The ROI of Getting Outside ft. Mary Anne Ivison (Let's Take This Outside Podcast)

I have personally always known that access to nature was not only the reason I started caring about the environment, but it also continues to be one of main ways in which I can recharge my own battery. What has been news to me, however, has been discovering that I am far from being alone.

Since launching this podcast in 2023, I have spoken to so many guests who have shared my experience and connection with the great outdoors. It was when I was really starting to notice this common thread when a podcast came across my feed, and I thought: this is who I need to speak with!

The podcast, cleverly titled “Let’s Take This Outside”, focuses on athletes, outdoor professionals, and scientists about their connection to nature, how it affects their performance and everyday life. Their host and our next guest is Mary Anne Ivison.

Mary Anne is a trusted media professional with over 13 years of experience in radio broadcasting, television, voice over, and live-hosting and emceeing. After many successful years in radio, in the summer of 2021, Mary Anne shifted her focus from radio to her own voiceover business, and in 2022 she launched her podcast Let’s Take This Outside. 

Mary Anne’s core values are firmly planted in empathy and compassion, and she strongly believes that human connection is vital to our collective happiness and success. When she isn’t recording audio, you can find Mary Anne hiking, cycling, cross country skiing, or staring at mossy rocks. 

In this episode, we’ll explore her professional journey, uncover lessons from remarkable guests over the years—ranging from athletes and travelers to journalists, psychologists, and business leaders—and discover how nature plays a pivotal role in everything from performance and conservation to wellness and leadership. Plus, we’ll hear about her vision for how media (in its evolving forms) can reconnect us with the environment.

With that, please help me welcome Mary Anne to The Resilience Report!

*

[Host: Lauren Scott] I am so excited for today's episode because a common theme that we've seen over the past year and a half of The Resilience Report actually comes down to two different questions when we're asking our business leaders and entrepreneurs: how they first got involved and interested in sustainability and the environment, as well as how they recharge their own batteries. The answer keeps coming back to exposure to nature and, honestly, just getting outside. Which is why when I came across this next guest and her podcast, I was just thinking this is the perfect fit and it expands even beyond The Resilience Report. Honestly, we focus more on business leaders and entrepreneurs, and here we had somebody focusing on people with all of these different rich backgrounds and all focused on "let's take this outside." So, with that, I would love to welcome the podcast host Mary Anne to the show. Welcome, Mary Anne.

[Guest: Mary Anne Ivison] Thanks, Lauren. I'm stoked. The intro was so perfect, and I'm really excited to kind of dive in and talk about this, because I'm a business owner as well, but maybe not as cool as some of your other guests, but excited to jump in. 

So, to that end, could you help walk us through your career path to setting up this podcast? To your point, you do also have your own company on top of what you do with the podcast, so you could run our listeners through that trajectory.

Sure, so I had about 13 years of experience in radio, did a little bit of TV as well, worked all over Ontario, I’m from Southern Ontario. I live in Ottawa now, which is like an outdoor haven. If you haven't spent a lot of time here, that's why I live here, to be totally honest, and don't really want to go anywhere else. But I spent 13 years in radio broadcasting. I was on the air, and in 2021 I got laid off right in the middle of the pandemic. It was detrimental to my mental health, but there was something in me that I feel like other business owners would be able to relate to, and it's like I never want to have a boss again, right? Like I feel like I make a terrible employee now; it's been like 3 years, but I decided I kind of took the like spaghetti at a wall thing, like scenario afterwards. I'm like, all I know is I don't want to work for anyone else. I just want to see what else I can do. Voiceover was the kind of like the main thing that popped up for me, and I ended up starting to book work, and I was like, oh, like I think I can make this work. So voice over, like a lot of commercial work and e-learning, and just work like that. And so that's been pretty great and sustainable the last 3 years but still very difficult. 

And then his name is Matt Cundle; he owns SoundOff Network. He was in radio and owns a podcast network in Canada, and we chatted, and we have a lot of mutual friends, and he's like, you got to start a podcast. I'm like, the only way I would do a podcast is if it was something that I was 100% passionate about, that I could talk to people about non-stop. So, I was like, it came pretty fast, but I was like, “let's take this outside”. You know, I think it's pretty clever, to be honest. I think it's pretty clever. But essentially, I talked to athletes and outdoor professionals and scientists about their connection to nature, and it's been just over 2 years, and it's been probably one of the most rewarding, authentic projects I've ever worked on, and I'm really happy to see where it's going.

