Our staff
Our team of professionally trained and experienced staff is dedicated to looking after you and your group. In order to provide the best possible experience for our students, Indier employs qualified, experienced and passionate instructors, administrative staff and logistics coordinators from all around China and the world. Our staff come from a diversity of backgrounds, yet we all share a passion for education, the natural environment and adventure! Each of our instructors is first aid trained, with most having advanced certifications. Our instructors are also highly adept at managing potential environmental hazards, as well as having extensive experience and training related to those activities which they are leading.
Terri Zhu Owner
Terri is originally from Liaoning Province in the North of China. She graduated from Jilin University with a degree in International Economics. Before coming to Indier, she worked for the international corporation MASCO in Shenzhen, China. After an opportunity that she had a glimpse of the developed outdoor education industry in western countries, she turned her passion for this industry and jumped into founding Indier without hesitation. In the first 4 years of Indier, Terri worked in almost every corner of the outdoor education field, and her passion and love for the industry is even stronger than when she started. She considers it as her life-long career, and expects that the biggest achievements in her career life is to introduce developed outdoor education concepts into China and push the industry to grow!
Andrew Wright Director
Andrew comes from the great state of Oklahoma, where he graduated from the University of Central Oklahoma with a degree in Outdoor & Community Recreation. His passion for the outdoors and teaching comes from his personal experiences as a kid at summer camp. He has over 10 years experience in the outdoor industry and has worked in numerous different states and countries. When he is not in the office, you may find him on a rock wall or sitting in a kayak.
Liz Lin Logistics Manager
Liz is our logistics manager and is responsible for everything that happens behind the scenes on programs. She is so passionate about the outdoors that she moved from the big city to Yangshuo, a small town in Guangxi Province, where she lived for several years before joining Indier. She has been working with foreigners for many years and has also lived abroad for a time. She is fluent in English, Mandarin and Cantonese. She fully understands the requirements of working in an international environment and in the outdoor industry and there is never any problem communicating with her!
Sarah-Jane Moore Assistant Director
Sarah-Jane is from the north-west of England. She is an outgoing, conscientious and energetic person whose enthusiasm for hiking, biking and kayaking as well as years of rock climbing experience motivated her to start working in the outdoor industry. In addition to Mainland China she has also worked in Hong Kong and Vietnam and she has travelled extensively around Asia and the rest of the world.
Sarah loves the outdoors and is passionate about working with children. She has 11 nephews and nieces whom she helped raise, so she is naturally excellent with kids! She loves their curiosity and fun-loving attitude and she strives to help kids to rediscover how to have fun out in the real world, through adventure and outdoor activities. Her upbeat personality and high energy level has made her very popular with the students and staff alike.
James Lowry
James is originally from Wirral in the North West of England, he has been working in the outdoors since 2010. He started his training in Scotland where he gained qualifications in mountain biking, kayaking, canoeing and then in 2013 went to university in Leeds to study youth work and community development. James has a passion for working in the outdoors and giving children and young people new experiences within the outdoors.
Iordan Viorel
Jordon comes from Romania, and yes he can tell you stories about the real Dracula! He majored, surprisingly, in mural religious painting. He also loves to play the guitar. Jordan has been working in the outdoor education industry for the last five years; He is a qualified surfing and sea kayaking instructor and is passionate about caving and mountain biking.
Emily Jane Cardwell
Emily is from the North west of England, she is 28 years old and has been living in china for nearly 3 years. Emily came to China in 2016 and fell in love with the culture, food and lifestyle. She found herself a small stray dog in the countryside of Yangshuo and adopted her. Emily enjoys hiking with her dog amongst the karsts, she also enjoys swimming, Kayaking, surfing and tree climbing. Emily is passionate about Animals and their welfare, she has been in this particular industry for 3 years but has worked with Children for 8 years. She also has four nephews that she helped care for while in the UK.
Pankaj Lagwal
Pankaj is a mountaineer who hails from the Indian Himalayas, with a degree in Philosophy. Pankaj has been exploring the outdoors since childhood, and his pragmatic approach comes from his 20+ years of experience in the outdoor industry. He has scaled some good mountains in his career including the 8463m world's 5th highest mountain Mt Makalu in Nepal Himalayas and he did an expedition on the Patagonian ice caps. He is also an IRF grade V raft guide and has guided on many rivers in India and in the USA.
Felix Hawke-Jones
Felix is from Australia and has been guiding for 8 years. He was at unviersity for 3 years studying outdoor education. He now has extensive experince as a climber, biker and surfer. He worked in Australia for 3 years before moving to China where he has lived for the last 2 years.
Sharon Maingi
Sharon is a positive, free spirit from Kenya, she has a lifetime of stories from her adventures from around the world. Sharon is a certified Wilderness Advanced First Aid administrator. Her passion for the outdoors can be seen in her work, either working behind the camera to capture unique moments, or while teaching kids about the natural outdoors.
