Seattle Reign FC Legend: Melissa Arnot Reid – Mountain Guide, Cofounder of The Juniper Fund, Author and Mother

The Legends Campaign, a partnership between Seattle Reign FC and Starbucks, honors women for their extraordinary contributions to our community in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. At halftime of Seattle Reign FC’s match against the Washington Spirit, the club recognized Melissa Arnot Reid – Mountain Guide, Cofounder of The Juniper Fund, Author and Mother.

Growing up, Melissa was always very athletic, though not very competitive, so the element of autonomy drew her to climbing. Many people assume that she has been climbing since she was young, but that’s not true. In fact, she did not begin climbing until she was 19 years old.

Once she started, she was hooked and set out to make climbing her job. In 2005, she came to Washington and became a mountain guide, working on Mt. Rainier. From there, her career took off and she began to work as a guide internationally.

“I've always been a person that's pretty driven by curiosity and that curiosity has just kept propelling me forward,” shared Melissa.

She is the first American woman to successfully summit and descend Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen. She has climbed the world’s highest peak six times, in addition to making many other notable climbs around the world.

“I tried to summit Everest without oxygen multiple times before I succeeded. So strangely, some of those attempts where I failed actually stand out more than like the ultimate time when I succeeded because they were so tactful to my learning. Eventually, when I got to the summit without oxygen, becoming the first American woman to do it, one of five women ever in history to do it, I did it in a way that I was really proud of and it was quite a journey for me to get there.”

She continued, “Through the process of trying to do it, I came to learn that the only way I was going to do it was to accept a team and to truly be vulnerable to the support of what team meant. I had to ultimately come to a place of acceptance and understanding not to succeed, and for me that moment is like forever etched in just a really important moment of growth.”

Melissa has devoted her life to learning from the mountains and sharing that knowledge with others. In 2012, she co-founded The Juniper Fund to provide financial support to families of local workers killed in the mountains of Nepal, and she continues to be actively involved with the fund.

“It's a crazy, insane Tetris game,” shared the mother of two. "My husband's also a guide, and so we have kind of like a crazy matrix of who's on parenting season and who's in work season. About 50% of the year I'm traveling, climbing and guiding.

She works domestically in the U.S. in the bulk of the summer and spring season and travels to Nepal twice a year. Typically, Melissa also plans for a big South America or Africa season, usually in the middle of winter.

On top of climbing seasons, she spends her day-to-day running the nonprofit and doing all of the meetings and required work to keep the nonprofit functioning and compliant, speaking at events and writing. She most recently published a memoir titled Enough.

Hardworking and determined, Melissa is a passionate seeker of shared adventures and perfecting the balance of learning and teaching.

“When I started out in my career, I really was driven by my passion for being there and my desire to learn, but also very quickly I was trying to prove that I belonged and I don't know if you've ever tried to prove your way into something, but you know how terribly that generally works.”

“So, I always tell people, you can't prove your way into belonging. You sort of have to beat your way into belonging and so show up like the toil of every day, like you will become what you're trying to be if you consistently can show up every day, and that's the most important thing.”

When asked what being honored as a Seattle Reign FC and Starbucks Legend means to her, Melissa shared that it feels extra special, as she never set out to gain legend status.

“I think it's really important to accept, especially for somebody who has engaged in a career that is in pursuit of my own personal joy, there's just incredible value in living a life that's aligned with what your own individual true north is. I think it's really important to know that no matter who you are, where you are, you can be somebody's legend.”