The Trail Ahead

In the last episode of Season 3, Faith and Addie recap the season, share their reflections and discuss the tension of holding both hope and motivation to continue to make change. The hosts recount past guest conversations, learnings they’ve taken away from these discussions and questions they get asked most as they continue to tackle the dialogue on The Trail Ahead.

Plus, we welcome Faith back after maternity leave and get to hear how she and baby Yaya are doing!

Mauricio (Mau) Díaz is the CEO and co-founder of Aire Libre Running. Aire Libre designs and operates running and hiking experiences around the world that connect participants to new places and cultures through sustainable tourism.

Mau is from Mexico City, Mexico and enjoys exploring the mountains around the city by foot (often accompanied by his dog). He is an ultrarunner and lululemon ambassador.

Kayla Jeter is a Cleveland Ohio native, former professional volleyball player, mindset coach, personal trainer, stress-management coach and wellness entrepreneur.

She is the founder of #100MilesofSummer, a global running community and founder of Soho House Chicago Run Club. Kayla is a global Lululemon ambassador and a member of the Lululemon FURTHER initiative.

On this episode, Addie is joined by The Trail Ahead Season 2 guest, Kamilah Journét, as a guest co-host.

Ambreen Tariq is a Muslim, an immigrant, an activist, and an outdoor enthusiast. She describes herself as a proud feminist and an advocate for social justice in American society. She’s the founder of @BrownPeopleCamping, a social media initiative that uses digital storytelling to celebrate people of color in the outdoor community. Ambreen is also the author of Fatima’s Great Outdoors, a children’s picture book centering on an immigrant family embarking on their first camping trip.

This episode is edited by Misty Avinger. Our theme music is by Alekesam, check them out via the link in our shownotes.

Chelsea Murphy is an outdoor advocate, enthusiast, creative, and inspirer. She is the mother of three, and is on a mission to create a better, more inclusive outdoor culture for her mixed children.

Born in San Diego, CA and raised in Tacoma, WA she has always had a connection with nature and the outdoors. After moving to the mountains, she immediately recognized the lack of diversity in outdoor adventure. Chelsea started @she_colorsnature to create a community space for celebrating diversity outside. She also uses her platform to encourage parents to spend time outside with their kids, and centers her mothering philosophy on spending at least 30 minutes outside each day.

In this episode we hear from her about navigating historically white spaces, balancing the important job of being a mother of three while leading and curating an online community space, reframing narratives, moving into storytelling behind the camera and much more.

This episode is edited by Misty Avinger. Our theme music is by Alekesam, check them out via the link in our shownotes.

This week the Trail Ahead brings you an episode by Immigrantly, "a boundary-pushing, border-crossing podcast that gives diverse voices and stories home."

Their guest, Vanessa Chavarriaga Posada, is a Colombian-American athlete, activist, and environmental sociologist who is always on the move. From the freezing valleys of Alaska to the cloud forests of Colombia, Vanessa spends her days' hiking, skiing, mountaineering, running, and ice skating through beautiful landscapes. But at the same time, her travels go beyond mere wanderlust. Through her work as an environmental sociologist, Vanessa encourages everyone to remember the social and cultural dynamics of the environment. What is our relationship to the outdoors? How can everyone enjoy what the world offers regardless of identity, location, or economic status? And perhaps most importantly, how do we preserve our planet for the future?

The Trail Ahead Presents: Immigrantly featuring Vanessa Chavarriaga Posada

Follow along with Vanessa via https://www.instagram.com/vanessa_chav

Yatika Starr Fields, is a Painter and Muralist who lives and works in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Yatika Fields is part of the Cherokee, Creek and Osage Tribes. He is also a Bear clan member. While attending the Art Institute of Boston from 2000 to 2004, he became interested in Graffiti aesthetics, which has been integral to his knowledge and process along with Landscape painting- and continues to influence his large- scale projects and studio works. His artworks explore the themes of family, community, and cultural diversity to illustrate its significance in societal norms for Native Americans. In addition, he is an avid distance runner who both runs and bikes ultra-marathon distances. He is involved with collective efforts to increase visibility, participation and acknowledgement of Indigenous voices, places and people in outdoor pursuits. He is a frequent collaborator with Rising Hearts, an indigenous led grassroots organization with a vision for a socially, economically and environmentally-just world, they often use running as a medium for activism and advocacy.

In this episode we talk about finding healing through running and returning home, the many shared parts of our identities, Yatika's advocacy efforts that have led to name changes of offensive race events and much more.

This episode is edited by Misty Avinger. Our theme music is by Alekesam, check them out via the link in our shownotes.

Brittany Leavitt is the co-founder of Brown Girls Climb, a lifelong educator and someone who loves the outdoors. We talk with her about what it means to be shifting careers to be the full-tome CEO of Brown Girls Climb and how she first came to the outdoors. Hint: Her career day outfit in Elementary School says a lot!

Brittany has always connected to the outdoors, from the mountains in upstate New York, to the ocean sides of Massachusetts, to city life in Washington DC (currently in Brooklyn, NY). For the last eight years, Brittany has led and taught others how to enjoy the outdoors safely while also clearing pathways for the PGM (People of Global Majority) in the community—working as a leader with organizations such as Outdoor Afro, Appalachian Trail Conservancy, and REI. In 2018 Brittany was recognized as one of Blue Ridges Mountain Magazine’s 30 under 30 and American Alpine Club-DC section’s “one to watch.”

Hope you enjoy this conversation talking about everything from climbing Kilimanjaro to creating brave spaces within climbing gyms as much as we did!

Our podcast is edited by Misty Avinger and our theme music is by Alekesam,

Stefanie is an ultra trail and road runner located in the Front Range of Colorado. She is the 2021 USATF 100-mile road champion and course record holder (6th fastest all-time American woman for the distance). She is also a foot and ankle surgeon alongside her husband, with a passion for treating athletes. Stefanie is passionate about increasing BIPOC representation in distance running and newly a member of the Lululemon FURTHER initiative cohort, which aims to address the data and research gap that exists in women's endurance running. She is the co-host of the Making Strides podcast which she describes as “a space to share our experiences as BIPOC female runners, as well as a space to discuss the nuances that come with our perspectives: safety, sponsorship and contract negotiations, mental health, current events in the running world and beyond.” In this episode we discuss how she started running 5k's with her dad as young as 7 years old, how her first 100 miler race ended in one of the biggest surprises of her life, as well as diving into her many passions.

Ahmad is a first-generation Lebanese-American thru-hiker and mountaineer who speaks about his experience of realizing while buying an ice-axe and hearing an Egyptian accent that he has never spoken to anyone in Arabic about the outdoors. This prompted him to hike the Lebanese Mountain Trail, which goes through parts of the country he hiked as a child with his father. He talks about Arab-American representation, what he loves about being outside, and what he learned on the trail.

This episode our debrief is with writer, producer, professor and Executive PRoducer of the hit Netflix series, Ramy, Maytha Alhassen, PhD. We talk about living on the margins, the historic and ongoing misrepresentations of Arabs in media, her take on what it means to witness and much more.