Raquel Gomez's organization, Atabey Outdoors, provides safe and fun outdoor adventures for Black, Indigenous and Girls of Color in Phoenix, Arizona.
For Raquel Gomez, getting outside has always been a way to be playful and adventurous. She’s done a lot of hiking, rock climbing and camping around the U.S. Raquel also has a passion for working with kids — she’s a youth climbing coach and has worked as a Wilderness Therapy Guide. But building a career in the outdoors wasn’t easy for Raquel. She loved to get outside as a kid, but didn’t see many outdoor athletes that looked like her. That’s why she founded Atabey Outdoors, a program that provides safe and fun outdoor adventures for Black, Indigenous and Girls of Color in Phoenix, Arizona.
Connect with Raquel:
Raquel Gomez:
I just feel so connected when I'm out there. I feel alive. I feel the most alive I ever feel. I mean, I get goosebumps, even when you just asked me the question of like, what is it about the outdoors? Everything. The fresh air hitting my face. I mean, I couldn't wait to go home and throw on my roller blades and just blade everywhere. I would attach a jump rope to my friend's bike and blade on the back of their bike, down hills and over speed bumps. We were trying to see what was the most reckless thing we could do. I just wanted to be outside with the sun hitting me.
Shelby Stanger:
Raquel Gomez lights up when she talks about getting outside as a kid. I think a lot of us can relate to her experience. Many of us didn't grow up with outdoorsy parents, but we fell in love with nature by playing in our own backyards, biking, skateboarding, or even rollerblading around our neighborhood. For Raquel getting outside has always been a way to be playful and adventurous. Now, as a woman in her 30s, she's taking that approach a step further by helping kids establish their own relationship with nature. In 2020, Raquel founded Atabey Outdoors, a nonprofit that gets girls of color outside. I'm Shelby Stanger, and this is Wild Ideas Worth Living.
Shelby Stanger:
Raquel has a calm sense of leadership about her, but she's definitely still a kid at heart. She's always been a free spirit and she's done plenty of hiking, rock climbing, and traveling around the US. In addition to her own adventuring, Raquel is a certified rock climbing instructor and a youth climbing coach. She also used to work as a wilderness therapy guide, but building a career in the outdoors wasn't easy for Raquel. She loved to get outside as a kid, but she didn't see many outdoor athletes that looked like her. Raquel Gomez, welcome to Wild Ideas Worth Living.
Raquel Gomez:
Thank you. It's so good to be here.
Shelby Stanger:
And you're all the way from Phoenix.
Raquel Gomez:
Yes, I am in Phoenix, Arizona. Just moved here a few years ago.
Shelby Stanger:
Were you outdoorsy growing up? How did you get into the outdoors?
Raquel Gomez:
Yeah, I was outdoors all the time as a kid. I mean, they couldn't get me inside. I would pass curfew all the time because I just wanted to be outside. I was climbing trees, running, playing tag, rollerblading, biking, sledding. Depending on what season it was, was what I was doing. So I was first introduced to it, I think it was my dad. My dad. He loved the outdoors. He taught me how to ride a bike. Once he taught me how to ride a bike I was outside on my bike all time. And then he got me into swimming lessons.
Shelby Stanger:
So your dad, how did he get into the outdoors? Did he just like it?
Raquel Gomez:
So yeah, he just loved it. He grew up in Dominican Republic, and yeah. And he spent most of his time out swimming. He was a lifeguard out there. A lot of my family's into swimming out there. He did a lot of white water rafting, hiking, just roaming through the outdoors and the jungle out there, so.
Shelby Stanger:
You said something that was interesting. You said when you were swimming, that was one of those sports where you realized you were the only person who looked like you. And I've read on your bio, you said your family even often said "Some of this outdoor stuff is for white people," about things like hiking and camping and I guess swimming.
Raquel Gomez:
Yeah.
Shelby Stanger:
Tell me about that.
