BIPoC Outside

Brittany Leavitt is a jill of all trades in the climbing community as an educator, instructor, athlete, and community organizer. She is also a founding member and now Executive Director of Brown Girls Climb; a national non-profit which strives to facilitate mentorship, provide access, uplift leadership, and celebrate representation in the outdoors and climbing for People of the Global Majority. We had the opportunity to sit down with Brittany to discuss her work both with and outside of Brown Girls Climb, recreating in urban space, building and recognizing capacity, reciprocal recreation, intentional language, and how to mindfully take up space.

Alison Mariella Désir is an endurance athlete, author, activist, mental health advocate, the mind behind PBS's Out and Back series, and the founder of Harlem Run, Run for all Women, and the Meaning Through Movement Tour. We had the opportunity to sit down with Alison to discuss her work and comprehensive approach to community building, how exclusionary histories inform the spaces we move through, how racialized bodies move differently through space, mental health and movement and how the past informs the present.

Dr. Nicole (Nykkie) Lugosi-Schimpf is a world traveler and polyglot. She is also an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta and a qualitative scholar specializing in: International Indigeneity, BIPOC-Indigenous relations (Canada and Central Europe), nation(hood), identity, and structural racism. We had the opportunity to sit down with Nykkie to discuss what inspires her work, how to both teach and learn uncomfortable topics, how to find experts and learning resources, and how silence is the enemy.

Tori Baird is a canoeist and wilderness adventurer who has expeditioned in some of Canada's most rugged, remote, and wild places, often with her boys and dogs in tow. She also runs "Paddle Like a Girl," outdoors' skill-building and canoeing workshops that are geared to women. Tori paused her most recent adventure to chat with us about her expeditions, remote wilderness, back country, and water risks and planning, the additional planning it takes when expeditions are family affairs, empowering women in the outdoors, and the awesome work of Paddle Like a Girl.

"L” (short for Lanisha) Renee Blount is a Harvard-trained designer, creative strategist, professional adventurer, storyteller, and photographer. We had the opportunity to sit down with L to discuss her work, her approach to allyship in the industry, how creatives with cultural capital change outcomes, tips for newcomers to the industry, and defining what the win is.

Guarina Lopez is a Yaqui citizen, visual artist, storyteller, cyclist and the Founder of Native Women Ride & The Indigenous Cycling Collective We had the opportunity to sit down with Guarina to discuss her work, how culture comes first, the roots of the problem with environmentalism and feminism, the cycling space, the wild west of social media, building solidarity by respecting individual agency, and the Carlisle 200; Guarina's film documenting her prayer ride to raise awareness about Carlisle Indian Boarding School.

Teresa Baker is an outdoor diversity activist, writer, and founder of several organizations which most recently includes the In Solidarity Project. We had the opportunity to sit down with Teresa to discuss African American National Park Event, retracing the route of the Buffalo Soldiers, overcoming fear, breaking the mold of the outdoor person, giving people space to make mistakes, bringing humility to the work, authentic storytelling, the Outdoor CEO Diversity Pledge, the In Solidarity Project, and the Outdoorist Oath.

Judy Kasiama is a multi-sport athlete, an outdoor advocate, and the founder of Colour the Trails and the Like Me Film Festival. We had the opportunity to sit down with Judy for the second time to discuss what she's been up to since we last chat, the positive change in snow sports demographics, the work left to be done, how industry is still getting it wrong, and how they can change that.

Jose Gonzalez is a professional educator, conservationist, artist, community builder, the co-founder of the Outdoorist Oath, and founder of Latino Outdoors. We had the opportunity to sit down with Jose to discuss Latino Outdoors, making structural changes to our approach to environmental conservation, education, engagement and inclusion, the spectrum of nearby nature to far away wilderness, and the power that comes when we build constellations, not stars.

Dr. Lydia Jennings is a soil scientist, science communicator, educator, and long-distance runner. We had the opportunity to sit down with Lydia to discuss her work, environmental policy impacts, Indigenous data sovereignty, the cultural history of spaces, running to decode land, 50 Miles for 50 Indigenous Scientists, disrupting deficit narratives, celebrating #LandBack at the Boston Marathon, and building relationship with place.  