And I highly encourage, obviously, all of our listeners to go check it out. And so what we're going to do right now is we're going to dive into the different kinds of guests that Mary Anne has had on the show. So, the first that I would love, and the one that you mentioned right at the top, which is athletes. Are you seeing that there's kind of this natural thread and connection between nature and performance when it comes to athletes?

For the type of athletes that I interview, yes, it is a very strong connection, just like you said, business leaders in nature. It's a very strong connection; it seems to always go back to that. Every one of my guests who's a professional athlete or adventurer, or like people who are professional adventurers, which is like crazy right, have a strong link to nature and how it plays into their life. Nature is literally a playground for many of these athletes, like Will Gad, who climbed a frozen Niagara Falls, for example. Lindsay Webster, she's a Spartan world champion, a sky running world champion, she literally spends all of her time outside. So, I want to talk about a couple of guests I had on specifically: 

Mike Shoreman, he's the first person with a disability, and this kind of also goes into the psychological part of nature too. He's the first person with a disability, he has Ramsay Hunt Syndrome, to cross all five Great Lakes on a paddleboard. And Jill Wheatley, she's an athlete and a mountain climber who climbed multiple of the world's 14 peaks over 8,000 m with only 30% of her vision after she lost 70% of her vision. I really wanted to bring up both of these athletes because it's not like they were born with it; it came later in life, but both of these people suffered tragic losses in their, like, how they function everyday life, but they still persevered and used nature to heal, right? And now spend a ton of time out in nature. 

So, I think that's a huge point that I wanted to bring up. Time and time again, I hear a version of this. I had a period where, you know, I wasn't going outside as much, I was grumpier, I was more tired, you know, we just went through November, and November's like one of those, like, shoulder season months where, like, I didn't go outside that much. I was not as, as much as I love nature, I was like, I'm not really inspired. It's dark all the time; the sun's not out, and I realized like myself and these athletes only realize that when they haven't been training outside. So they notice more when they had less nature in their lives. So, the absence of nature is stronger than being outside every day, and you're feeling good. So you really notice when that's not present in your life. Does that make sense?

Absolutely, absolutely. And I think your example of November is probably one that everybody, even if you're not an athlete, can feel that impact right away. Absolutely, and I love that idea of nature as a playground, and that brings us to the next type of guest, which I have to apologize for our listeners, and to Mary Anne if I feel a little less energetic than usual, it's because I had a red eye from this morning where I came back actually from traveling to Utah to go hiking.

Aww! Can we just talk about that? 

We could do a full episode on that! 

Can we just talk about that? Haha. 

Yeah, it was a bucket list item and honestly, it was just everything I could have hoped for, it was so special.

Okay, we're talking about this after we stop recording.

But I bring this up because I do think that there's a link between travel as well as conservation because when I was walking around Utah and the different national parks, the topic of water kept on coming up, which is not necessarily something that you think of in the winter months, but they were just saying that reduced snow historically, you haven't been able to do certain parts of the park in December, but because there are no, there's no snow, there's no melt, and then they're just talking about the impacts on the park and then possible tourism as well. So, in speaking to the guests that you've had over the course of your show, have you seen that common thread between nature, conservation, and then tourism?

So, something like very specific to what you just mentioned, I'm not sure it's because, you know, but I interviewed Dr. Daniel Scott, if I remember on the top of my head, he studies the link between like how much snow there is on ski resorts, so and how it affects North America. There's more data in the US than there is in Canada, but how different you know, ski resorts have had to pivot in terms of doing more summer sports, doing more mountain biking. I highly recommend listening to that episode specifically because he talks about climate change and how they've been warning, there's been warnings for literally decades, and it's finally happening, and we're seeing it very drastically the last few years, right? 

So he did say that there are still, you know, Eastern Canada, there's still lots of snow coming, you know, a lot of Canada because it is far north, we even saw some, like, some snow in eastern US, I go to Lake Placid, Upstate New York, a lot, but it is definitely affecting the tourism industry directly when it comes to snow. I also spoke to Richard from 10 Adventures, it's based in Calgary, he sets up tours across the world. So, my basic understanding is that when traveling internationally, you want to know the local operator is, is knowledgeable, experienced, eager to give you the best possible experience of their region or country. So, knowledge is key here, in you know, how to respect the local culture, the plants, the animals, the ecosystem, picking more eco-friendly transportation, for example, instead of giving like a private car, maybe do more public transportation, picking resorts and accommodations that make it part of their mission statement is a, are a few things you can do. There are actually like eco-resorts now, so just do your research, and I think there's options literally everywhere that are taking more responsibility in terms of being eco-friendly.

