Simone Adams is the visionary founder and executive director of Color My Outdoors, a Southern-rooted nonprofit that is reshaping how People of Color experience, lead, and thrive in outdoor spaces. Under her bold and unconventional leadership, the organization has grown into a national voice for outdoor equity, challenging outdated narratives about who belongs in nature and who gets to lead within it.
Through her personal outdoor journey, Adams also explores a radical truth. The courage to live differently is not only liberating, it is one of the most powerful forms of resistance. Her work invites us to reconsider our relationship with land, rest, leadership, and ourselves.
In this conversation, Adams reflects on the moments that shaped her mission, the power of visibility, and why reclaiming the outdoors is essential to collective healing.
Color My Outdoors challenges long-standing narratives about who belongs in nature. What moment or realization pushed you to create this organization?
I spent my life enjoying the outdoors and decades working in the nonprofit sector. In 2021, as DEI became a buzzword, I watched organizations practice performative equity without shifting power, and the outdoor industry lagged behind entirely. I chose to change the system. Color My Outdoors exists to change who gets seen, heard, and trusted as leaders in nature.
You often describe your leadership as unconventional. How has leading outside of traditional systems allowed Color My Outdoors to grow into a national voice for outdoor equity?
I used to play by the rules, but I struggled with how those rules upheld racist systems, toxic work cultures, and shallow solutions. So I stepped into my power. I am a Gen X rule-breaker who leads bluntly and transparently, in service of people reclaiming their voice. That unapologetic leadership builds trust, attracts real partners, and allows a Southern-rooted organization to speak plainly and act boldly on a national stage.
Your decision to live nomadically and work in nature is central to your story. How has that lifestyle shaped your understanding of race, place, and power?
Living nomadically means I move through Southern land every day, from campgrounds and backroads to open land. I spend my time on trails, in the mountains, and on the water. I know I am part of nature and creation. I feel where I am welcome. I feel my ancestors and our deep ties to this land. That connection keeps me honest about race, place, and power.
You have described living differently as a form of resistance. What does that resistance look like in your everyday life and work?
Living differently means rebelling against the norm, embracing my quirks, and living into my heart’s desires. I choose authenticity over approval. I reject grind culture. I rest without apology. I create my reality daily and lead by example. Through my work, I am building a platform that gives others both permission and tools to do the same.
Why is it important for leadership of color to be visible and centered within the outdoor industry right now?
When Black women see ourselves reflected in outdoor leadership, nature becomes a resource for healing, especially during political and economic instability. Visibility invites rest, joy, and reconnection. This is about holistic, long-term well-being for our communities.
Through your travels, you gather overlooked stories that remind us People of Color have always belonged outside. What have those stories taught you personally?
They have reminded me that we were never missing from the outdoors. We were erased. Every story affirms our ancestral knowledge, resilience, and joy tied to land and water. I am not creating belonging. I am helping surface truths that have always existed.
What do you hope readers take away from your work and feel inspired to do after learning about Color My Outdoors?
I hope readers feel permission. Permission to step outside, to rest, to explore, to try something new, and to live differently. I want them to see the outdoors as a place they already belong. I hope they feel inspired to claim space, build community, and move through the world on their own terms.
Through Color My Outdoors, Simone Adams is not only expanding access to nature. She is restoring truth, visibility, and power to communities that have always been connected to the land. Her work reminds us that being outdoors is not a trend or privilege. It is a birthright, and living boldly into that truth is an act of freedom.
Photography Courtesy of Color My Outdoors
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