OUR PEOPLE

Nick Grenier
Director, Founder, and a Lead Facilitator 

From 2011 to June 2016, I worked full time as a lead instructor of youth programs for Ancestral Knowledge, a DC–area non-profit that offers nature, survival and primitive skills programs for all ages.  

I then transitioned to working independently and serving new clients - directly with homeschool groups and with local institutions like Compass Homeschool Enrichment in Oakton, VA, and the Metaphor Academic Center for Russian Language and Culture in Falls Church, VA.  I was raised in a bilingual household, and love to share my translations of favorite Russian tales at my programs.

In Fall of 2016 I started the Natural Leaders program, which transitioned to a student-run format in Fall 2017 and continues to evolve. 

The kids we work with range from those who have never stepped off a trail before, to those who are very comfortable in the woods.  Regardless, they have a blast, and learn about the plants, birds, trees, animals and ecology of their area, and how they can take care of themselves in nature for fun or survival. 

Gone is the time when most kids spent most days running free, building forts and tree houses, splashing in the creek and getting dirty outside.   Our programs help fill that void.  Students follow their innate desire to experience nature, while learning valuable skills and natural-history from an expert mentor.

I've been exploring nature and field guides for about as long as I can remember - at least since Kindergarten.  Until the 3rd grade, I attended the Rudolf Steiner School in New York City.  In middle and high school I volunteered at the National Zoo, and was also mentored through the Wilderness Awareness School (WAS) Kamana Naturalist Training program (correspondence course).

After high school, I spent two years teaching white-water canoeing and kayaking, rock-climbing, rappelling, spelunking and other outdoor programs for the Montgomery County government in Maryland. At that time I also studied survival, tracking and primitive skills at Tom Brown Jr.’s Tracker School and was trained in teaching this knowledge at the Wilderness Awareness School's Art of Mentoring classes.

During my college years, I taught wilderness living skills at a summer camp and in a semester-long class at a middle school. My adventures in those years also included months of living in a primitive cabin on a Potomac river island, exploring Siberian wilderness, and hunting bones in Yellowstone National Park as part of someone's PhD dissertation.

While living in Nevada after college, I collected plant and animal data as an environmental biologist in the mountains and deserts.

I received my BS in Biology from Georgetown University in 2007, and an MS in Environmental Science from University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 2008.  I live in Alexandria, VA with my wife May Joy, daughters Mira-Nicole and Sofia, and son Victor.  
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May Joy, Sofia, Nick, Victor and Mira-Nicole

May Joy Serafica-Grenier
Assistant Facilitator and Administrator

As the founder's spouse and a homeschooling mom, May Joy has played a critical part in the creation and evolution of Natural Leaders through her support, encouragement, insights and ideas.

May Joy has worked extensively in the field alongside Nick for many years, and also alongside Trevor and Rhys at times.  

May Joy grew up in Manila, Philippines, starting life in a tiny house with a dirt floor, that she shared with 4 brothers.  Arguably she has the most authentic survival experience of the NL team - she remembers cooking a small bird for food, collecting firewood for cooking, and storing rain as a main water source....

Her mother moved to the U.S. when May Joy was only 4, and her living standards gradually improved thanks to her mother's earnings abroad.

Since emigrating at age 17, May Joy has come to love America, the great outdoors, and the Russian culture of her in-laws.  

May Joy met Nick at a community college and served in the U.S. Air Force for 5 years.

May Joy is a great cook, mother and wife; she's a great observer of student-teacher dynamics, and an excellent mentor to those around her - of all ages.  
May Joy and Victor at Carderock, MD - January 2019

Sammy Norris
Lead Facilitator

The Southern Appalachians are one of the most biologically diverse regions in the temperate world. Biodiversity is extremely high in terms of both the variety of different species and the abundance of each species.
 
Some kinds of organisms, such as salamanders and fungi, reach their highest levels of diversity in the Southern Appalachians. Many of these species are endemic to this region found here and nowhere else in the world.  The abundance and diversity of species is why I love what I do - it is the endless amount of knowledge you can learn from the natural world!
 