Raquel Gomez:
Yeah. A lot of the things I was doing outdoors, even the most simple stuff, like riding my bike or climbing trees, I was doing it with mostly white kids. And when I got to swimming class, I was literally the only black brown person in my swim class. And I probably didn't realize it then. I mean, I kind of did, but also like I loved swimming and I loved doing outdoor stuff, so I didn't really care. It wasn't going to stop me from doing it. But it did kind of feel lonely. I would ask my mom and dad, "Why am I the only black brown person in these groups?" And they just shrugged it off. They were just like, "Eh, you know. We don't know."
Shelby Stanger:
Where's your mom from?
Raquel Gomez:
She grew up in the States. Her family, her mom and dad are from Puerto Rico. So she's first generation, and technically I'm first generation on my dad's side. So they were all like, "Why do you want to go outside and climb things? What are you doing out there? Come inside. Come clean up or learn how to cook or do something safe." I mean, I think just my culture in general, Dominicans and Puerto Ricans, they're just very home domestic. The woman is domestic. She cooks, she cleans, she takes care of the kids, the family. Still working, but also very homey. And my dad, he was trying to protect me as his youngest daughter. I mean, I was falling off bikes, scraping myself and doing all these crazy things. And he was just like, "Why?"
Shelby Stanger:
You just gave me my best memory of childhood. And it was like, we had a skateboard that we got at Price Club, which is now Costco. And it was not that great, but we took a really old boogie board and put it on top of the skateboard so that the skateboard had more surface area. And then me and my little girlfriend would pile on the skateboard. We took a jump rope, attached that to my sister's bike and she would whip us around the cul-de-sac as fast as we could. And that boogie board would usually end up off the skateboard and us. And we had just had road rash, always. But it was so fun. And I think a lot of people don't realize that your first interaction with the outdoors sometimes is like on roller blades or skateboards or scooters or a bike. That's really important.
Raquel Gomez:
Absolutely. That's all I had. I mean, I would watch winter Olympics and be like, "Whoa," watching people snowboard off ramps and skiing downhill at 30, 40 miles per hour. I would be like, "I want to do that." But in the back of my mind, I was like, "No, that's clearly only for white people." There was no black person on the slopes. So why would I think I could be on there? I was going to be the first black or brown person snowboarding? No. That's that sounds ridiculous. I just, I kind of blocked it out. I was like, "This is not something that I can do. So just get it out of your mind." And I tried skiing last year for the very first time and I'm getting goosebumps again, because I loved it. Loved it.
Shelby Stanger:
I'm getting goosebumps listening to you and watching your face light up. That's great.
Raquel Gomez:
Had I known about if I had just even put a little more effort into trying to ski when I was younger, I mean, I'd be out there all the time. I'd be out there every season. I just didn't know. I had no idea how. So I guess I kind of dealt with it by just doing those simple activities, like hiking, climbing trees when I could, I didn't even know about rock climbing until later in life.
Shelby Stanger:
As Raquel grew up, she didn't lose her adventurous spirit. When she was in her teens, she started working with kids at a summer camp. She had a real knack for connecting with them. In her early 20s she worked with several youth programs in nonprofits, but she felt like these organizations didn't really value getting kids outside the same way she did. So she was going to have to do it herself. She started her own program, Atabey Outdoors, whose mission is to provide fun and safe outdoor experiences for BIPOC youth. What year was this when you got this idea to launch Atabey and how did you launch it?
Raquel Gomez:
It was 2020, mid pandemic. And they were like, "You're coming back to the Boys and Girls Club and you're going to work a one to 20 ratio." And I was like, "No, I'm not."
Shelby Stanger:
So what were you doing at the Boys and Girls Club?
Raquel Gomez:
I was a youth development supervisor.
Shelby Stanger:
Of course you were.
Raquel Gomez:
So basically yeah, running programs for kids five to 12 years old, mainly supervising the part-time staff that actually ran the program. So while we were working from home during the pandemic, I was working on Atabey on the side and I was thinking like, "Ah, it would be cool to do this on the weekends, just as a-"
PART 1 OF 4 ENDS [00:09:04]
Raquel Gomez:
Like, ah, it would be cool to do this on the weekends, just as a side thing.
Shelby Stanger:
As a side hustle.
