Resi Stiegler, the Warrior Princess

Here's another piece I recently wrote for my friends at Late Sunday Afternoon...

If you live your life – I mean really LIVE your life – it’s the people and the places and the moments all woven together that make it beautiful. A lot like one of Late Sunday Afternoon’s
beautiful creations. That’s the way I choose to live my life, anyway. Vibrant. Curious. Colorful. Well-traveled. Intertwined and entangled with humans and their stories. Stories like this one. Enjoy.

Almost one year ago to the day, Late Sunday Afternoon Founder Matthew Schildkret sent me a message on Instagram introducing the idea of gifting a Late Sunday Afternoon scarf to powerful women with whom I encountered on my travels. I obliged, of course. It’s been fun. The only challenge is that there are so many incredible women. And that’s where the one and only Resi Stiegler comes into the story. Behold, Resi: the warrior princess.

Resi crushes at the Aspen Winternational in November 2015.

I knew Resi Stiegler – a longtime member of the U.S. Ski Team – before I met her. I mean, not really…but I felt like I did. Why? Her spirit is among the largest I’ve encountered. She’s magnetic. Nicknamed “La Tigre,” early in her career Resi would wear tiger ears on her helmet when she skied. Close with teammate Sarah Schleper, who roars out of the start gate, these women inspired me. I grew up as a ski racer with them as my heroines. They were the warriors of my sport, after all.

I admired Resi’s fight through injury after injury and comeback after comeback, her free spirit floating between the Tetons in Jackson, Wyoming to the beaches of Maui and over to Europe and back again. So when I started working with the team last year, I was stoked to be working with Resi, who had not made criteria for the team in 2015 so was not officially on the U.S. Ski Team. Truthfully, when I met her, I was a little uncertain – two big personalities with big hearts…I wasn’t sure how it was going to play out.

I find it important to acknowledge what I’ve learned from the people whom I’ve been blessed to cross paths with in life. Each of these individuals has influenced the woman I am and are woven into the fabric of my soul, as are the threads woven into the scarf around my neck. Resi has taught me a lesson in being comfortable in who you are. True to yourself and honest with everyone in your path. And feeling deeply and loving big. In a world that sometimes just scratches the surface, Resi has depth. She’s real. She’s human. She’s a friend that’s just easy,and she accepts me for who I am. We laugh, a lot.

Not only does she love skiing, but Resi loves life. And she lives it big and with her whole heart. In fact, she acknowledges life’s magic. She’s an example for everyone around her in enjoying the moment and finding joy in the small things in life…like the way the light hits the patio at Paia Bay Coffee on a subtly rainy-sunny afternoon in Maui. She is light. And her light is bright and sparkly.

Resi the warrior princess has made her Late Sunday afternoon treasure her travel companion, jetting with it across the globe on those travels from Jackson to Maui to Euroland and back. Vibrant. Curious. Colorful. Well-traveled. Intertwined and entangled with humans and their stories. Connected. We are all connected, and there’s always a lesson to be learned from those in our tribe. Open your heart and mind to it and you’ll receive gifts you’ve never imagined. Mahalo, from Maui…where the Aloha spirit is big and bright and sparkly – undoubtedly a source of energy for Resi’s big and bright and sparkly soul.