So much of that is linked to education, which brings me to the next area, and an area where you have such a deep background, which is, you know, you've talked about, you were in radio, and experience in television. When you're speaking to journalists, and they are talking about the environment, they're talking about nature, has there been any common threads that you have learned as to how we need to approach it in that space, and how to report on it to share that information so that we can make those educated decisions?

There's a few angles I've learned from, I guess. I'm really lucky to be part also of the Travel Media Association of Canada. I attended their conference this year in St. John's, Newfoundland, so there are a lot of, I saw firsthand the great journalists across our country who are covering the natural space, and are doing an amazing job doing so. 

One of my guests, her name is Sarah Christie, she is currently in radio, but she also has a podcast called Earth Care. So, this angle is, it's an eco-conscious interview series, and we'll talk about later, and how I know you have a, like, we want to talk about like, the angle of how the media is putting things out, right? But she did a great interview about "Hands Off the Green Belt" in Ontario, where the provincial government is actively destroying the environment. So, she takes on heavy topics like that, but also takes on topics like taking a reusable water bottle to concerts or how to make Halloween costumes of stuff you already own in your house. There's also like the journalist weather angle of that too, Kyle Brittain, he's a freelance journalist, he worked for the Weather Network, and now he documents high-impact weather events across western Canada. We talked a lot about wildfires and how much that has impacted western Canada specifically. 

And one of my favorite guests, a different angle on this, is Dianne Whelan. She makes documentaries; she completed the land and water trails of the 24,000 km Trans Canada Trail. She's the first person and woman to do so. Along the way, she talks about the importance of connecting to indigenous communities throughout Canada, and respecting the land. So there's also that angle that I think a lot of journalists are doing a great job at.

I think just so important when we're talking about kind of access that information, and I know one theme that keeps on coming up as well, and one that we were talking about just off air before we started recording, which is definitely an area I hold close to my heart, which is the psychological impact of exposure to nature and getting outside. I know for myself, it is so important for that wellness, and to your point, maybe we don't always notice when we do it, but we definitely notice when we don't do it, right? Yeah, we've had a couple of different specialists on the show, one who was talking about it, nature as a basic psychological need. You had somebody else who was even taking an approach of prescribing time in parks, which I think is fascinating. Could you speak to those guests and others if you would like to share?

I have to say that the science guests are my favorite guests because that's where I learn the most. His, and specifically the, is nature needed as a basic psychological need? His name is Professor Gordon Walker; he studies leisure. Like, how cool is that? He loves canoeing, right? Including that important question. So I had actually go back to this episode because I just needed to remember specifically the four needs for nature, and there's all, it dives more into it, but I want to bring up these four: competence, for example, the ability to go into nature, test our competence like going rock climbing, canoeing, what are we capable of in a safe manner. 

A quest for tranquility, which I think you probably achieved in Utah, where you just went, where we go to nature to escape from, so like, work problems, bad relationships. Something about natural settings that is very calming. He also mentioned natural stimulation, so from an evolutionary perspective, parts of nature that we inherently find calming, like forest bathing, for example. I'm not sure if you've done it, but it's a totally different way of looking at nature and experiencing nature. Social affirmation is, we want to go with loved ones, reinforce our values, find connection. That's also a part of it too, right? Is like going with people that we love or want to connect to further. 

And the park prescriptions are from Dr. Melissa Lem, and this is a thing, it's called “Park Prescriptions”, where doctors can prescribe nature to deal with things like anxiety, for example. And this really kind of came out in COVID, right? Where we were all just like stuck inside. On the website of Park Prescriptions, it says side effects may include living longer, increased energy, pain reduction, better mood, and so they can, so you're like, how do you even prescribe nature? Like, what does that even, like, are you just giving them a tree? What does that mean? So, it means they can actually, depends on where they are in Canada, but they can offer like Parks Canada passes, and I think in Ottawa, they can, you know, prescribe a Museum of Nature pass, or local museum passes, for example. So, there are lots of great people who are able to like, prescribe nature and help us experience experiencing it in a different way and from a psychological standpoint.

And it makes me think too that there are so many different business opportunities on all of that, of you know, offering these as services, and certainly, that's where the core of our messaging for The Resilience Report sits, is from that business lens. So, you've also had, I would say, hybrid episodes too, where people are also big into sports, but then they're also business leaders. Where have you seen that crossover in terms of businesses weaving in sustainability or the environment into their core values and purpose?

