Q: What's your first memory with Coleman?

A: My favorite memories with Coleman are camping as a new family in our old tent with a porch! We still haven’t been able to find a better tent!

Q: How would you describe your community?  

A: My community is filled with humans who love hard and show up fully as their most authentic selves. People who prioritize intentionality, creating a brave space, and love nature and connecting back to the land!

Q: What are some ways you’ve helped introduce new people to having fun in the outdoors?

A: I am the creator of the community on social media @she_colorsnature. I started this community in 2019 in hopes to connect, network, and inspire other Black and Brown women to get outdoors. Through writing and creating about my personal experiences outdoors through this platform, I have had many opportunities to introduce people to a welcoming outdoors. I host trash cleanups on a local level, and inspire people from Washington to Boston to get outside and engage with nature 30 minutes everyday! I have also begun partnering with local outdoor organizations in both winter and summer where we get people outside and into nature.

Q: What's your passion project for the year?

A: My passion project for this year is attending the Camp Founder Girls overnight camp in July 2022. I am so excited to invest in the Black girls that show up, and my own daughter, to have a new experience outdoors!

Q: What roadblocks, if any, do you see for encouraging others to get outdoors?

A: I think sometimes we want to encourage people to get outdoors and forget to look at this space as inequitable. Roadblocks or barriers to getting outdoors look different for everyone! Every family, social class, underserved community, or broke college student has different roadblocks for getting outdoors. The biggest ones I have experienced as a Black woman who gets outside are finances, comfortability, safety, and gear knowledge.

Q: What organization or cause do you support?

A: The organizations I support are any led by Black and Indigenous people getting their communities outdoors! Locally I support an organization called Indigenous Roots and Reparations Foundation that supports the LANDBACK initiative in our area. Nationwide I support an organization called Black Outside Inc. They partner with Camp Founder Girls (America’s first all-Black girls’ overnight outdoor camp) to host summer camps for Black girls in Texas!

Q: What are some tips or resources you like to share with people new to camping to help them be responsible in natural environments?

A: There are three resources I share with people to help them be more responsible outdoors: Recreate Responsibly, Leave No Trace Principles, and All Trails to help them navigate trails near them! The last one I honestly believe to be the most important because people need to have their own experiences outdoors. With a little guidance, people need to make their own mistakes and find the love for nature for themselves. Loving and caring for the planet is something so inherent in all of us, a lot of communities have just been disconnected from wild and natural places. I think it’s important to lead people back to nature, so they will find their own ways to love and claim their responsibility to care of it.

Q: How do you see sustainability changing outdoors?

A: I feel like the people filling the outdoors are sustainable and environmentally conscious. I think it’s the industry, brands, and retailers that now need to get on board and create a more sustainable outdoor consumer culture. Creating space for more opportunities for underserved communities, building up local gear garages, and celebrating used-gear programs! We have enough outdoor products to last every family for years in natural places—let’s use what we have instead of creating more waste.

Q: What’s your favorite story to tell about your time in the outdoors?

A: My favorite story outdoors was on a recent camp trip with my family! We were getting after a mean game of Old Maid, and I assumed my daughter didn’t really know how to play. I told everyone that the old maid has to go jump in the freezing cold river! My daughter ended up having an incredible poker face and tricked me into taking the old maid. I ended up losing and had to jump in while everyone laughed and video taped! Coldest. Water. Ever! I haven’t played that card game since.

Q: How would you reimagine a better tomorrow?

A: When I think of a better tomorrow it is one where I am out of a job. There will no longer be a need to diversify outdoors, the community will naturally be mixed, cohesive, and accepting of all backgrounds and experiences! A better tomorrow is one with communities that view allyship as a way of being instead of a box to check on the to-do list. It’s filled with hope, joy, and the prioritization of families, neighbors, and healthy friendships!