Access to Inspiration podcast marks a major milestone next week with the release of its 150th episode, featuring a compelling conversation with one of the world’s most impactful conservation philanthropists – Kris Tompkins.
In this landmark episode, host Sue Stockdale talks with Kris Tompkins, former CEO of Patagonia and President of Tompkins Conservation. Together with her late husband Doug Tompkins – co-founder of The North Face and Esprit – she has helped create 15 national parks and two marine parks, protecting over 15 million acres of land and 30 million acres of ocean in South America. Their work is now at the forefront of rewilding efforts, restoring ecosystems and reintroducing species such as jaguars, giant river otters, and the endangered huemul deer.
Credit: Heather Kim
Kris shares a powerful, personal perspective on what drives her. “I’m actually inspired and motivated probably more by grief and a kind of yearning, than I am by something that’s fabulous and positive,” she says. She urges listeners to ditch the myth of individual powerlessness: “The excuse that ‘I’m just one person’ – that’s the weakest, nonsensical excuse there is. One person, it does matter.”
In the interview, Tompkins reflects on how her business experience helped shape a vision for nature conservation at scale, highlighting themes of risk-taking, leadership, and the power of direct engagement. She reminds us that the gritty, uncomfortable days in nature often leave the strongest impressions: “I like people being miserable in the national parks – those are the days we remember.”
Listeners will be inspired by Kris’s unflinching commitment to action and her call to make intentional choices: “People have to decide they want to participate in something more than what they currently have in their daily life… That’s probably the most difficult step of all.”
This milestone episode goes live 28th May 2025 available on all major podcast platforms and at www.accesstoinspiration.org