My admiration for nature has always been with me, but just a few years ago I started diving head-first into survival skills and started studying all of the animals and plants in this region.
 
I was trying to understand what it really means and how it really feels to connect with the land on a primitive-skills level, and it became more than just emotional excursions into nature - it is now what I do every day, because I love it.
 
I am a native of the Southern Appalachian mountains and I grew up loving the outdoors and what the natural world has to offer; helping my family build a log cabin deep in the mountains of the TN/NC border, running long-distances on the Appalachian Trail, volunteering for the ATC as a member on the S.W.E.A.T. crew, and traveling west teaching survival and exploring the wild lands.
 
When I am not on a primitive walkabout, I am honing my skills, building primitive and modern shelters, tanning animal hides into durable clothing, woodworking with the abundance and variety of trees in the Appalachians, blacksmithing my own tools and knives.
 
Primitive hunting has become a very important role in my life to connect with what keeps my energy levels sufficient, and studying plants and fungi in the Southern Appalachians has become one of my major interests, due to how often one can't always rely on animals for food while in the wilderness.
 
Having completed my Wilderness First Responder (WFR) certification, I am now confident I can handle injuries while in the wilderness.
 
One of my favorite hobbies is creating and developing footage for my YouTube channel, Smoky Earth Skills. I started it to share the knowledge I learn so others can realize that we are all capable of reconnecting ourselves with the land, physically and mentally.
 
One generation at a time, this world will be filled with wilderness and outdoor enthusiasts, this will promote the healthiest life for us and our planet!

Debra Nixon 
​Lead Facilitator

I was born and raised in Monterrey, a large industrial city that lies at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental in northeastern Mexico. It is called “The City of the Mountains” because of its striking topography, famous for its warm weather and even warmer people. I loved it there, but I remember wanting to learn about other cultures and dreaming of traveling the world since very early on.
 
I grew up tightly involved in Scouting, which encouraged my curiosity for nature and fueled my will to explore. My weekends were spent hiking and camping in the beautiful mountains and canyons, building friendships that last to this day over campfires and forging skills that helped shape who I am today. I have been a part of this wonderful international movement for most of my life, now also having served as a Scout Master back in my home country and as a District Volunteer here in Virginia. More recently, I had the amazing chance of working at the World Scout Jamboree in West Virginia as a Sub-Camp Commissioner as part of the International Service Team, an unbelievable multicultural experience where I oversaw youth from all over the globe and helped coordinate logistics.
 
My teaching journey began after I had the awesome opportunity to tutor for a homeschooling family while living on the windward side of the breathtaking island of Oahu, in Hawaii, an experience that was in many ways a watershed for me. After that, I fully embraced my passion for teaching. I had the honor of earning my teacher certification from the University of Cambridge through the British Council, the United Kingdom’s international education organization. This launched a career I have enjoyed immensely, opening doors for me to teach Elementary and Jr. High School, along with giving Business English lessons at corporate level and developing my own ESL summer workshop for young learners.
 
Life brought me to Northern Virginia a few years ago, where I got married and now live with my husband and our two dogs. In this new adventure I have been growing greatly and further expanding my training, among other things, recently getting recertified by the Red Cross in Wilderness and Remote First Aid and in Youth Protection by the Boy Scouts of America.
 
Being a part of Natural Leaders allows me to share what I enjoy doing the most. Knowing all I’ve gained from programs like this, I fully believe in the positive impact what we do can have on our students. With this incredible team I get to help reconnect our new generations with the natural world. We play together and we learn together. We are forming confident children, helping them develop our same great sense of respect and love for the outdoors, become resourceful and self-reliant and most importantly, cultivate leadership while understanding the value and importance of teamwork.

Trevor Cox
Lead Facilitator

Over the last few years I have been teaching courses at Boulder Outdoor Survival School (BOSS), a primitive skills centered survival school based out of southern Utah, and am currently in the midst of transitioning from Apprentice to Instructor. BOSS is unique in that we offer very immersive survival courses that allow students to go into the bush for up to 28-days with little more than a knife and water bottle. 