Raquel Gomez:
Yeah. And then once I decided didn't want to go back, I was like, "No, this is it. I'm going to do this. I'm going to do Atabey Outdoors" And then a month later, my dad died.
Shelby Stanger:
Mm.
Raquel Gomez:
And my world just stopped. And I was like, "Well, I think I still have to do this." And my drive and my commitment, my will, it just got stronger after he passed. I was like, "He introduced me to all this stuff. I wouldn't even be outdoors if it wasn't for him." And so I just went 150 times harder and was looking for funding. And a couple weeks after I came back from Dominican Republic, because he passed in Dominican Republic in the middle of the pandemic... It was insane experience.
Raquel Gomez:
But when I came back, I took a seven week hiatus basically. And I just hit the road with my dog, and we drove from Arizona to Chicago and we just camped the entire time. And I stopped at every water source because water is something that me and my dad connected through. And when I came back, I went full force on Atabey. I applied to a grant called Justice Outside, and I got it. And I knew that, right then was when I knew... I was like, "Okay, this is it. It's supposed to be. It's meant to be because it wouldn't be happening in my favor like this if it wasn't."
Shelby Stanger:
You just described how wild ideas work. It's not easy, but you see this sign and then you have obstacles, you keep going, but the signs get stronger. And when you follow them and you have good intentions, it works out. I'm curious. On your road trip, did you have any idea where you were going to go? Or you were like, "I'm going to go here," and then when you got there, you're like, "Okay, next I'll go here." Was it pretty spontaneous?
Raquel Gomez:
So I had a little bit of a plan. When I came back from Dominican Republic, it really hit me that if I don't do what I want to do right now, when am I going to do it? Am I just going to keep waiting to do the thing that I really want to do anyway? That doesn't make any sense.
Shelby Stanger:
After Raquel's dad passed away, she knew she had to take the leap. With a grant to start her own outdoor program, years of experience working with kids, and a deep passion for the outdoors, she got to work. When we come back, Raquel talks about the name, Atabey, the mission of the organization, and how she got girls enrolled in her first programs.
Shelby Stanger:
Raquel is pretty fearless. She's camped by herself all over the country. She learned to rock climb, paddle, and mountain bike as an adult, which can be pretty intimidating. And she's determined to give girls like her something she didn't have, an opportunity to cultivate a deep relationship with the outdoors from an early age.
Shelby Stanger:
She believes that all of us, especially Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, belong outside. Atabey's mission is to provide fun and safe outdoor adventures for BIPOC girls ages 8-12 years old. Raquel even designed Atabey's logo to evoke the idea that we're all a part of nature, and nature is within us. The logo features a woman of color's face and her hair is made up of the sky, mountains, water, and desert. It's absolutely stunning.
Shelby Stanger:
Why this name? What does it mean? And it's spelled, for people listening, A-T-A-B-E-Y.
Raquel Gomez:
Yes. So I spent a lot of time as a kid choosing between going outdoors and doing stuff that I really love to do, or hanging out with the family and doing family stuff, which was usually going to birthday parties or, I don't know, shopping, or doing something I was not into. So I really wanted to build a program where girls didn't have to choose. Your culture and the outdoors don't have to be mutually exclusive.
Raquel Gomez:
And in order to do that, I had to connect to my culture somehow. For me, the outdoors has always been also a spiritual outlet. It's a place where I go to find peace, to connect with my higher self. It's where I feel the most clear minded. And so I connect outdoors to God. And so I started to look up Dominican goddess, and Atabey came up. And then I started looking at Puerto Rican goddess, Puerto Rican gods. And all of it was Atabey. Atabey just kept coming up over and over and over again. So she represented fresh water and fertility. She's the supreme goddess. She's the earth mother of the Tainos, the indigenous people from which my family came from.
Shelby Stanger:
That's really cool. So let's talk about timeline. I mean, this was really recent that you've started this. You came up with this idea in 2020, in the middle of a pandemic, not really the easiest time to start a non-profit, or maybe for you it was. Maybe it was the best time. What was the timeline between when you had this idea, made a 501(c)(3), and then actually had your first outing?
