Steve Hirst and his wife Lois served with the first contingent of Peace Corps volunteers to Liberia, West Africa. Following Liberia, they lived in Italy, where Steve studied international relations and Lois worked as a librarian. After Italy, Steve became Soviet Desk Officer for the US Commerce Department and took part in the US's first trade mission to eastern Europe. Later he served as Chief of Publications for the European Communities Information Service in Washington.

Then Steve left the fast lane to begin a lifelong relationship with the Havasupai people of the Grand Canyon. During 11 years Steve and his wife lived in the canyon, their daughter Alexa was born and the Havasupai asked the Hirsts to research and document the case for winning back ancestral land. Steve's award-winning book I Am the Grand Canyon, his novel Lauren Greasewater’s War, and the historic enlargement of the Havasupai Reservation were the outcome of that work.

After leaving Havasupai, Steve continued his connection with Native Americans by coordinating science and mathematics programs for Anishnabe and Potowatomi students in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where his wife became a distinguished professor.

Steve and his wife now live back in Arizona, where they continue their friendship and work with the Havasupai people.