For the final day of Women’s History Month, National Geographic Live invited audiences to attend a free livestream event on Facebook as part of their Resilience Executive Speaker series. The 30 minute conversation was hosted by National Geographic’s Whitney Johnson who serves as the Director of Visuals and Immersvie experiences.
During the program Whitney spoke with Rue Mapp founder and CEO of Outdoor Afro and Rosa Vásquez Espinoza, a chemical biologist.
Rue was the first to join the session and talked about how during this current pandemic we find ourselves in, while places we love aren’t open or perhaps not offering as many experiences as they once did, nature is never closed. There are so many things happening around us that are enlightening, educational and accessible. She went on to share what inspired her to create Outdoor Afro.
Growing up Rue felt a connection to the world outside her window and loved being outdoors. As a child she joined Girl Scouts which was a great experience. The Troop would take camping trips, and Rue used those opportunities to journal about her day and what she was learning and sometimes, she’d tape record conversions with her fellow Scouts about their shared experiences.
When she graduated from Girl Scouts, she started the Outdoor Afro blog and wrote about why she loved nature. Through the blog she quickly discovered many others shared the same passion as her audience responded with their own stories, journeys and discoveries. Rue learned that while there was definitely a community of African American nature lovers, visual representation of the group was a problem. So she sought to change that, and through Outdoor Afro created a space for herself and others with programs for explorers of all ages led by those in their community.
Rue continued saying that leadership development begins in childhood, and for her that was through Girl Scouts. They offered her the opportunity and expected her to be a leader. Now Outdoor Afro is setting an example for the next generation by providing leadership opportunities and a shared space and experience for Africian Americans. She finished by commenting on creating change. In this fast paced world we live in, we expect things to happen instantly, but that’s rarely the case. “Change can happen only at the speed of relationships. Trust is not formed overnight.”
After Rue, Rosa Vásquez Espinoza joined the conversation and spoke about how her mother and grandmother were driving forces behind her pursuit of science. She majored in a dual degree in biochemistry and molecular biology and is in the process of earning her PhD in chemical biology at the University of Michigan.
Rosa is focusing her attention on the smallest parts of nature working on ways to protect the Peruvian Amazon ecosystem and learn more about its evolution. She says “my ultimate goal with all of this is when we think about the Amazon rainforest biodiversity, we think beyond what we see with our eyes.”
For Rosa her biggest mentor was her grandmother who was the ultimate example of perseverance. She worked very hard to provide for her family and give her children a better future with access to education. She’d rise early in the morning to make bread to sell and she held several jobs at one time. Sometimes she’d pick up odd jobs on her lunch break to earn an extra dollar. She was not allowed to attend school. To get around this, she met with other women so they could teach themselves to read and write.
Thanks to the sacrifices her grandmother made, Rosa was able to take advantage of many learning opportunities and she’s now focused on protecting and helping the natural world grow and thrive. In her studies at the University of Michigan, Rosa is able to share her passion with fellow students, be a mentor to undergrads and help them develop a greater love for what they’re doing.
Before the event was over, Whitney spoke briefly about the mentors in her life who asked her great questions that led her to pursue her goals. Among them was her boss who asked “what do you want to do next?” An odd question at first but one that’s actually freeing. Whitney realized that by asking her that question, her boss was encouraging her to be ambitious. All three ladies agreed on the importance of saying your dreams out loud and Rue reminded the audience that it’s ok to take risks. Follow your dreams, chase your passions, you know where you want to go, “there’s a North Star within us.”