I have previous experience teaching several lessons including but not limited to:
Bow Drill, Primitive and Modern Shelter Construction (debris shelters to poncho/tarp shelters), Priorities Of Survival (Rule of 3's), Campsite Selection (5 W's), Positive Impact (very similar to Leave No Trace but more proactive), Personal Hygiene, Hooting/Group Communication, Blanket Backpacks, Thermoregulation Principles and the Human Body, Knife Safety, Use, and Maintenance, Plant-specific Lessons, Hand Fishing, Navigation, Knots & Rope Care, Weather Safety, Large Game Processing, and more.

While much of my primitive skills experience has been cultivated and developed in the Southwest, I am excited to develop my skills and find a community of fellow primitive skills enthusiasts in conjunction with the land I am native to.. the mid-Atlantic.

Additionally, I have been fortunate enough to have gained extensive dirt time when my fiance and I hiked the entire Appalachian Trail in 2016. Throughout my hike, I used my experience in video production to shoot a documentary that I am now editing into a feature film.  My hope with the film is to encourage people to pursue "alternative" lifestyles that help them rekindle their innate bond with the natural world, and therefore promote sustainable living practices.

I am certified in Wilderness First Aid through WMI/NOLS, and am scheduled to receive my Wilderness First Responder certification by Spring of 2019.

Having worked at BOSS for a few years now, I truly recognize the immense pleasure I derive from teaching people how to feel at home in the outdoors, and love that I am able to cultivate this passion back home on the East Coast.
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​Although my work at BOSS has been mostly with adults, I have always loved working with kids and have experience doing so as a substitute teacher (elementary to high school), swim instructor, and childcare provider. I think instilling the ideas of nature awareness and appreciation at a young age is vital to the health and well-being of both humans and the planet.

Rhys Fontaine
Lead Facilitator​

All my life I have been a wilderness survival enthusiast, and I am largely self-taught through books and educational videos. As I grew up, I spent all my time outside in the woods learning from what the wilderness could teach.

By the time I was ten years old I was an avid hunter and was skinning and processing my own animals.  When I was a teenager I was consistently going on wilderness walkabouts on my own for up to a week with little more than my knife.

In 2016 I took a 14-day field course at Boulder Outdoor Survival School (BOSS), in Boulder, Utah and was invited to apply for an apprenticeship. I applied and was selected and as of the summer of 2018 I have taken that privilege on and have grown leaps and bounds in my skills and teaching ability.

Some notable skills include hand and bow drill fire making, primitive and modern shelter building, advanced wilderness navigation, small and large game processing, atlatl weapon making and use, blanket packs, thermo regulation, wilderness hygiene, primative traping, carving, and a wide range of wilderness tips and tricks.

Some interesting additional facts about me is that I have also apprenticed as a wood worker and continue to pursue that passion when I am back in my hometown of Kingsport, Tennessee. I am also a S.H.O.U.T! Leadership graduate which is a program I had to apply and be selected for. During this time, I worked with successful small business owners and I learned the art of good leadership.

Finally I'm a Wilderness First Responder certified graduate and I am equipped to deal with many back country injuries and concerns.

I am extremely grateful to be working with Natural Leaders. I am passionate about spreading love, knowledge, and appreciation of the wilderness to the next generation.

​I hope that through these programs kids will learn more about themselves and nature as well as find out more of what is meaningful to them in this life.   

Phyllis Weeks

Guest Facilitator

Over the course of my life I have been lucky enough to have extensive adventures in nature. I grew up through outdoor survival homeschool programs for over 10 years, through Ancestral Knowledge and other programs, sometimes with Nick Grenier as my instructor.

I am passionate about passing on the knowledge and attitudes that those programs gifted me with: especially confidence.  I attribute my confident independence in many different settings to my background in wilderness skills.

For the last 6 years I've loved being a mentor and educator for a local youth mountain biking organization called Trails for Youth.   I am now pursuing a degree in Adventure Education at Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO, so I can continue to following my passion for sharing nature with others.

This program has given me valuable experience and knowledge as a educator and facilitator, as well as an in-depth training and certification as a Wilderness First Responder.

​Outside of survival skills I enjoy racing on my college's mountain bike team and pursuing backpacking adventures anywhere I can! 

