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outdoor media

Do Something: An Open Letter to Outdoor Brands

Dear Outdoor Brands,

Are you offended? Are you angry? Do you think you were unfairly called out or linked to? I’m glad I struck a note. You should do something about it, if you think I’m in the wrong. But by do something about it, I don’t mean aggressively emailing me to take my links down because it’s driving negative traffic to your site.

Instead of telling me that you’re a diverse, minority-owned company, and we’re fighting the same fight, and that I’m wrong, you should prove me wrong. I posted an opinion piece. In my opinion, what you’re presenting doesn’t seem that diverse. Is it my place to tell people whether or not something is diverse? Of course not, I am not the diversity police. I linked to you because I wanted people to be able to form their own opinion. So prove me wrong. Prove the traffic wrong. Give those link clickers a reason to say “Hey Company, what is wrong with this blogger? She’s clearly wrong.” Give me a reason to say I’m wrong.

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Why Don’t They Look Like Me? The Diversity Dilemma in Outdoor Media

Backpacking Granite Lake in Emigrant Wilderness by Blair Lockhart, the diversity dilemma in outdoor media
4th of July backpacking in Emigrant Wilderness. Photo by Blair Lockhart.

Sometime last year I was tossed on a list of women of color to follow on Instagram. This struck me as odd. Mostly because I don’t particularly identify with being Asian. I’m not Paulina the Asian outdoor blogger. I’m just Paulina, this person who also happens to be yellow. I grew up in the Bay Area, the suburbs of Cupertino to be more precise. I’m fortunate enough to live and play in a place where almost everyone goes outside, regardless of gender, background or skin color. Being a person of color wasn’t really a thing I was aware of. Diversity wasn’t a thing I thought about. It just was. Until recently.

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