I think there's a lot of outdoor brands who do this very, very well. Hannah Parish, she's at Oura Ring, which, if you don't know what that is, that's like a health-tracking app, but it's a ring, so it tracks like your sleep and your health metrics and your activity metrics. And I've met Hannah in person; she is an extraordinary human being. So, she works for Oura, but she also has a strong love for mountain biking and cycling. She's an advocate for getting other women into cycling, and she volunteers on the Trails and Active Transportation Committee in Collingwood. You know, spreads the word of nature and activity. I think it's a common theme throughout these outdoor active businesses that I feel like I'm, I don't know if it's actually part of like when they're hiring you, but I feel like it's like mandatory to enjoy activity and physical activity outside to work at these places, right? Or you're not really going to enjoy it.

That's fair, and I have to say, I have an Oura ring, and it's really interesting. You, I do have one, so I'm very well versed, and to the, to actually your point, just before I was wearing my Oura Ring throughout my time in Utah, and my sleep score just got so much better when I was spending all day outside, just pushing myself physically, and I slept like a baby all week, so the two definitely go hand in hand.

Well, I think it's also, I'm not a doctor, but like, what from what I've learned, it's not just being outside all day and getting that natural sunlight and like adjusting your circadian rhythm, but I think it's also probably less stress for you too, right?

There is definitely that! Even walking kind of the thin line of a canyon felt less stressful than maybe the average day-to-day in the office.

It's more natural, it's more natural to be walking on a canyon, I think, than being at the office, that's my personal opinion!

Well, with all of this rich background of these different guests with their different respective backgrounds, what are you working on now? Is there anything that you're really excited about? Is it different iterations of the podcast, and it could be beyond the podcast, in your work as well?

A couple of things that I'm excited for, in kind of early 2025, on the podcast front specifically, is I have some really great guests coming in 2025. Her name is Judy; she's a founder from Color the Trails. Have you heard of it?

No, I don't know this.

So, it's a national black woman-owned business, and they focus on improving access to the outdoors for BIPOC adventurers. Yeah, she's really cool, so I'm very excited to talk to her. And something specifically I'm doing for my own benefit but also so trying to inspire others is the Rideau Lake cycling tour, so it's in June, and it's a two-day cycling tour from Ottawa to Kingston and back. So, we're, I think, my, we're going to be doing my boyfriend are going to be doing the gravel route, which is like 130k each way. So, I'll be training for that. So, I want, at the end of the day, I just want to live what I preach, over and over again, and literally 100% of my vacation time, in the last few years and moving forward, is always active vacations. If I'm going to go somewhere, I'm going to go to hike, or bike, or try something new. I do like, you know, walking around cute little towns and finding coffee shops. It almost has to be an outdoor component along with it.

Yeah, and I feel like the coffee shop tastes extra good after you've been active. There's some sort of correlation high that comes from, yeah, yeah, 100%.

And I, I do want to scratch the surface a little bit further on the media background. So, you were saying, sure, from the journalist, you're talking about how they're approaching it, but I think all of our industries, regardless of our background of our guests, are just changing so quickly, but I feel like the media space in particular is just moving at warp speed.

When it comes to talking about the environment, do you have any thoughts as to how our listeners can best approach it in the media space and knowing that it's changing so quickly from the more traditional outlets to whether it's social media, podcast, others?

In my opinion, there's two polarizing sides to our attention span. So, we have these very short Instagram reels and TikTok, with information that people eat up. There's whole, like, skincare TikTok, and hair TikTok, and Mom TikTok, right? I'm sure there's nature TikTok. And then we have, so it's like polarization, so on one end, we have these very short, like 5-second Instagram reels, and then on the other hand, we have like these 2-hour long podcasts coming out, and both of them are being consumed. 

So, in that theme, I'm not going to really talk about traditional media. I want to talk about more new media. I think education is very important, and reminding people that, hey, climate change is real. We need to take care of the environment for it to be here for our children and future generations. So, I think that's what we should be using media for because there's so much on the opposite end of things that is infuriating. So, I think just education and getting the word out, whether it's a 10-second TikTok, or it is a podcast like this, or your podcast, right? Or my podcast and trying to educate people.

It's funny, I never really noticed it, but you're absolutely true that we have, are at those two extremes, with TikTok, or like an Andrew Huberman or Rich Roll podcast that is three, three and a half hours. It's fascinating that we've gone those two extremes.

Yeah, I agree.

And you're mentioning the natural transition towards the podcast and kind of how you felt the need to get outside. Was that the moment for you where you realized that you wanted to dedicate at least part of your time towards talking about the environment, or was it something when you were younger? What did that journey look like for you?

