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GIRLS MENTORSHIP TEAM

The Be Good Mentorship Program is a summer-long journey designed to empower young girls and women to discover their confidence, build new skills, and become leaders in the world of cycling. The program focuses on three distinct tracks: Ride/Race, Bike Mechanic, and Creative. Read about our mentors and mentees below!

Ride-Race Team

Mechanic Team

Creative Team

Meet the Ride/Race Mentees

Kendall Owen

Age 16, Manhattan, Kansas

I want to be more experienced in gravel biking and become a stronger female cyclist.

Leila Streb

Age 16, Baltimore, Maryland

I am one of few girls on my current team, and it can feel isolating. I want to advocate for more girls on bikes. Cycling has given me an outlet to manage stress and anxiety, it has given me a community, taught me discipline, and how to work hard for things I love.

Lia Hultgren

Age 13, Crozet, Virginia

I want to learn and grow from women higher in the sport. Although I have been in the sport for a while and love most types of riding, I would like to explore more of the endurance side of the sport. I want to carry my knowledge from the program to all the younger girls in my biking community who are starting to look up to me.

Marta Mitkovska

Age 12, Alpine, Wyoming

I suffered a concussion last fall and have been slowly coming back to the things I love, and riding my bike is a big part of my plans. I enjoy training and having goals to attain, and doing it alongside people who love it as well is a great motivation.

Phoebe Andersen

Age 12, Treynor, Iowa

I want to be around other girls and women who ride, and I'd love to learn more from others who have been riding longer than I have!

Tallulah Gerald

Age 11, Hailey, Idaho

My sister did the program, and she had a lot of fun. Also it sounds really fun.

Meet the Ride/Race Mentors

Amy Warthen

My intention for signing up to be a mentor is to share my excitement for how fulfilling it is to be riding a bike in the great outdoors pushing your limits and connecting with a community.

Nicole Lisk

As my second year as a mentor, I want to keep doing this to ensure we are getting more girls on bikes and creating positive experiences for them here in my own back yard.

Colleen Baker

I want to inspire the next generation of female cyclists!

Shannon Carroll

I believe every young woman deserves someone in her corner who encourages her to dream big, take on new challenges, and discover what she's capable of. Cycling has given me so much, and I'm excited to help athletes build confidence, have fun, and enjoy the journey.

Dana Sowards

My goal is to help more girls discover the joy of riding by creating a welcoming, encouraging space where they can build skills, confidence, and a lifelong love of cycling.

Tina Hart

BaseCamp has been a longtime partner with RPI, and I've raced RPI twice, so I'm especially thrilled to be able to help all the girls prepare for their best day out on course. We love that their peers can see these girls as role models and leaders, and we can’t wait to see them crush it on race day!

Erin Solomon

As a mother of a young girl and the owner of a bike shop, I want to always support ways to get more girls riding bikes and feeling comfortable in the cycling community.

Many of our ride/race mentors are members of the World Bicycle Relief Women's Gravel Racing Team! Each rider on this team commits their time, energy, and resources to compete throughout the season, covering their own race entries, travel, and personal expenses to raise awareness and critical support for World Bicycle Relief. Every dollar raised helps provide life-changing bicycles to women and girls around the world. These bicycles unlock access to education, healthcare, and economic opportunity—creating lasting change for individuals, families, and communities.

Meet the Bike Mechanic Mentees

Carleigh LeBlanc

Baldwin, Missouri

Bikes are so intricate and intimidating to work on, so to have someone help me figure all that out in an environment that fosters questions and learning would be the most ideal situation. I’ve had so many people stop and help me fix an issue while on the side of the road or in the middle of a race, and I want to be able to do the same thing. In addition, when I’m coaching with NICA, I want to be able to make sure everyone’s bike is race ready, and I want to continue to show our girls on the team that they can do anything.

Chris Meck

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

I started biking in 2020 during the height of covid, when our daughter was going through cancer treatments. I used biking as a way to manage stress. That same year I became a level 1 NICA coach to support our high school team and learn MTB skills alongside the newest riders on the team. I progressed to become the head coach and team director of an inner city high school MTB team. I organize a local weekly women's ride and started bikepacking in 2023. I want to combine the skills I use in coaching with the love of bikepacking to organize women centered bikepacking trips, and I want to learn the skills needed to problem solve issues that could arise during these trips. These skills will also help me manage bike problems with my team and help me teach the students to problem solve their own bike issues.

