About our Founder
Salt+Grit founder, Jennifer Trezza, MS, has a 20-year career in strategy, spanning from small non-profits to large corporations, including leading global expansions. Since 2020, she has dedicated her career to humanitarian aid, social good initiatives, and cultivating community. She fearlessly and continuously designs roads less traveled. She carries abundant curiosity and strategic innovation methods in her ever-growing toolkit. Jennifer is brave and lives her truth. An example of this is when she drove to the US-Mexico border during the pandemic, lived alongside refugees, and provided humanitarian aid and pro-bono strategy services to organizations supporting a large shelter in Nogales, Mexico. Jennifer continues to combine her strategy skills with her passion to support others.
She earned a BA in Political Science from the George Washington University, and a MS in Strategic Design and Global Leadership from Parsons School of Design at The New School. She is certified in Outsmarting Implicit Bias from Harvard Business School and Leader as Coach at Brown University in partnership with ACT Coaching. Jennifer is dedicated to diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion. Salt+Grit is in the process of gaining the following business designations: WBE, MBE, ESB.
Wilderness Guide
Matt Chalmers, MS, is Salt+Grit’s Wilderness Guide. He brings an impressive 30 years of teaching to our team, including former outdoor instruction and mountain guide experience with Northwest Outward Bound School. He selects and leads all of our hikes and wilderness experiences. He often co-leads when wilderness permits are accessed via our external partners, such as with North Cascades Mountain Guides. Matt always seeks “5-fun” adventures on, and off, rock walls. He’s known to have really great trail snacks wherever he goes! Matt is Wilderness First Aid certified through NOLS. He is also Jennifer’s life partner.
Jennifer Trezza, Founder + CEO
Matt Chalmers, Wilderness Guide
Mission + Values
Salt+Grit’s mission is to provide individuals and organizations with the guidance and tools necessary for change. The Salt+Grit team utilizes human centered design principles to help solve for the right problems, rather than the assumed problems, while fostering sustainable long-term growth. Salt+Grit offers professional coaching, workshop design and facilitation, and immersive retreats in natural environments.
SALT is an essential ingredient for life.
GRIT is an essential ingredient for change.
Environment
Human physiological responses to nature are astoundingly beneficial. Removing oneself from the physical barriers of built environments has been scientifically proven to relax the body, reduce stress, and open neurological pathways, enhancing our ability to think outside-the-box. In a world where many feel immobilized by external pressures, the need to re-evaluate and innovate one’s purpose and place in this world is in an ever-increasing demand.
At Salt+Grit, we aim to dismantle barriers and elevate what is truly possible. Together, let’s erase the proverbial ‘box’. Rather than simply attempting to think ‘outside-the-box’, why not erase the box altogether. Unique to Salt+Grit is our mindful approach to the environments chosen for engagement. The majority of our collaborations occur in or near nature, and whenever possible in epic destinations throughout the Pacific Northwest. We believe in order to shift our mindset toward the possible, we need to physically step outside the confined spaces of our four-walled environments (yes, our coveted offices) and into boundless ones. In natural and inspiring environments, we can exponentially increase our capacity for ideation and innovation.
Strategy Design & Facilitation, Portland, Oregon
Futures Lab Intensive, Packwood, Washington
Workshop Facilitation, Whidbey Island, Washington