The Daily - Day 3 - June 20, 2019 - 38

How I Got Here
T E R E S A

B A K E R

In 2013, Teresa Baker founded
the African American National
Parks Event to encourage people of color to visit their parks.

A chance encounter with a bear fostered a
lifelong connection to the outdoors, the drive
to protect wild places-and to rally people of
color to play a role. By Teresa Baker
IT'S FUNNY TO FIND MYSELF WRITING ABOUT HOW MY LIFE IN THE

outdoors came to be when I don't recall a time when the outdoors wasn't a
part of my life.
Growing up in Richmond, California, I spent most of my days outdoors.
Being the only girl in the neighborhood who dared hang out with the guys,
I was determined not to be outdone by any of them. If they played football,
so did I. Same with basketball and baseball. Hiking the nearby hills of Point
Richmond was a daring adventure (hiking was unsupervised, uncharted
territory for me), but I grew to love it.
My parents enrolled me in an after-school program based on farm life
that fostered an enduring compassion for animal life in me. And the Girls'
Club opened my eyes to the possible adventure of wild places. On a camping trip in Yosemite, I saw my very first bear. It felt unreal. I'd only seen
such wildlife on TV. At that moment, my addiction to the outdoors began.

/ SUMMER MARKET 2019

and a Patagonia gathering to
discuss matters of diversity in
the outdoors. And as part of the
We.R.More project in Yosemite,
Sandy Hernandez of the NPS Volunteer Office asked José González
and me to give a presentation on
what Yosemite could do to better
engage communities of color.
A lot of people ask why I volunteer to do this work, and the
answer is simple: I care a great
deal about outdoor spaces, and
I'm going to fight to protect them
with the help of others who care
just as deeply. I feel that the most
important contribution I can
offer is to make communities of
color aware of the role that they
can play. But the industry needs
to understand that we all play a
role-every brand, agency, company, and individual. The protection
of these spaces falls upon us all.
There is a lot of fear right now
around matters of racial diversity
in the outdoor industry. Brands
exhibiting at Outdoor Retailer
Summer Market have a huge
opportunity to make a difference.
On my first visit to the Show in
2018, I was unprepared to see how
two-dimensional (white and male)
the Show was. I offer this challenge to companies: Let's genuinely commit to working together as
an industry. Let us not go gently
into this work but wholeheartedly,
knowing that if we do not come together, ultimately it's the outdoors
that loses.

"THE INDUSTRY NEEDS TO UNDERSTAND
THAT WE ALL PLAY A ROLE-
EVERY BRAND, AGENCY, COMPANY,
AND INDIVIDUAL. THE PROTECTION OF
THESE SPACES FALLS UPON US ALL."

V I CTO R I A R E E D E R

Nature Lover

As I got older, my love for the
outdoors grew. I wanted to see
more wildlife, hike more often,
visit more parks. And I wanted to
photograph the beauty and serenity I found in nature.
Over the years, I've traveled to
national parks across the country.
In 2013, after spending a week in
Yosemite Valley and not seeing
one other person of color, I began
to wonder why I wasn't seeing
others who looked like me. I
started doing research on matters
of diversity in the outdoors. I soon
discovered this was my calling: to
do something to encourage communities of color to get outdoors
in our national parks. This was
the impetus behind the African
American National Parks Event,
which has been running for six
years now, encouraging people to
visit a national park on a weekend in June for camping, hiking,
exploring, and engaging with
park staff.
I've created many events to get
all people outdoors. The Hike
Like a Girl Campaign encourages
women and girls (though all are
encouraged to participate) to get
outdoors and show solidarity and
support for one another on the
trails. The 2017 Women's Outdoor Summit for Empowerment
had an amazing turnout of more
than 100 women. There have
been campouts that I've helped to
organize, speaking engagements,
a film with The Muir Project,

The Daily - Day 3 - June 20, 2019

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