Meet Team W.O.W

Heather Hernandez is the founder of W.O.W, and a lead guide on the team. As a river guide, martial artist, and self defense instructor, she believes that ordinary people are capable or extraordinary things, and brings that core value into everything she does. A former East coast paddler, Heather began her whitewater career 7 years ago working as a commercial river guide on the New and Gauley rivers in West Virginia, and refers to West Virginia as her home. She came to the NW chasing rivers and pursuing a location where whitewater could forever be a part of her life. After moving to the NW kayaking mecca in 2006, she began to focus on her whitewater kayaking and currently enjoys her time as a commercial river guide and local kayaker. Heather is passionate about empowering and developing people! Off the water, you will find her training Indonesian Kung Fu, or teaching self defense to women at local colleges and universities. She is also currently working on her doctorate degree in Clinical Psychology.

Lori Duffens has always loved the outdoors. Over 20 years ago she was introduced to whitewater kayaking, and quickly fell in love with being on the river. She started her kayaking adventures on the Midwest, which let to boating in numerous states (East and West and in between.) She is now raising two growing boys, who also love being on the river whether in kid's kayaks or on family raft trips. While new to competitive raft racing, she is excited to try yet another avenue for enjoying rivers here in the Northwest. When not on the river, Lori enjoys time with her boys hiking, biking, skiing, rollerblading, and camping. 

Ali Sigler has been recreationally rafting for about 4 years and is starting to dabble in the world of kayaking. After being continually tricked by her brother to run harder rivers than anticipated, Ali is now an addict of big water. She as a degree in Exercise Sport Science from Oregon State, teaches fitness classes at OHSU, and runs a medicare based fitness program for the state of Oregon and Washington. You can most commonly find her smiling, salsa dancing, playing guitar, putting people through crazy workouts, or on the water.... 

 Megan French grew up along the California coast and has always felt more comfortable in whitewater than most anywhere else. Working as a guide since 2005 here in the Pacific NW, Megan works off the river as a massage therapist but thinks being boxed into one vocation is for folks with less imagination and dreams regularly of becoming a big wave surfer, abstract painter, astronaut, or dedicated blues musician.  

Elisabeth Foitle is an Oregonian transplant from Southern California via Eugene, OR. Currently, Elisabeth lives in Bend and is a pre-school teacher who is starting grad school in June at OSU Cascades. Her whitewater rafting career started just after pre-school when she turned 5 and rafted the Snake River Canyon with her family outside of Jackson Hole, WY. From there she continued her pursuit of whitewater rafting and learned to kayak during college. For the past two summers, Elisabeth has guided on local rivers and looks forward to rafting during the shoulder seasons with the ladies of W.O.W. Outside of rafting, she enjoys outdoor adventures, traveling, and being with good people.    

Teresa Collins loves all things natural like a fish loves the sea though she is not used to talking about herself in third person. She volunteers at Loaves and Fishes senior center and with Friends of Trees and she does massage therapy out of River Organics on MLK blvd in Portland. She is currently enrolled full-time at PCC where she is working on prereqs to further her career in health. She moved here 4 years ago from West Virginia where she was trained to guide on the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers at the young age of 17. The snow-capped mountains and pristine rivers of the west were calling her name. Since arriving in Portland, she has made it her mission to be involved with the river community. She volunteers every year with the Down the River Cleanup on the Clackamas and is learning how to kayak. Setting the playboat aside until after the racing season, she is ready to paddle hard for the WOW. 

Caitlin Fagan was born and raised in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, spending most of her time skiing and hiking the mountains of the Sierras. She’s always had a love for the river, but growing up her exposure was limited to family rafting trips around the West. Thanks to her boyfriend Tim, Caitlin has spent a good part of the past two years exploring the many rivers of the Northwest. In the process she’s fallen in love with the area and the whitewater. Caitlin is currently employed as a chiropractic assistant in downtown Portland, but will be starting a full-time Master’s in Teaching program in June. When not on the water rafting or kayaking, Caitlin can typically be found hiking for turns, mountain biking, climbing, or romping around the woods with her best friend, and dog, Ruby. 

Lehua Kay is a simple girl who happens to like doing RAD things that remind her of how amazing life can be, such as climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, bicycling the Pacific Coast, rock climbing on granite and tele skiing 14,000+ vertical ft of powder in a day (thank you Silverton!). Originally from Hawaii, she recently moved to the Portland area and started work towards a doctorate degree in Pharmacy. She has a knack for seeking out people and places that support her quiet yet determined enthusiasm for adventure. Lehua’s interest in whitewater began out of necessity after her boyfriend ditched their raft to kayak and she was left to read and run the rapids. Needless to say, the boyfriend didn’t last long, but what remained was an irresistible connection to the river and a love for running rapids. Lehua feels both psyched and privileged to paddle with the ladies of W.O.W.




Kayla Applebay brings a wide range of outdoor experience to the team and is a lead guide for the team.  After completing a semester course in outward bound over ten years ago, she decided that getting paid to play outside seemed like the only logical next step in life. Since then she has worked as a guide on a variety of rivers throughout Washington, Oregon, and Idaho in addition to leading multi-adventure trips for teenagers. With student loans looming however, she took a job with Klickitat County as the Environmental Health Specialist and moved to the Colombia River Gorge which is where she works and plays now. 

Jacqui Bishop grew up on a sail boat and began learning to raft and whitewater kayak when she moved to Portland, Oregon to finish grad school. Jacqui is involved in river stewardship projects as a board member and volunteer for the non-profit We Love Clean Rivers, Inc. Jacqui learned to kayak by taking classes at eNRG Kayaking and she attended guide school at Wetplanet in Husum, WA.

Sunnie Turek grew up in Oregon, and although she's explored elsewhere, the NW forests and rivers will always be her home. Sunnie has river guided for the past six years in Oregon, Alaska, Costa Rica and Slovenia. She loves Spring time because it allows boating in high water with friends. After spending several years wandering around in a van, on a bicycle, or in a boat, she's decided to move to Bend where she will start graduate school this June. She's excited to become a High School teacher, but after staying put for several months she can't help dreaming about her next adventure to Turkey, or Japan, or Myanmar, or Aregentiana or.....etc. etc.




Seven is the team dog of W.O.W. Born in the hills of West Virginia, Seven was raised by river guides and commercial rafters, and is crazy about the woods. Although not a whitewater enthusiast herself, Seven loves sprinting down river banks chasing rafts and kayaks, and supporting the women of W.O.W.