I’m Megha Unhelkar, a biotech VC by profession and a chemist by training, but America’s national parks are my one true love.

After visiting 53 of the country’s 63 national parks, I began to realize that what stayed with me were the people I met, the stories I heard, and the moments that gave each park its meaning.

National Park Stamp Quest grew from a desire to preserve those stories and hear them from the people who lived them. Each conversation begins with a place, but what follows is usually something much more human.

Away from the microphone, I’m an attempting Ashtangi, a weekend baker, which feels appropriately on-brand for a chemist, and a traveler with a love for faraway places.

I accept gifts in plant form, preferably Drosera capensis. My cat, Jerry, is my soulmate and most consistent editor, though he remains skeptical of deadlines.