National Geographic Adventurer, explorer, artist, and global activist, Shannon Galpin, is the founder of the former non-profit, Mountain2Mountain and co-founder of the wildlife conservation project Endangered Activism. Shannon has worked for almost two decades on women’s rights projects in Afghanistan and beyond. In 2009, she became the first person to mountain bike in Afghanistan and four years later she found herself supporting and training the first Afghan Women’s National Cycling team and helping to build and support the burgeoning right to ride movement in Afghanistan with the first generation of women riding bikes across the country. She is an intrepid solo traveler, and has passed that love on to her daughter taking her out of school to spend a year and a half living out of a suitcase, studying wildlife conservation around the world when she was 12-years old. Shannon has lived in five countries other than her own and worked extensively in Afghanistan. She has spent time working in and slow visiting over 30 countries, usually spending several weeks or months at a time in locations.
Shannon is the author of two books, her memoir, Mountain to Mountain: A Journey of Adventure and Activism for the Women of Afghanistan, and a photography book Streets of Afghanistan. She has written for publications such as; the UN Chronicle, National Geographic Adventure, Outside Magazine, Sidetracked, Patagonia, and Blindfold Magazine. She is a producer of the documentary film, Afghan Cycles, and has acted as field producer in Afghanistan on other productions. She is the Director on an upcoming wildlife conservation documentary with her 16-year old daughter, Devon Galpin Clarke.
The International Olympic Committee awarded Shannon an Honorary Achievement Diploma in 2015 for her work promoting gender equity through sports, and Shannon is a recognised Fellow with the Royal Geographic Society, The Explorer’s Club, and with the Royal Society of the Arts in England. She is passionate believer in public art as activism, Shannon created the groundbreaking streetart installation, Streets of Afghanistan in 2011 the first street art installation in Afghanistan. She creates murals in multiple countries about climate justice, women’s rights, and is working on a immersive installation about brain trauma and memory loss.
Shannon speaks internationally about social justice issues at venues such as the United Nations, The Harvard Club, The Explorer’s Club, National Geographic Headquarters, the Italian Parliament, multiple TEDx stages, and keynotes corporate conferences. She has been featured in national and international media such as; Outside Magazine, National Geographic Adventure, Dateline NBC, BBC Radio, Bicycling, The Sunday Times, Huck Magazine, The New York Times. Three short films have been made about her work, MoveShake, Waking Lions, and a Liv Ambassador video which became a short film festival piece. Shannon is a sexual assault survivor and the survivor of multiple traumatic brain injuries due to strokes.
sgalpin@me.com
Twitter: @sgalpin
Instagram: @sgalpin74