Highlights with Changemaker Judy Kasiama and Diversity Outdoors (Summer Series VI)
Today, we highlight Judy Kasiama in the sixth installment of our Summer Series. Judy is the founder of Colour the Trails, a Vancouver-based outdoor community that advocates for inclusive representation in outdoor spaces. Judy works with brand partners, businesses, and organizations to break barriers and create accessibility by subsidizing outdoor adventures and creating diverse content.
Sylvia and Judy discuss intersectionality and the complexity of identity, rethinking the old profit/nonprofit framework for businesses, the origin story of Colour the Trails, the danger of performative allyship, and much more
Topics Include:
Judy's early years in Democratic Republic of Congo
Growing up abroad and moving from country to country
Accessibility in the outdoors
Limitations of nonprofits and alternative business structures
Performative allyship and how to avoid it
Building authentic relationships with BIPOC communities
The benefits of physical challenges and adventures
The power of persistence
Judith Kasiama is a change maker, entrepreneur, athlete, and outdoor enthusiast. She is committed to engaging underrepresented communities in outdoor recreation and adventure. She believes nature is our healer; our call to our inner child; our adventurous side. And that the outdoors is a place where we can grow, expand, learn, connect, and experience the beauty of this land. “Everyone deserves the opportunity to experience the great outdoors.” Judy has a Bachelor of Applied Science degree from Trinity Western University with an emphasis on International Relations and History. She also attended Gordon College studying international relations and affairs. She is also a Fellow with the Royal Canadian Geographic Society. Judy and Colour the Trails have worked with the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival, they started The “Like Me - Outdoor Edition Film Festival” – a film series that focuses on stories of communities that have been intentionally and historically excluded from outdoor storytelling, and On has included Judy (aka Juju) in the environmental ones-to-watch list.
Resources Mentioned:
Connect with Judy:
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