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A Conversation on Compensation: Investing in our DEI Commitments

Join Teresa Baker, José Gonzalez, Dr. Carolyn Finney, Mirna Valerio & L. Blount for a conversation on fair compensation for DEI agents.



About this Event

Part of the work around Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in any space, but specifically the outdoor industry, is fair compensation. There needs to be financial compensation for the labor that individuals put out in an effort to educate companies. That compensation MUST be financial and not just gear exchanges. There must be "skin in the game" if we are to make equitable progress in this work. And it must begin with compensating DEI consultants, fairly. Join Teresa Baker, José Gonzalez, Dr. Carolyn Finney, Mirna Valerio & L. Renee Blount for a conversation on fair compensation for DEI agents in the outdoor industry. evo is proud to present this program.

More about these speakers:

Teresa Baker is founder of the Outdoor CEO Diversity pledge and the In Solidarity Project. Teresa's main focus is to engage underrepresented communities in matters of environmental protection and responsibility, in hopes of fostering a shared sense of stewardship of the land. Teresa spends the majority of her time working with outdoor agencies, organizations, brands and retailers, on ways to welcome a more diverse audience to their boards, staff and campaigns. She does this through outdoor events and speaking engagements across the country.

José G. González is the Founder and Director Emeritus of Latino Outdoors. He is an experienced educator as a K-12 public education teacher, environmental education advisor, outdoor education instructor and coordinator, and university adjunct faculty. As a Partner in the Avarna Group and through his own consulting, his work focuses on Equity & Inclusion frameworks and practices in the environmental, outdoor, and conservation fields. He is also an illustrator and science communicator. You can connect with him on social media @JoseBilingue. Puns welcomed.

Mirna Valerio is a native of Brooklyn, NY, a former educator and cross-country coach, ultramarathoner, author of the Amazon bestselling memoir, A Beautiful Work in Progress, and antiracism educator. Although she began running in high school, she recommitted to the sport after a health scare in 2008 and started her blog Fatgirlrunning—about her experiences as a larger woman in a world of thinner endurance athletes— while training for her first marathon. Mirna's athletic story has been featured in the WSJ, Runner’s World, on NBC Nightly News, CNN, and in the viral REI-produced documentary short, The Mirnavator. Her writing has been featured in Women’s Running Magazine, Self Magazine Online, Outside Online, and Runner's World Magazine. In 2018 she was chosen as a National Geographic Adventurer of the Year, and most recently appeared on the Kelly Clarkson Show, Access Daily, and on Nigel Barker’s new V1Ve Network. When she wears her diversity, equity, and inclusion hat, she helps schools, nonprofits, and businesses to step up their antiracism efforts. She currently lives, trains, and works in Vermont, USA.

L. Renee Blount, "L." (short for the Lanisha) is a photographer, creative strategist, and long-time climber. She’s spent the past few years working simultaneously in innovation consulting and storytelling to illuminate untold stories and to rethink the future. Recently on the cover of Outside Mag, her photography is about making the outdoors much more accessible through joy. Her most recent clients include: Patagonia, Athleta, The North Face, Outside Magazine, and more.

Carolyn Finney, PhD is a storyteller, author and a cultural geographer. She is deeply interested in issues related to identity, difference, creativity, and resilience. Carolyn is grounded in both artistic and intellectual ways of knowing - she pursued an acting career for eleven years, but five years of backpacking trips through Africa and Asia, and living in Nepal changed the course of her life. Motivated by these experiences, Carolyn returned to school after a 15-year absence to complete a B.A., M.A. (gender and environmental issues in Kenya and Nepal) and a Ph.D. (where she was a Fulbright and a Canon National Science Scholar Fellow). Along with public speaking, writing, media engagements, consulting & teaching, she served on the U.S. National Parks Advisory Board for eight years. Her first book, Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors was released in 2014. Recent publications include Self-Evident: Reflections on the Invisibility of Black Bodies in Environmental Histories (BESIDE Magazine, Montreal Spring 2020), and The Perils of Being Black in Public: We are all Christian Cooper and George Floyd (The Guardian, June 3rd 2020). She is currently working on a performance piece about John Muir (The N Word: Nature Revisited) and is the new columnist at the Earth Island Journal while doing a two-year residency in the Franklin Environmental Center at Middlebury College as the Environmental Studies Professor of practice.


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