Raquel Gomez:
So it was perfect timing. I mean, with everything that was happening in the US at that time, with George Floyd and the many other deaths of African Americans, the word was getting out that black and brown people were not going outdoors. I mean, less than 2% black Americans go to national parks. Around 5% Latinos go to national parks. These numbers began to come out.
Raquel Gomez:
And so it started... What, I started it July 2020-ish. I got a nonprofit lawyer, got it established in January 2021. And we were set to do programming in February 2021, but with the pandemic still going, we decided to hold off some. So we had an inaugural community event, which was yoga in the garden, May 1st 2021. And then first season was September 2021. We had our very first season and that went from September until December.
Shelby Stanger:
That's awesome. So September-December, you've been running trips.
Raquel Gomez:
Yes. We did paddle boarding, mindful walk, outdoor cooking. We did yoga in the park. We did mountain biking, intro to mountain biking. We did intro to rock climbing, and we even had our first overnight trip, so we had a camping trip.
Shelby Stanger:
Wow. How did these girls find you, or how did you find these young ladies?
Raquel Gomez:
They found me. Actually, one of the girls I know through the Boys & Girls Club, so I've been telling her to recruit all her friends. And then parents found us on Instagram. Instagram has been a big help in parents finding us. We had 32 girls enroll for Atabey Outdoors for the first season. The best part is a lot of these girls, they have no idea what they're coming to do. And that just shows a lot about that age group, and about these young girls and how much trust they have in me because some of... they've never tried any outdoor activities. I mean, we went to our indoor rock climbing gym, and one of the little girls was like, "You mean we can come here every day if we want to?" And I was like, "Yeah, it's open every day. You can come here if you want to." They don't even know that these things exist.
Shelby Stanger:
Yeah. That's really cool. I imagine you're just having such a big impact, and their parents must be really stoked to have you.
Raquel Gomez:
Yeah. The parents love it. They're like, "It's amazing what you're doing. They're coming home with so much confidence. They're so happy after an adventure." And I'm just as happy. I'm like, "Yes." After an adventure, I am hype.
Shelby Stanger:
Whether it's climbing at a-
PART 2 OF 4 ENDS [00:18:04]
Shelby Stanger:
Whether it's climbing at a gym or paddle boarding in a local lake, Raquel loves going on new adventures with the girls. Of course, it isn't always easy. Not every kid loves leaving behind their iPad to go for a hike. This is where Raquel's years of experience working with young people comes in handy. She has a technique, she pulls them aside and she just starts asking them questions.
Raquel Gomez:
Like, "Hey, what's going on for you right now? What was your morning like before you got to Atabey Outdoors? What can I do to support you right now? What do you need? You need some space? A snack? Water? Can I sit here and talk with you for a little bit?" Kids love to answer questions.
Shelby Stanger:
For Raquel, Atabey is about making these girls feel seen, cared for and represented. But running a nonprofit is no joke, and Raquel has had to learn to take care of herself too. I can only imagine what you have during a typical day. How do you stay sane, like ... What's your self care regimen? What's that look like for you? I get that there's not such a thing as balance. When you are working hard, you're going to work hard. There's going to be a season to take a break. This means a lot to you, but how do you balance your own self care?
Raquel Gomez:
Yeah. So last season I learned the hard way, I had an adventure every single Saturday, and I burnt out by like November. And so, building in Saturdays off was important to me this season so that I can regroup, and so that I could be able to give the girls the kind of energy that they deserve. Personally, I build in at least two days of getting outdoors. Like, I dedicate Tuesdays and Thursday mornings to going out for a hike or a trail run, or getting outside in some capacity. I got a coach, a life coach, because time management has not always been my strongest suit. I'm a creative. I like to do things whenever I feel like it.
