Outside Voices Podcast

What does it look like when we prioritize healing for Black folks and invite them to reconnect to nature and the wisdom of their body? Dominique Cowling is a Black, queer femme and justice-oriented facilitator who offers 1:1 sessions for Black folks in the forest. Join us for a conversation with Dominique and breathe with us as she guides us through a mindfulness and body awareness practice. As her website says, “this is sacred time for us Black folks to be reminded of our wholeness and inherent radiance that is often disrupted by many forms of oppression, trauma and violence.”

Spending time outside isn't just about solitude and silence. At the Refuge Outdoor Festival, a 3-day camping experience outside of Seattle, WA, people of color and allies are invited to gather and build community. We chat with Chevon, the founder of Refuge, and also her parents who traveled all the way from Houston, Texas to camp for the first time. This episode is sponsored by REI. Stay tuned for a sneak peek into their newest initiative: Race and Pace

An avid climber, hiker and outdoor leader, Brittany’s (she/her) connection to nature is rooted in something deeper. The outdoors plays a huge role in helping her heal and move through grief and also in asserting her identity and finding her personal Black joy. This episode is sponsored by The North Face.

Confined behind barbed wire in their own country, nearly 120,000 Japanese were forced to adopt new ways of living to survive incarceration during World War II. One way they found solace was through building traditional Japanese gardens within the harsh concentration camp environment.

Host and producer Sarah Shimazaki, a person of Japanese ancestry, narrates her experience revisiting Manzanar for the 50th annual pilgrimage. She digs deep to learn how inmates asserted and emphasized their Japanese identity in the gardens, precisely when they were being confined for that very identity. 

As People of the Global Majority (People of Color), what does it look like to heal our relationship to ourselves, to our planet and to each other? We’re exploring these questions and bringing you the magic and wisdom from the third annual People of the Global Majority in the Outdoors, Nature and Environment summit (PGM ONE).

Olivia (she/her) is a surfer and has built her life around the sport. She finds strength in her ancestry and in indigenous stories of connection to the ocean to affirm her existence as a Latina in the surfing community. Through her role at City Surf Project, she is passionate about sharing her love for the ocean with youth in Ohlone Territory (San Francisco).

Outside Voices Podcast is driven by one simple idea: that the outdoors belongs to all of us. We all have a relationship to nature, whether through hiking, gardening, surfing, sacred ceremony or picnicking at the local park. We aim to celebrate and amplify those who don’t always see themselves reflected in the “Great Outdoors” narrative. It's time we use our outside voices to redefine the outdoor narrative through personal storytelling.