Hey there, I’m Rachel Taylor, the co-founder of Another Escape, which I started with Jody Daunton back in 2012. So, the abridged version: Jody and I both have creative backgrounds, but before Another Escape, we had absolutely no experience in publishing. We loved the medium though, so thought, hey, let’s start an indie mag.
With cash that we’d saved to go travelling, we started the business. We busted our humps for years to get it off the ground and thankfully found that our content resonated with people.
Over the years, our mission has become clearer, and today, we are set on creating and building culture around outdoor lifestyle, environmental stewardship and regenerative living.
In contrast to many other publications and media companies in the outdoors space, we aren’t about content focussed on metrics and egos – miles clocked, terrain covered, mountains summited, PBs and the rest.
Instead, we celebrate the felt-experience of nature connection and the power it has to both enrich our lives and inspire us to be active stewards of our planet. I would say this is our defining feature. That and our storytelling. We pride ourselves on our storytelling across various mediums.
Oh crikey, just one, huh? Probably, spinning plates.
As a small business owner, you have to wear many hats, particularly at the beginning, particularly if you don’t have a lot of startup cash. But the key to overcoming the pain that comes with constantly switching gear is knowing when to outsource and picking the right person/company for the job. Not only did this allow me to focus more on the work I am good at and love, but it also left more space in my life to live the lifestyle that our business champions (which in the early days felt totally impossible).
The impact we’ve had in people’s lives. This was completely unanticipated when we started out. Yes, we knew (or rather, hoped) people would read our content. But we didn’t really consider how it may affect them.
We regularly receive messages from readers telling us how important our stories are and how they’ve inspired them to try something new or enabled them to see the world from a new perspective. This reminds us that what we are doing has great value and is affecting real change.
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Absolutely incredible book. Read it.
Outside/In podcast. Always insightful, covering interesting subject matter relating to nature.
As corny as it sounds, I try to bring adventure into my everyday life. I don’t always succeed, but I try. And by this, I don’t mean endeavouring gnarly pursuits, I mean doing things that thrill me, challenge me and push me a little outside my comfort zone.
I’m a keen planner, so for me, I find adventure in living life a little more spontaneously and precariously. It also comes from enjoying the ride of life and work a bit more instead of being fixated on things I want to achieve or future landmarks. Living more in the present has been really good for me, and in its own way, it feels pretty adventurous – to me, at least.
Ha, funny question rolling off the answer to the last one. But of course, I do have vision and plans. For Another Escape, the future consists of some wild changes, which you can read about here. In short, we are reviewing our mediums with the aim of being more impactful in creating and building culture around outdoor lifestyle, environmental stewardship and regenerative living.
Through all that we do, we strive to be a touchpoint on someone’s environmentalist journey and to help build the groundswell for cultural change – something we so desperately need now.
Go with your gut, always – every time I haven’t listened to my gut, things have gone wrong.