Raquel Gomez:
So starting a nonprofit organization has challenged me in ways that I never thought possible. I mean, it's challenged my organizational skills, my time management skills. So I got a life coach to help me out with that. And I go to therapy every two weeks without fail. That's absolutely part of my self care. And then routines, I just had to get comfortable with routines. As a spontaneous person, a person who's always been free spirited, I had to get comfortable creating a routine that works for me. There's a lot of entrepreneurs out there giving advice on what they think that people should be doing. And I think it's important for people to find something that works for them, because everyone is different. Everyone can't wake up at 3 o'clock in the morning and go until 11 o'clock at night. So I just created a schedule that I think works for me, and I try to stick to it as best as possible.
Shelby Stanger:
I'm really interested in this. How did you find your life coach?
Raquel Gomez:
So I found it through Catch a Fire. Have you heard of them?
Shelby Stanger:
I have heard of that. I don't know why.
Raquel Gomez:
So they're basically a organization who like helps nonprofits find volunteers for behind the scenes work. So I've been utilizing them a lot. They've actually helped me with a lot of different things. Like my marketing plan, my brochures, and they had this time management coaching. You can utilize a time management coach for like four to six weeks. And I connected with this wonderful BIPOC woman, and just started working with her this week. And I'm excited, because I'm 34 and this is probably my third, maybe, BIPOC mentor or coach.
Shelby Stanger:
One thing I read is that 100% of your staff and mentors are BIPOC. That's pretty incredible. How do you do that? Why is that important to you?
Raquel Gomez:
So that was important to me because of the way I grew up. I mean, I was always looking at role models who are white, outdoor role models, I'm saying. Anybody who I wanted to be like, who was outside, was white, and although that didn't stop me, I know that it stops a lot of people from pursuing things that they love because they want to see someone who looks like them doing the stuff that they're doing. It was important for me to have BIPOC representation, specifically outdoor mentors who look like the girls, because the girls need to see us actually doing the things that they're doing to believe that it's possible for them.
Shelby Stanger:
Has it been easy or hard to find that?
Raquel Gomez:
It's been pretty difficult. There's a various reasons why black and brown people don't get outdoors. And a lot of it is trauma, intergenerational trauma. A lot of it is racism. A lot of it is lack of knowledge, barriers like transportation, gear. And so, there's not a lot of people around my age or even a little bit older, who are BIPOC, who are really getting outdoors. The women who are mentors right now, who are volunteering right now, they've always had a interest in outdoors. Didn't mean they got out a lot, but they've always had an interest in it. They like being outside and they know the benefits of being outside, and it has benefited them in some way in their lives.
Shelby Stanger:
You mentioned gear and transportation being barriers. I'm guessing a lot of these girls don't have fancy backpacks or hiking boots. So how do you deal with them not having great equipment for these outings?
Raquel Gomez:
Gear is a huge barrier to the girls. And not just in a sense where they can't afford it, but they feel like if they don't have certain gear, that they're not equipped to do the outdoor activity, or they're not cool enough to do it or whatever. And so, I want to teach the girls like, all you need is sneakers. If you want to go outside, all you need is sneakers. Put your sneakers on. Let's go. We're going outside on a hike. You don't need fancy boots. You don't need a fancy backpack. You don't need any of that. So we provide the girls starter packs. We provide them like a backpack, a journal, and a water bottle, and a hat.
Shelby Stanger:
Cool.
Raquel Gomez:
And so, they all start on a level playing ground. Nobody feels like they're better than another person because they have better gear. That was important to me, starting Atabey, making sure these girls have what they need, and also making sure that they feel comfortable knowing that, if they do need something, I can provide it for them.
Shelby Stanger:
So are you getting sponsors from companies to donate? Cool. So who do you have?
Raquel Gomez:
REI donated all of the starter packs last season.
Shelby Stanger:
I had no idea. That's amazing. And you probably have to have snacks, because I know when I take my niece and nephews hiking, the first question is, "What are we having for snacks?" My nephew sort of like sings when he talks. He's like, "Tell me. What are we having for snack time? Do you have snacks? Can I see them?"
