We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jessie Pulliam. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jessie below.

Hi Jessie, thanks for joining us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

What my parents did right was take me outdoors. We go camping every year in the White Mountains in Eastern Arizona. It’s usually a 10-day backcountry trip that my entire extended family goes on. These trips formed the foundation for my love of nature and my adventurous spirit.

These trips are where my dad taught me the fundamental skills of responsible outdoorsmanship. He taught me how to fish, how to purify water, and how to build a shelter out of fallen branches. He would always study foraging books in his free time at home and then taught my sister and me how to identify certain plants, what they could be used for, and the consequences of misidentifying plants that looked similar to each other. He taught me how to navigate with a compass, how to shoot a bow and arrow, how to paddle a canoe, and countless other important skills. These are all things that have contributed to me being the guide that I am today.

My mom is the one who taught me how to appreciate and protect our natural landscapes. She has a gentle outlook on how to experience the beauty around us. It’s not about conquering and besting the landscape, but sitting in awe and wonder of it. There are lots of elk and wild horses around where we camp and whenever a big herd would come through the meadow across from our campsite, she would have us just sit and watch for as long as they were there. We would determine who the leaders of the herds were, give all of the animals names, and come up with dramatic stories for each of them. At night, she would set out a blanket just past the light of the fire and have us lie down to stargaze. You can see the whole Milky Way from there, which my mom would always point out was so special since we live in Phoenix where there’s a lot of light pollution. She would remind us that this was something we only got to see in this very special place once a year. She also taught my sister and me the importance of Leave-No-Trace, a set of principles that aims to prevent people from leaving a noticeable mark on the landscape. When everything was packed up at the end of our trip, our last chore was to comb through out campsite for any sign that we had been there. We would pick up bottle caps, scraps of paper, any piece of plastic, and then drown our fire pit in gallons of water before we could leave. The only thing left behind had to be our footprints. Again, these are all things that have made me into the guide that I am. Without my parents, I wouldn’t have the passion or skill set required to do my job.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Jessie and I am a co-owner and lead guide for Southwest Adventure Company. Southwest Adventure is an outdoor adventure company that provides unique, thrilling, and educational outdoor experiences throughout Arizona. I am born and raised in AZ, which is where my love of the outdoors began. Over 51% of Arizona is state or federal land, which means a lot of room for outdoor recreation. I grew up hiking, camping, kayaking, and horseback riding. For my 18th birthday I backpacked the Grand Canyon and have since backpacked 1000’s of miles across the globe. Needless to say, no one in my life was surprised when I became a professional guide. My guiding journey started on Lake Powell running kayak tours through Antelope Canyon. I was a hiking guide around the Phoenix area for many years. Then, I went on to become the kayak department supervisor at a cruise port in Alaska where I was able to gain the clerical and managerial skills require to run my own business.

We only just started our company in the beginning of 2024, so this is our first season. We currently offer kayak tours on Roosevelt Lake and Bartlett Lake, both just outside of the Phoenix Valley. They are 3-hour tours that come with all of the gear that you would need, as well as the instruction needed to paddle. It’s a really fun, beginner friendly way to beat the heat and get out in nature. Along the tour, we take breaks to swim, talk about the history of the area/local flora and fauna, and just generally hang out in the breathtaking beauty of the desert. We also offer an early morning breakfast tour, where we have homemade breakfast burritos and coffee ready for you upon arrival. At the end of every tour, you receive a complimentary die-cut sticker. There are several pretty stellar designs to choose from!

Our dreams for the company are very vast and we are only just in the beginning stages of planning and executing these visions. We are looking at including hiking, mountain biking, and multi-day river kayaking tours within the next few years. If there is something you’re interested in doing that you don’t see on our calendar, just reach out! We are more than happy to create a customized outdoor experience for our guests.

What sets us apart from other companies is that we are real guides and real locals running this company. We have the hands-on experience necessary to understand what creates a safe, memorable trip. Being born and raised in AZ, I have a deep connection to the landscape. There’s something so magical about being able to show our guests my home state. Some of our guests have never been in this kind of environment before, so it’s amazing that I get to be there as they experience the majesty of the desert for the first time. It’s an honor to help create these memories.

Any advice for managing a team?

When I stepped into my role as Department Supervisor in Alaska, I had a team that was overworked, undertrained, and all pitted against each other. There were daily quarrels and it was very “every man for himself.” I really wanted to create a solid team that could depend on one another. My guides needed to respect and trust each other, especially if there were any safety related issues on a tour, the guides needed to have each other’s backs. I started doing daily meetings before our tours started for 15- 20 minutes. We’d go over the schedule for the day, break times, who was doing what, etc. but I would put an emphasis on each individuals role for the day and how important they were to the team. Each person was integral to the day going smoothly. At the end of the day, I would have another 15-minute “recap” meeting where we would discuss what worked and what didn’t, with the goal of being more efficient the next day. I would always make sure to point out each team member’s strengths in front of the team, as well. Praise in public, critique in private has always been my method. I found that over time, my team started praising each other in our recap meetings without me initiating the praise. They started valuing the different roles of their peers instead of critiquing each other, this in turn lead to respect and trust. Lead by example, value your team members as individuals and they will learn to value each other.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

When we are with our guests, we try to connect with them on a personal level. We are with them for at least 3 hours, sometimes many days in a row, so it’s important to be personable and genuine. Everything we say comes from the heart and we are just very passionate about getting to know people. We talk about their kids, pets, life paths, hobbies, whatever really, and I try to use their first name here and there so they can see that I’m invested in getting to know them. I’m also very open about my own life and experiences with my guests. Once a guest feels like you care about who they are, they will more than likely want to use you again in the future. We often follow each other on social media after our tours. I like to share my personal Instagram account with guests that I really connect with as well as our business account. There are many guests that I took on tours years ago that I’m still in touch with through Instagram who have reached out to book with us now that we have our own company. We are also compiling an email list to send updates on different excursions that we will be putting on our calendar.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://southwestadventurecompany.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/southwestadventure.co/
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/southwestadventureco/

Image Credits

All photos provided were shot by Dalton Davis at Ranger Visual Co.