So, I grew up on a farm and played in the forest. So, like, I don't know if there was like a specific event. I don't know if there was a specific moment, but the first time I was in the Canadian Rockies, Here's the thing, a lot of Canadians haven't had the privilege to be in the Canadian Rockies. Even, I live in Ottawa, and Gatineau Park is my playground. It's right across, it's 15 minutes from me. A lot of people in Ottawa have never been to Gatineau Park either, which is wild to me. But the first time I was in the Canadian Rockies, I was with my sister; she lived out there. I was in my early 20s. I knew there's something about mountains that makes you realize that you're part of something bigger and a little bit like you're small and insignificant at the same time. On a bigger scale of that would be, I was in Nepal, going to Everest Base Camp, for example, and you're literally surrounded by the highest mountains, over 20,000 ft in the world, right? So, I've had multiple experiences throughout my life, climbed Kilimanjaro as well, like you know, you feel so tiny and so small and so insignificant, but if you can like make even the smallest impact, like for example, by launching Let's Take This Outside and having these conversations over and over again, and sharing with my audience, I think that's really important.

First of all, it's amazing that you've done all those different climbs. That, that is fascinating, and I think there's this element of, I was really observing this this past week, of awe, if you know, to your point of, you feel so small, and this opportunity to feel like you do have a role in it, and to kind of own that, but that you are some part of something so much bigger.

And I don't think you need to climb mountains to be a part of that. I think it's even exploring nature in your own backyard, in your own community, right? I think there's just these everyday things that we can observe and make us realize like, hey, we are part of something. Like, I'm sure when you're hiking in Utah, you probably felt more connected than you have in a long time. Maybe, I don't know what your regular workout schedule is, but being there, and like being there specifically to go hiking in this beautiful place you've probably never been to, those kind of experiences make us feel very connected.

And as an entrepreneur, I know you're saying that it maybe fits you better than being in the 9 to 5 office, however, it's not always easy, of trying to balance that and create your own space and to run your own business. How do you fill your cup when you're running your own thing? Is it going back to connecting with nature? Do you have other tools in your toolbox? I'd love to hear more.

They kind of all go back to that. They all kind of go back to nature. I also use the Headspace app. I love, like, just trying to like reconnect, but taking breaks throughout the day, going for a simple walk, sticking my head out my patio window, going on a weekend adventure every few months is really important, and going to my favorite places, I think, is really important. I always kind of feel refreshed, but sometimes it's really hard to just get outside, even for a walk. So, I'm really trying to walk more, and honestly, right now, I do have, I don't know if this is TMI, I have my sports bra on right now because I'm going cross-country skiing, right? I have a nice sweater over the top, but I'm actually ready to go cross-country skiing the moment that we are done with this interview.

I love it. I love it.

So, it's taking advantage of the slower times and slower days. Like, I did like a swim-bike race at the end of the summer, and I had a really slow business summer, like, it was like a little excruciating to a point of like, oh, I'm never going to work again, and never one's going to book me for a job again, right? But I was able to like play outside a lot and get in good shape for my race, and now I look back at it and really treasure that because fall, which is my favorite month, I didn't go get to go outside this month because I was so busy, right? So, I think it's just taking advantage of those slower days and those slower times and really just embracing it because there's nothing worse than sitting inside, having to work, hitting deadlines, and it's sunny and beautiful out.

Absolutely, well, enjoy your skiing. I used to love going; my in-laws used to live in Gatineau, so I know it's great skiing right there. Yeah, if our listeners do want to check out your podcast, which I highly, highly recommend, where would you direct them towards? 

To letstakethisoutside.ca, also on Instagram as well.

Fantastic, and then we love to end every single episode with the same question, which is, what do you think it will take for businesses and leaders to be resilient going forward?

It is tough out there right now. I know the job market is not great; inflation, it's just out of control, you know, which unfortunately makes me grateful for what I've built, but if you manage people, if you own a company with employees, I think more empathy is needed as we go through these tough times, right? I've worked in extremely, you know, I would never take back my media career or radio career, but I worked in some very extremely toxic environments in media, and when your staff isn't happy, your people aren't happy, your business is going to rot from the inside. So, I think empathy and like authentically encouraging that stuff, not just that HR BS that's sent out, like genuinely setting a good example, and like stop with the pizza parties. Like, give people a day off, give people like, give people a day off and think, or bonus, like things they actually need and want, and actually listen, are my thoughts.

You've shared so much today. I'm so happy that we set this up. I was thrilled when I was seeing this common thread of people kept on saying, well, I just go outside, I go outside, and then all of a sudden, the podcast came into my life, and I was like, I need to talk to Mary Anne. So thank you so much for sharing all these pearls of wisdom with us.

Thanks for having me, Lauren.