Mardi Fuller is an Outdoors Woman, fully and unapologetically. She is also a multi-sport athlete, outdoor educator, and outdoor leader. We had the opportunity to sit down with Mardi to discuss the White Mountain region of New Hampshire, the opportunity cost of being in the outdoors as a racialized person, the ridiculousness of 'firsts', ski bum culture, racial literacy, water safety in Black communities, and the importance of claiming it.

James Edward Mills is a freelance journalist, contributor to National Geographic Magazine, a Fellow of the Mountain & Wilderness Writing Program of the Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada, a professional educator, and a recipient of the Paul K. Petzoldt Award For Environmental Education. He is also the author of “The Adventure Gap: Changing the Face of the Outdoors” and the co-writer/co-producer of the documentary film “An American Ascent”. We had the opportunity to sit down with James to talk about his work and upcoming projects, Expedition Denali and how the outdoor world has changed in the 10 years since, the modern history of Black adventuring, the consequences of environmental apathy including the Willow Project, addressing the culture of space, and learning to be future elders.

Ruandy Albisurez is a multisport athlete, professional sports photographer, mountain bike educator, community organizer, and the founder of Warpaint Magazine, filling the gap in media coverage of BIPoC folk in the outdoors. We had the opportunity to sit down with Ruandy to discuss his career and community work, problematic narratives in traditional sports media, extractive journalist practices when working in the global south, the impetus for Warpaint and the importance of telling our stories through our lens.

Josephine Baran is a multisport athlete, a professional in the outdoor industry, and the director of the Outward Bound Canada Training Academy. We had the opportunity to sit down with Josephine to discuss her career, the barriers to the outdoors both, recreationally and as a career path, the increase in eco-anxiety, and how the Training Academy is working to change that.

Connor Ryan is a professional skier, ultra runner, and film director actively working to decolonize the outdoors. We had the opportunity to sit down with Connor for the second time to discuss the huge response to Spirit of the Peaks, Indigenous running traditions, renaming Mount Evans, the importance of placenames and language, and how it's not activism, it's an obligation.

Coree Woltering is a professional runner of all distances on all surfaces. We had the opportunity to sit down with Coree to discuss his career progression, growing up in the industry, creating space for the next generation, and how getting out into the real world can restore your faith in humanity. 

Lamont Joseph White is a professional artist at the center of the current conversation of meaningful representation and the outdoors. We had the opportunity to sit down with Lamont to discuss his work and upcoming projects, meaningful representation, multiculturalism, Black and Indigenous Futurisms, and how Martin Luther King Jr. ‘I've Been to the Mountaintop' speech inspires his work.

Patricia Cameron is the chair of Outdoor Leadership and Recreation Technology at Pikes Peak State College, Vice-Chair of the Board of Food to Power, and on the board of the Trails and Open Spaces Coalition. She is also a Wilderness First Responder and a Wilderness First Response, First Aid, and Heartsaver CPR instructor, a Certified Interpretive Guide, a Leave No Trace Master Educator, and a 4 times NOLS graduate.  She was honoured in 2020 as a Colorado Springs Woman of Influence and is a freelance writer and photographer, a thru hiker, and the founder of Blackpackers, a 501(c)(3) with a mission to create economic equity in outdoor recreation. We had the opportunity to sit down with Patricia to discuss her work but also to address some hard topics and the importance of celebrating where you are.

Ivan McClellan is a photographer and designer based in Portland OR. In 2015 he was invited to attend his first Black rodeo which was the start of a journey to the heart of Black cowboy culture where he found community and reframed his perception of home. 

Benji Alexander doesn't think small. When he broke out on the scene in 2020 declaring his intention to ski for Jamaica in the Beijing Olympics it took the ski world by surprise. Not only was he not a professional skier, but he had just started skiing. Many of us missed the big picture though, this was more than a singular goal, and it's manifesting in the most incredible way.