ÌÇÐÄVlogÆƽâ°æ

I’m a Denver-based storm & volcano chaser, photographer and entrepreneur.

In my photography work, I find grace in fury, beauty in the extreme, and light in the dark. I love capturing the juxtaposition of every day sights, benign and happy objects, and beauty - with powerful storms and volcanoes. These experiences and images remind me of how small we are, yet how powerful we can be in our lives. My art is about slowing down, taking it in, and looking more closely.

I fiercely believe in and advocate for gender equity and self-actualization. My personal mission is to inspire and empower people to be and do what they love, by identifying and breaking down their stories of limitation. I’m the proud founder and lead of the initiative, which elevates the content and voices of female and female-identified storm chasers, to inspire, empower and equip girls & women globally to pursue the sciences, the weather and their passions.

I’m also the principal at JAWalton Communications, a strategic communication and executive leadership center. I hold a B.A. in Environmental Communication and an M.S. in Journalism & Technical Communication, and spent the first 17 years of my career working with scientists, engineers, urban planners and other technical experts to craft communication strategies for effective climate change and science communication. I brought my deep experience as a communications expert - and my understanding of what it was like working in highly technical fields as a woman - to create the Girls Who Chase concept and find new ways to address systemic gender disparity issues and enact culture change.

I’ve been fascinated by severe weather and volcanoes the majority of my life, but didn’t start chasing until I was nearly 40; I allowed my own personal stories of limitation to get in my way. In 2018, I recognized what was stopping me and jumped at the opportunity to go on a storm chasing tour and get a taste of the transcendent power of Plains weather. I was hooked - and shortly after, saw my first tornado chasing on my own in Colorado. In that moment, there was no doubt: pursuing, witnessing and photographing mother nature’s most epic shows is what I live to do and is what brings me true joy. But more importantly, helping others understand and connect with their own insides - their own true joys, free of self-limitation - is my purpose.

In the following years, I taught myself to forecast and chase on my own, and picked up a camera for the first time in 2020. My work has since been published in outlets such as The Washington Post and Flaunt Magazine, and on shows including Good Morning America, The Today Show, The Kelly Clarkson Show, and NBC. I’m so proud to join a community of committed, passionate and incredibly talented chasers and photographers, to bring people images of some of the globe’s most epic moments.