Callum Willis
Callum is an outdoor enthusiast and has over a decade working with people in the outdoors. He has a wide range of knowledge across most outdoor sports with a specialty in rope work and power boating. He enjoys all aspects of his job and the outdoors. in his spare time he enjoys the activities he teaches, keeping his skills up to date. After traverling many countries, Callum ended up in China teaching the activities he loves and enjoys.
Yolanda Zhuang
Yolanda is from the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang,who is fluent in English and Chinese, has years of experience of working in logistics. When the opportunity come to work for such a progressive company like Indier, she had to take it. She loves traveling to different places for the Indier programs and enjoys taking part in the outdoor activities.
Mt
My name is MT, sometimes I'm very serious, but usually a funny person, my hobby is painting and adventure in nature, I have great interest in animals, insects and plants , I was a ski coach in beijng , worked in Ghana for 6 months in 2017, after that back to Beijing for work, now I'm an logistics in indier.
Ashley Mendiola
Ash comes from the state of Texas. She has studied and worked in Outdoor Education/Recreation, giving her an ample amount of knowledge guiding a variety of activities,including but not limited to climbing, hiking, rafting and mountain biking. She loves to share her enthusiasm and passion for the outdoors with others. She especially enjoys sharing her passion with children, in hopes of encouraging the same joy for exploring nature’s beauty.
James Chandler
James is from the South West of England. He loves the great outdoors and is a keen educator. He spent some time studying Sports Coaching at a university back in England where he learnt how to play and teach a variety of activities. He has also taught English to many students, most recently in the Ukraine. James is WAFA certified and is a friendly, approachable, professional person.
Amanda Lu
Amanda comes from Hohhot, Inner Mongolia. She loves travelling and she has traveled around China a lot. She works in Indier as logistics, helping outdoor groups arrange hotels, restaurants, transportations, etc. She has good people skills and rich experience. Most importantly she likes outdoor activity as much as other people:full of enthusiasm!
Miranda White
Miranda is from Yorkshire in the North of England. She loves the outdoors, especially hiking and camping, and is happiest outside. Miranda has worked in education for over eight years with a variety of ages and nationalities, but particularly likes introducing young people to the joys of nature.
Nick Huang
Nick comes to us after his graduation and starts to learn how to be a logistics assistant.He has a interest and passion for outdoor education and enjoys the atmosphere here.He likes Chinese classics and poems, which generate even stronger interests for him to the outdoors.
Ravi Shetty
Ravi comes to us from India, he has been a outdoor educator for the past 15years. Ravi is also a keen mountaineer, river guide, climber, naturalist, mountain biker and perceiving permaculture .
Raffaele Leuzzi
I come from Italy, i love traveling and the outdoors, i especially enjoy rock climbing, and I am WAFA certified. I've being traveling around Asia and China for the past 4 years, I enjoy learning about new cultures and exploring different places. Before starting my travels in Asia, i worked and lived in Holland for about 9 years, it was there that i realised how important for me being in a natural environment is. I was only able to understand my need for being in nature, whilst i was living away from it.
Soumitra Paul
Paul is an experienced outdoor Educator from India, he is a very charismatic guide with the ability to capture attention from everybody when he speaks. He has achieved plenty of certificates such as Assessor and supervisor I.A training from Duke of Edinbrough, Trainer and advocate on LNT from NOLS, Backpacking diploma from NOLS, kayaking instructor, Mountaineering instructor from Himalayian mountaineering institute, Experiential Educator diploma and Trip Leader Certification from NOLS. Paul loves to live in the present, teaching people how to stay healthy and happy, his passions include Marathon and Triathalon running, Swimming and Biking.
Laura Philippi
This is Laura, she’s an educator/social worker from Germany. Laura is open minded and very empathetic. She has experiences working with children and adults in all ages. Before Indier, Laura has been traveling for 8 months through Southeast Asia, where she got many experiences with different cultures, countries, people, nature and activities. She likes to hike and explore new environments. She is looking forward to working for Indier and to do activities with children and educate them in different areas.
Leo Charlier
Léo is from the oldest town in Germany, Trier. He is a positive and open minded person. Back home, Léo worked as an educator/socialworker in a kindergarden, a primary school and an open youth house. He has a lot of experience working with children of different ages. Eight months ago he quit everything in Germany and decided to travel the world and his journey has brought him to Indier. He enjoys encountering new cultures and exploring the nature. In his free time he likes to play basketball and to cut and edit videos.
Suman Bhowmick
Suman is an outdoor educator from India, with an experience of about 13 years in the outdoor education. He is a certified mountaineer, wilderness advanced first aid practitioner, pursued a diploma in experiential education. He loves climbing, trekking and biking. In his free time, you will find him watching birds or polishing his photography skills.
Khaliq Khan
Khaliq is from Malaysia, and has been working for about 8 years in the outdoor industry. This will be his first season with Indier for him, but he has worked in Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, South Korea, United Arab Emirates, and China before. His go-to activity would be whitewater kayaking, followed by any kind of water sports. He recently picked up scuba diving, and is learning how to play the guitar currently. His grammar can sometimes be wrong, cos he Malay you know.. He is so deadly in fact that his enemies would go blind from overexposure from pure awesomeness. Shakabuyi!