Organization Wizard” about 25 years ago and that has become her official title.
Shelley is co-owner, XO and instructor at The Complete Combatant. She is an HK Brand Ambassador, publishes regular articles in Women’s Outdoor News and Shooting Illustrated, teaches online classes, is an Active Self Protection Certified Instructor, an Instructor Graduate of Modern Samurai Project’s Red Dot Instructor program, NRA Certified Instructor, Certified NRA Chief Range Safety Officer, Refuse to be a Victim Instructor and is a Certified OC (Pepper Spray) Instructor through Chuck Haggard’s Agile Training & Consulting.
She is the designer and mastermind behind Image Based Decisional Drills, Smart Choices , LockedIn Grip, The Complete Combatant’s annual The Mingle for professional ladies in the “firearms/self defense” industry and The Quest for red dot shooters. She is also the President of a non-profit organization called Blue Line Ponies. This 501c3 focuses on providing a retirement range for our career service horses. Shelley is also a presenter at several national conferences is a public speaker and she actually loves people.
Nancy Keaton is a retired college administrator, president of her local gun club, competitive shooter and freelance writer whose work has appeared in A Girl and A Gun Women’s Shooting League, “American Shooting Journal,” “American Concealed,” “Northwest Meetings + Events,” and other publications. She enjoys writing about a wide variety of topics and interviewing ordinary people doing amazing things. To see a compilation of her writing, check out her website.
Vera Koo is a first-generation Chinese American woman. She is a wife and mother, author, entrepreneur and retired professional athlete. Vera made her home on the West Coast but is an avid traveler, food lover and patron of the arts. Her first book and memoir, The Most Unlikely Champion, recounts the stories of her life with tremendous introspection and emotional clarity. Her second book, published on the heels of the first one, is titled Wisdom and Things: Essays from an Unlikely Champion. It is based on her columns found regularly in the online publication Women’s Outdoor News, along with more life experiences. This new book, another memoir, features content in a wide variety of categories, covering everything from travel to Vera’s faith in God and her conversion from Buddhism to Christianity.
Koo was born in Qinhuangdao, Hebei, China, and spent her childhood in Hong Kong. She immigrated with her family to the United States she was 12 years old. Vera and her husband, Carlos, own a successful business in the San Francisco Bay area, are the proud parents of three children and grandparents to six grandchildren.
In a relatively short period of time and at an age when many people are thinking of retiring, Vera became one of the world’s top female athletes in the sport of competition action pistol shooting. She represented the U.S. in several world matches, and won the prestigious Bianchi Cup championship in the women’s division eight times – which is unsurpassed today.
It is her hope that during this time of her life, she may be allowed to continue mentoring other people to aspire to be their best at whatever they choose to do, and to work with whatever life gives them. In her own life, she has navigated storms of death, losing a child and betrayal. She continues her unending faith in God, and attributes it as the reason for her success and stability. She is an “unlikely champion,” and represents that entity in all of us.
Visit VeraKoo.com.
Julie Park was born in South Korea, raised in Canada, and is now living in her beloved Rockies in beautiful Colorado Springs with her husband and 5 kids. An attempted break-in transformed this stay-at-home, unassuming woman into a pistol-packin’ mama serious about the safety of herself and her loved ones. She is a certified NRA pistol instructor and Chief Range Safety Officer, and has been teaching and training women (and men!) just like her for the past several years. She has been a chapter and state leader in women’s shooting organizations and an instructor at her local range. She loves discovering new guns and products for women and sharing her passion with others. If she’s not shooting and training, she is homeschooling her kids, enjoying travels and connecting with her favorite books and people.
Born and raised in north central Montana, Emi Smith enjoys shooting target shotgun sports. She shoots competitive ATA trap and is a member of the prostaff for Syren Shotguns and on Team Rhino chokes. Emi also enjoys being a 4-H shotgun instructor, pheasant hunting with Maya the Black Lab and introducing trap shooting to new people. When she is not shooting, Emi loves spending time with her husband and family.
Avery Skipalis is the owner of Skip’s Tactical Solutions, an organization that focuses on empowering women, men and children to make sure that no one else becomes a victim. She gained her firearms experience from the military where she’s been a military firearms instructor for 10.5 years. She’s also a certified NRA rifle and pistol instructor and Glock Advanced Armorer since 2015. She’s attended Sig Sauer Academy, FNH, Special Operations Command Armorers courses as well as multiple Advanced Shooting Schools across the United States. She resides in Florida with her husband and 2 kids. She’s currently serving in the United States Air Force and loves sharing her passion with others. She thinks it’s important that women also feel like they’re in control of their own safety.
Becky Yackley primarily competes in 3 Gun, USPSA, Bianchi pistol, but has competed in shooting since 1989 in disciplines from service-rifle, to NCAA Air Rifle and Smallbore, air pistol and a little bit of long range rifle. She shoots guns and cameras at competitions around the country, and writes in her fictional spare time.