Many of my favorite childhood memories were etched in the woods around Lake Accotink and Brookfield Park - it's great to be able to help a new generation discover nature and confidence in my childhood stomping grounds!

Edward Brown
Apprentice Facilitator

Edward has been attending Natural Leaders programs since they began in Fall of 2016, after a year with Ancestral Knowledge.  He has attended a variety of advanced overnight camps with NL and other organizations. 

Edward has a remarkable passion for the wilderness, earth skills and craftsmanship.  As of 2019 he is in his second year as a paid apprentice instructor for NL summer programs.  He has also served as a counselor at a local sailing camp, and as a CIT with the Living Earth School in Charlottesville, VA.

As a veteran of the NL homeschool programs he has extensive experience planning out curriculum, leading and teaching. 

Edward has added to our collection of teaching videos with his tutorial on weaving a crayfish trap here (and more topics on the way...). 

Over the last few years Edward also spearheaded the development of our Wilderness Survival Immersion program, which we held this past Spring (2019), and was a great success!

Now a wilderness first responder, Edward's other interests include kendo, cello, the tin whistle, historical re-enactment on horseback: he is a lieutenant and safety officer of the 1st regiment light dragoons!  
Edward at our inaugural WSI program he helped us create.  Note that his buckskin shirt, pack basket, quiver and arrows, and overcoat are all his own creations.  He even wove the wool fabric of his coat!

Rebecca Blake
Assistant Guide

I grew up in Clifton, Virginia walking through the trees and streams near my house to get to school. Through scouting, I took an Outward Bound backpacking trip in high school that solidified my love of the outdoors.

I attended James Madison University and spent all my summers during college as a camp counselor. I progressed from pizza bagels to chicken carbonara and cake in a can as I improved my campfire cooking skills. A few parts of being a camp counselor I valued were helping kids build their self-esteem by overcoming challenges, teaching new skills, and helping campers orient themselves in a new environment. I also learned the joys of type II fun. This type of fun happens when it starts pouring rain over your fire or someone has lost the tent poles, but when you look back, the things that went wrong made the best memories.

After college, I spent a few years working in Madison, Wisconsin and spending my weekends on the Ice Age Trail. Then I headed back to the warm weather of Virginia.

I have taught outdoor skills including leave no trace ethics and fire building with flint and matches. I have led activities including a multiday biking trip, observing horseshoe crabs, bat watching, and a multiday camping trip in the Boston Harbor Islands.

Wilderness Medical Associates certified me as a Wilderness First Responder. I am prepared to handle a wide variety of medical emergencies.

I love backpacking, hiking, biking, and water activities. I am very excited to be joining Natural Leaders teaching outdoor survival skills!

Alessandra Mejia
​Assistant Guide

I am an Acting major with a BFA degree from Towson University, but my love for the outdoors overtook my passion for acting and I found myself looking for outdoor education jobs once I graduated. 

My journey playing outside started when I was a kid myself. I grew up going to a Montessori school, where my teachers could always find me looking for salamanders under rocks and building forts in the woods. 

Since my childhood in the woods, I have made it my passion to work outside for a living. Over the past five years I have worked as a nanny and at a rock climbing gym. Both jobs let me work outside either building fairy houses with the kids I nanny or taking kids outside climbing at local parks. 

Most of my experience has been with camps. I have worked the past four years at a camp called Canadensis. There I led a division of 43 kids and 16 counselors. Most days when I wasn’t running around camp making sure my division was going smoothly I could be found kayaking and mountain biking. 

Most recently I was living in Australia hiking almost every weekend and hanging out at the beach every moment I could. I was hired to work in a company very similar to Natural Leaders. My time in Australia ended abruptly because of the pandemic and I was overjoyed to find Natural Leaders.

This company combines so much of what I am passionate about. Everything from working with kids and giving them space to have independent play unplugged and be out in nature. To the camp atmosphere where kids enjoy the sun away from books but still able to learn and grow. Finally to just being allowed to work in the woods all day. 

I am excited to share my passion for the outdoors with the kids and also excited to teach them about outdoor survival.