Raquel Gomez:
Snacks has been a big thing. It's not that they expect it, but now I've made it so that there's always been snacks on the adventure, so there should be a snack on the adventure if they're coming. But like, I also noticed in the last couple of adventures that these girls are totally okay with bananas and apples and oranges. I don't have to get no fancy granola bars for them or anything like that. They love fruit. So that's mainly what I've been getting for them on the adventures, is fresh fruit, trail mix, stuff like that. I learned actually last season that a lot of them are not having breakfast before adventures, either because they can't, like their families don't have the means to provide breakfast for them. A lot of them get breakfast at school, they get free breakfast and lunch at school.
PART 3 OF 4 ENDS [00:27:04]
Raquel Gomez:
School. They get free breakfast and lunch at school. So they don't eat breakfast before they come to Adventures. And they didn't tell me either for a while. They were just eating all the snacks and I'm like, "Are y'all eating before you come here?" And they were like, "No. I haven't eaten anything since last night." And I was like, what?
Shelby Stanger:
Yeah, that's a little devastating.
Raquel Gomez:
Yeah. I couldn't believe it, honestly. I was like, it's 10:00. It's 11:00. You've been up since 7:00.
Shelby Stanger:
Yeah. That's really heartbreaking. So we need to get you a snack sponsor.
Raquel Gomez:
For sure, because it's killing the pockets.
Shelby Stanger:
Atabey Outdoors focuses on introducing girls to the world of outdoor adventure. And there's another important element too, community. By adventuring together, these girls are creating relationships with each other, with mentors and with mother nature. It's inspiring that Raquel's been able to bring her wild idea to life so quickly. She's already making a big impact and there are plenty of ways to get involved. Raquel, so how can allies and people like me help you with your organization?
Raquel Gomez:
So there's plenty of ways to help I feel like as an ally. I think amplifying our voices, being able to spread awareness on the low percentages of Black and Brown people getting outdoors, that's huge. There's plenty of behind the scenes work that needs to be done. I can't do it all. And there's plenty of areas in which I'm not as skilled as someone else might be. So there's board seats, there's funding and development, there's graphic design and all that good stuff. All of that is helping the organization move forward. I think it's important to have these tough conversations to make sure that white individuals know that this is an actual thing. There are black and brown people who are afraid to go outdoors or who do not feel safe going outdoors or who feel out of place or isolated when they're outdoors because they're the only people out there. Those are conversations we need to have. And we need to figure out how can white individuals help create a safe space for black and brown people outdoors. And if we're not having those conversations, then we can't even begin to create that safe space.
Shelby Stanger:
It seems like your whole life has really come together. Do you feel like everything you've done now, it's like, oh. My wild idea has been building and building and now I'm living it.
Raquel Gomez:
That's exactly what it feels like. It didn't make sense at the time when all of these things were happening. It didn't make sense to me that I was working with kids. It didn't make sense to me that I was taking up psychology. It didn't make sense to me that I was going through these really difficult experiences in college with anxiety and depression and overwhelming. I thought I was just traveling because it was fun. But each experience that I had, each travel experience that I had taught me something major about what I'm doing with Atabey Outdoors now. And I've thought about this, exactly what you're saying. I've thought about this in the last year. I'm like, literally everything I've done has just brought me to this exact moment and has taught me everything that I needed to create this idea or this organization.
Shelby Stanger:
That's the thing about wild ideas. Often they're brewing inside us long before we realize it. Raquel's wild idea of connecting girls to nature and helping them feel included and confident is becoming a beautiful reality. Raquel, thank you so much for talking with me. So excited about Atabey Outdoors. I think this organization is going to continue to grow and thrive. I can't wait. You can follow Raquel and Atabey Outdoors on their website, atabeyoutdoors.com and on Instagram at Atabey Outdoors. That's A-T-A-B-E-Y O-U-T-D-O-O-R-S. Wild Ideas Worth Living is part of the REI podcast network. It's hosted by me, Shelby Stanger. Written and edited by Annie Fasler and Sylvia Thomas of Puddle Creative. And our senior producer is Chelsea Davis. Our executive producers are Paolo Mottola and Joe Crosby. As always, we love it when you follow this show. Rate it and review it wherever you listen. And remember, some of the best adventures happen when you follow your wildest ideas.
PART 4 OF 4 ENDS [00:32:32]