Present Team

About the Founder

Hi, I’m Jackie and I’m originally from a small farm town in Illinois but fell in love with the natural landscape of the Bay Area on my first visit fifteen years ago.

Currently Present is primarily a one-woman business, with loads of support from my husband, Spencer. Getting here took immense trials, loss, learnings and love, and this shop’s rooted in my experience..

Throughout my twenties, I lived a dynamic lifestyle and trained in a myriad of roles and industries. As an adventure travel guide for PEAK Adventure Travel in ‘12-’13, I got a unique opportunity to explore the vast expanses of America and to fall in love with this majestic country and our natural world over and over again.

After living in So Cal and the #vanlife through my early 20s and then exploring Marin and Silicon Valley life with Spencer, we fell in love with the rural, outdoorsy lifestyle and jaw-dropping nature of the Santa Cruz Mountains and it quickly became home.

Overall I’ve grown into a wide breadth of defining characteristics: organization nut, roadtrip junkie, servant leader, admin expert, parks fanatic, sticker addict, cat/chicken mama, hiker, biker, trekker, business nerd, disability advocate, earth alarmist, serial volunteer + beginner entrepreneur, which leads me here - to a gift shop in the small town of Boulder Creek, CA - population: 4,081 + Gateway to Big Basin Redwoods State Park. 

Today living in the mountains, we explore nature almost daily and constantly nurture our spirits with adventure. I hope to help others kindle their love for America and the outdoors so that together we can strive to preserve our natural world. 

Thanks for showing up!

Check out these pages for more information about Present Story, Values + Mission