Doreen Wagner

Auburn, California

I coach kids, and one aspect of what I teach them is fixing their bike. The number one reason people park a bike and not ride it is because they don't know how to fix a flat! We want to teach the kids how to do that and a lot more! We teach them riding, but teaching mechanical skills will empower them in an entirely new way. I'm looking for a safe space to learn without judgment. I need to fiddle, make mistakes, try again....I learn best by doing. Someone that knows how to do this and can guide me sequentially in my learning would be very helpful.

Meet the Bike Mechanic Mentors

Anika Bennet

I'm a fourth-generation Idahoan born and raised in Boise. I love teaching people of all ages mechanical skills and empowering women to become creative, independent mechanics. As Programs Coordinator, I teach year-round teen programs, build community relationships with volunteers and local organizations, and lead Shifting Gears, a program teaching incarcerated women professional-level bike repair skills at two South Idaho correctional facilities.

Ella Rosenthal

After coming up through NICA and collegiate cycling, I chased my passion for bikes to a career in the industry. Today I run field testing for Specialized, bringing new bikes to real-world riders. I'm passionate about sharing the joy and sense of accomplishment that women and friends of all genders can achieve in the outdoors. I'm excited to learn alongside this year’s cohort of RPI mentees, support them in building their confidence, and empower them to take on big goals both on and off the bike.

Laura Montero

I've been wrenching on bikes since 2013 (and seeing the world by bike since 2005!). By day I work in Bosch’s eBike Systems division, training your local bike mechanics. If you can’t find me there, then you’re most likely to see me pedaling up a big, dumb climb, seeking out your town’s finest pastries, or plotting my next bike build.

Meet the Creative Mentees

Megan Sevidal

As I continue building my career, I’m eager to gain a deeper understanding of the industry and learn what steps I can take to grow both creatively and professionally. I’m excited about meeting other creatives who are on similar journeys. Building relationships, collaborating, and learning from one another is something that can lead to amazing projects and ideas. I believe some of the best growth comes from community, and I would be grateful for the opportunity to be part of a group of people who are passionate about storytelling, creativity, and the outdoors.

Megan Zabel Holmes

I’m SO THRILLED to receive ongoing professional mentorship from women in this field. Navigating this world has felt intimidating. I’m almost always working as a one-woman show doing photo, video, and drone work for clients with limited budgets. I need a better understanding of how my skills translate into bigger creative teams. I’d love to sharpen my technical skills by being a sponge and soaking up the expertise of pros. Being able to do this within a group of women feels like a dream.

Molly Lofton

I'm excited to meet all of the female participants —- I am a lover of teamwork —- "rising tides raise all ships" is a core-level tenet I hold. There’s room for all of us, and helping one another and supporting each other is ONLY a good thing. I honestly haven’t seen a FULL HUGE production process and I’d love to see what a TIGHT outfit does when tasked with creating imagery. I love shooting, but I’d be blown away to see proper SOP.

Meet the Creative Mentors

Anne Keller

Anne is a longtime outdoor industry photographer and videographer based in Fruita, Colorado. After 25 years photographing for Bike magazine, she took a detour to cofound and run The Hot Tomato pizzeria for 15 years before returning full-time to photo and video work. Her clients include Patagonia, Pivot Cycles, Osprey Packs, COROS, Allied Cycles, Juliana Bicycles, Liv Cycling, and Yeti, and she contributes regularly to Freehub magazine. An avid mountain biker, she favors rides that trend toward disaster without quite tipping over.

Lisa Slagle

Lisa is a creative director, photographer, and writer building cinematic, emotionally resonant work in the outdoor and action sports world. She founded Wheelie Creative in her early twenties and grew it into a studio trusted by brands including The North Face, Panasonic LUMIX, HBO, and Cervélo. Her work sits at the intersection of performance, storytelling, and identity, blending grit, beauty, and humanity into campaigns that feel more like culture than advertising.

Re Wikstrom

Re is an action sports photographer dedicated to challenging stereotypes of women in outdoor culture. After earning her BFA in photography, she worked for Backcountry.com and Competitive Cyclist before transitioning to full-time freelance work. Her personal editorial work has broken multiple barriers for women in outdoor media, including magazine covers that broke long-standing industry norms. Known for lifting other women up, she continues to mentor and coach through women-centric photo workshops.