Two business owners, one great team, and a shared love of working in the trees.
Elena Lauterbach and Aneesa Winn are professional tree climbers and arborists based in Portland, Oregon. Each runs her own business: Elena owns Sweaty Betty Tree Care, and Aneesa owns Neesy's Trees. Most weeks, you'll find them working together.
The way Elena tells it, she "mostly tells better climbers what to do from the ground." Aneesa's version: "Elena tells me what to do." Either way, they agree on one thing. "We make a good team."
"Tree climbing's a job?"
Neither Elena nor Aneesa set out to work in trees. For both of them, it started with Craigslist.
Elena was living in Mexico when a permaculture project she was part of fell apart. While figuring out her next move, she came across a posting: "Tree climbers wanted, 25 bucks an hour." "Oh my god. Tree climbing's a job? No way. This is perfect for me," she remembers thinking. "I climbed trees as a kid, but I had no idea it was a profession." Within two weeks of moving back to Portland, she was working for a tree company. "I never looked back. I love it."
Aneesa's path started on the trail. She was doing seasonal trail work when a friend mentioned a side job with an arborist they'd found on Craigslist. "I was like, wow, someone gets paid to climb trees and swing around a chainsaw. That's amazing," she says. She got her start in the field with a tree company in Colorado, then moved to Portland about six years ago.
Word traveled fast. "I was warned that she was moving to town, so I snagged her," Elena says. Today, the two work together at least once a week.
Creative roots
Long before they were climbing for a living, both women were artists.
Elena was into art and theatre, especially set design. "Design, not acting. Building stuff," she says. She studied sociology in college, then waited tables while she figured out what came next. Tree work turned out to check every box. "I just enjoy being outside most of the time. I really like manual labor," she says. "When you're exercising while you're doing something, it feels good. I hate the gym, so…"
Aneesa "climbed all over everything" as a kid and imagined becoming a veterinarian or a doctor. She later studied photography but realized she didn't want it as a career. "I always loved being outdoors, so that's when I started doing trail work," she says, "and eventually I got myself doing this."
Teamwork over ego
Aneesa considers herself lucky. From her first job on, she's mostly worked alongside open, talented people who were happy to teach. "But of course, there are always pockets where you experience the initial assumption that you're not going to be able to keep up," she says, "or initial judgments about being a woman in the industry."
Elena's start was harder. She was the only woman on her first crew, and while every new climber begins on the ground dragging brush, she stayed there for years. "I was getting my pruning experience on small trees, like Japanese maples or fruit trees," she says. "Meanwhile, new guys would get hired and be put up into large trees, doing a lot more climbing and technical rigging. After a couple of years, I definitely hit my glass ceiling." She later learned that plenty of people, not only women, had the same experience at companies that didn't invest in training.
What bothers her most is the ego. The lead climber calls the shots for everyone on the ground, but safety depends on the whole crew. "It really is a team. Everyone needs to work together and flow for things to get done and for everyone to be safe," Elena says. "When the person in the tree has an ego, it just makes everything so much worse."
That's exactly why she loves working with Aneesa. "Her temperament is always chill, even when it's a very intense job and it's going to be a hard day," Elena says. "I have to brag about how she's one of the best climbers in the entire world, because she won't tell people that."
Running their own businesses gives them the freedom to build a crew around each job, whether it calls for an ornamental pruning specialist, an orchardist for a tricky apple tree, or simply people who make for a fun day. It also lets them rest when they need to. "Burnout is real when you do a manual labor job," Elena says. "It's a very dangerous job, so being able to pump the brakes occasionally is important."
Recharging off the clock
Staying healthy in such a physical job takes intention, on and off the clock.
For Elena, it's gardening, which she calls "very tree adjacent." Healthy soil makes healthy trees, and she's turning her own small property into a climate-resilient community oasis. "It's one of those things where you just go into flow state," she says. "Everything else disappears."
Aneesa focuses on keeping her body strong. Climbing means holding awkward positions for long stretches, so she cross-trains at the gym to support her joints, and she never says no to a massage. She also makes time to play: she took up skateboarding as an adult, rides a motorcycle, hikes, and travels. "Fulfilling ourselves in other ways is really nice," she says.
Advice for women and girls who want to climb
Their first piece of advice: don't give up on the trade because of one bad fit. "There are so many companies, and so many of them have a different way of operating and a different culture," Aneesa says. "If you don't like one, sure enough another place is going to be better suited for you."
She also encourages newcomers to advocate for their own learning. Longtime crews can get complacent about mentoring, so it's often up to you to speak up. "Be bold and confident, ask questions, and be curious," she says. "Quite honestly, you might need to be pushy about it."
Education outside of work helps too. When Elena wasn't learning enough about tree biology, tree ID, or biomechanics on the job, she took community college classes. "That helped me immensely," she says. Today you can earn an associate degree in arboriculture, and in the Portland area, Clackamas Community College and Portland Community College both offer classes. They're also a low-pressure way to test the waters and meet "good people who care about trees, care about people, and want to do things right."
The community is growing, too. Elena and Aneesa are part of a WhatsApp group for women arborists and tree climbers where members ask questions, plan meetups, and share events. "Things like that definitely did not exist when I got started," Elena says. Aneesa adds that it's a space for everyone underrepresented in the field, "not just women. Queer folks, too."
And if you've always loved climbing trees? "Absolutely check it out," Elena says. "It's for those of us who enjoy getting dirty and sweaty and working hard and high-fiving or fist-bumping. It's a hands-first type of job, not a computer job." As cities grow and urban trees become more precious, she sees a bright future for the field. "I have a really hard time imagining robots taking over arboriculture jobs."
Gear that lets you focus
In a job this dangerous, comfort isn't a luxury. "If you're uncomfortable and focusing on that… there's so many other things that you need to be present and aware of," Elena says. "Eliminating any distractions is very important in this job."
"And it's nice to have something that makes you feel good and comfortable," Aneesa adds. Elena: "And look cool." Aneesa: "You gotta look cool."
