Meet the First Darling Ambassador: Eleasha Gall!

Introducing the first Darling Ambassador: my sister Eleasha Gall! Darling Ambassadors are the women I admire who truly embody the healthy, happy, adventurous spirit of Dirtbag Darling. They’ll check back in and share their adventures with us all year. Check back as we’ll be adding more inspiring Darling Ambassadors every month! 

Asking Lea to be my first Ambassador was a no-brainer. She’s the one who inspired me to start hiking and kayaking and even convinced me to love yoga (it took a while). Even when I was a little kid, she was always jetting off to some exotic country to live on a boat or visit a leper colony (yep). Get to know Darling Ambassador Eleasha Gall now:

My name is Eleasha Gall and I live in Long Beach California. I’m originally fromTrumbauersville which was a very small town in Pennsylvania with only two streets,  Main and Broad. My dad was actually mayor for a little while but that’s only because they went door to door asking if anyone wanted to volunteer for the job. I grew up learning to be self-sufficient and handy.  We didn’t have a lot of money so if something around the house broke we had to figure it out. 

For work, I’m the Director of Animal Behavior and Training who oversees the care of all of the animals at spcaLA. My team and I work with dogs with issues to help them become more adoptable and much easier to live with once in the homes.

I admire women who are kind. It’s unfortunately very rare that you meet a truly kind person, someone who—without a personal agenda—goes out of their way to make someone have an easier day or smile. I had an amazing friend, Erica,  who always made everyone feel as if they were the most important thing. Unfortunately for the world, Erica left us all way too soon but her kindness will never be forgotten and is something I’m forever amazed by when I meet the rare person like her.

When I have a weekend off from working, I usually spend it paddle boarding with my dog Monster, hiking and camping with both of my dogs, doing yoga on the bluff, reading on the beach or getting together with friends to listen to some live music. 

My favorite place to spend time outdoors is the beach or in the woods because it helps you to very much love living in the moment.  It’s important to look at this amazing world and cherish it. We should never take our planet for granted. The world is big; life is short.  

My favorite outdoor activities are sailing, diving or anything on the water. Being out there is a magical feeling. I was hooked on diving the first time I floated underwater.  It’s like flying on another planet, especially night diving when all the creatures come out. Love it!

One luxury item I always have with me are my princess-cut diamond earrings. No matter how dirty or muddy I get outside they always make me feel like a million bucks.

This fall I’ll be visiting my family and friends back home. I can’t wait to see them and get some good pizza, bagels and Wawa Iced Tea. It’s amazing how much you miss certain foods when you are in a different area!

One thing I’d love to learn to do is hang gliding because although I’m not big on anything with sudden drops like roller coasters I would love to be out there on the wind like that.  Also swimming with whale sharks, I have been wanting to do that for about three years now.

My favorite piece of advice for living a healthy lifestyle is stay natural and don’t have too much of anything. I’m a big coffee person and have tried to quit a number of times (it’s my only addiction).  But no one that’s around me wants me to quit since I really do NEED it ha!  The few times I’ve tried to quit people always end up getting me gift cards to coffee places. So I’ve learned to just keep it at a cup or two a day tops!  

The scariest or funniest thing that’s happened to me outdoors is…Gosh I hope my dad doesn’t read this, he will never want me to travel again!  When I was in the rainforest in Ecuador in the middle of the night (probably more like 10pm) I, of course, had to use the bathroom. I got out from under my mosquito net and took a little walk.   It was then that it occurred to me that panthers live there and are unseen by most people before they attack you.  I was down in that area for about two months and had many near-misses with the wildlife but no worries, I made it out with no permanent damage!

The places I’ve traveled include Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Ireland, Bahamas, British Virgin Islands, Jamacia, Caymen, Belieze and Puerto Rico.

One of my favorite moments is when went up to Alaska last August and camped and hiked along the Idirod trail at Crows Pass. I met up with Brian, this great guy who is a photojournalist and has lived off and on in Alaska for 10 years.  All I knew about the trail is that he said it was a bit steep, which meant a 2000ft elevation in about two miles I later found out.  We started hiking at midnight and after an hour he told me to turn my head lamp off.  It was so late and I was so tired I didn’t even ask why. He had spotted the Northern Lights going crazy up ahead. I could have stood there for hours. It was one of the coolest things I have ever seen.  The whole thing was awe-inspiring and I can’t wait to go back. 

In Hawaii I loved Moloki because it was so serene even though I went there to visit a leper colony. Arizona has tons of great hiking spots especially in Sedonna and the Superstition Mountains. I’d have to say my two favorite spots are Yosemite and New Orleans. I just went to Yosemite for the first time for a few days with a friend from back East. We spent the time hiking all over and the views are second to none.  Of course I’m on a Half Dome kick now. New Orleans has the world’s most amazing music-everywhere. Every single place you walk past has great music coming out of every doorway.

  

The coolest spot I’ve visited is British Virgin Islands because I was able to spend three weeks on the ocean and dive every single day. At night you had the stars to look at for hours while you laid out.  I’ll never forget the first time I saw the Southern Cross—I was so psyched it was pretty dorky.  In the mornings you would watch the birds diving head first into the water for breakfast.  It was just the best.

Thanks Lea! Expect to hear lots more from this Darling Ambassador throughout the year. What was your favorite part of Lea’s story? Tweet me @dirtbagdarling!