Girl Trek ~ Morgan Dixon Aspires to Get One Million Black Women Walking

Hey everybody! Yeah I know it’s been way too long since the last edition of the Joy Trip Project podcast. As it happens I’ve been crazy busy traveling, writing and yes conducting interviews. But most of the audio I’ve been recording over the last several months has been going toward a series of profiles for Outside Magazine. Check out the May 2018 cover story, which I wrote, called “The New Faces of Adventure”. This wonderful spread edited by Michael Roberts with photographs by Joao Canziani features 12 emerging athletes and activists who in their own words share the stories of their efforts to make outdoor adventure more diverse equitable and inclusive. The May issue of Outside Magazine is  on newsstands now so go out and get a copy. Or hang tight watch for the online edition available on April 20, 2018 at outsideonline.com But getting back to the podcast, I was recently inspired by a remarkable post on Facebook from my friend Vanessa Garrison. She and another friend Morgan Dixon appeared at the 2018 TED Conference. As the creators of a women’s empowerment initiative called Girl Trek and they were introduced virtually to the TED stage my non other than Oprah Winfry  Oprah: Hi all! I hope you're having a great TED Conference. I wanted to chime in virtually here to introduce you to two women that I think are doing some of the most transformational work on our planet. It's big. I mean it's really big. And it's wise because it's based on the wisdom of nature, that cataclysmic shifts start with just a tiny seed. These two women understand that the world is changed when nations are changed and nations are changed when cities are changed. Cities get changed when communities are changed. And communities are changed when individuals are changed. And when we look at history we know that some of the most potent change makers are, let's be real people, Black women. So let's start with them. Get these movers and shakers, get them talking. Get them dreaming and plotting and oh wow. Oh wow. Wow imagine what's going to come of that. I'd like to introduce you to the seed planners and the co-founders of Girl Trek Morgan Dixon and Vanessa Garrison!  So I’m watch this video and Vanessa and Morgan step  out onto the stage. Morgan gives a nod to Oprah and then there’s Vanessa. Vanessa Garrison: Now many of you may know us. We Are the co-founders of Girl Trek the largest health organization for black women in America. Our mission is simple: ask black women, 80 percent of whom are over a healthy body weight, to walk outside of their front door every day to establish a life saving habit of walking. In doing so ignite a radical movement in which black women reverse the devastating impacts of chronic disease, reclaim the streets of their neighborhoods, create a new culture of help for their families and stand on the front lines for justice. Today all across America more than a hundred thousand black women are wearing this Girl Trek blue shirt as they move through their communities. A heroic force.  JEM: Right out of the gate Venessa lays out the basic strategy that Girl Trek recommends to its leaders and follower how they can make positive changes their lives and the communities in which they live. VG: One: to have a bold idea, bigger than anyone is comfortable with. Two: Root d in the cultural traditions of your community and lean heavily on what has come before. Three: Name it. That one thing that everyone is willing to work hard for a ridiculously simple goal that doesn't just benefit the individual but the village around them. And lastly: never ask permission to save your own life. It is our fundamental right as human beings to solve our own problems.  JEM: Let’s just say that this video got my creative juices following and I suddenly remembered one of the many interviews sitting on a shelf in my office waiting to be edited. In November 2017 I attended the SHIFT Conference in Jackson Wyoming.