Presenters
Jools Walker | Co-Host
Jools Walker is a freelance writer, presenter and the best-selling author of Back in the Frame. Jools has been a cycling advocate and has worked in the industry ever since launching her blog, VeloCityGirl, in 2010.
Olivia Williams | Co-Host
Olivia Z. Williams here!
I am gonna level with you: my bio is so packed and my CV is so lengthy that it's hard to narrow it down.
I am a black woman magician, professionally trained as a bike mechanic, an engineer in training (currently replacing a tiny, precious, stunning, bridge), and a libra sun with enough Scorpio in my chart to always keep things interesting.
Flexing in this bio made me tired, y'all. Let's go camping
Christina Torres | Zine History and Making Workshop
Christina Torres (She/Her/Ella) - Zinester of Cyclista Zine. Advocate for Indigenous representation and land stewardship in the outdoors. "Name the Change" coalition organizer.
Laura Solis | Picking out your first bike
From the Bronx, in the Pacific Northwest riding bikes for fun and transportation.
Courtney Williams | Keynote
Courtney is the bicycle advocacy consultant behind The Brown Bike Girl, as well as the People's Bike Mayor of NYC. She had partnered with bicycling and outdoors related organizations from Washington State to Georgia to help advocates from outside the BIPOc experience become atuhentically grounded in the terminology, understanding, and develop the functional compassion that underpins empathy through her equity training (Outside Advocate Anti-Bias Anti Privilege training), moderating conversations on race and the bike industry, and keynote addresses at nationally significant including the 2020 Georgia Bikes Summit, National Bike Summit, and not Thee Abundance Summit.
Eric Arce | the Homies: Tips for better photos
Eric Arce here! I'm a photographer based out of Salt Lake City. I love photography and shoot a wide range of personal and commission work.
I love photographing people on their bikes. But I especially love to center people of color in my photography. Often people of color are dehumanized in society, and through the use of photography I want to rehumanize us, by showing us doing joyful things, like mountain biking. Doing things in nature helps replenish us to fight against oppressive structures beyond the cycling world. Biking helps us live and experience momentary happiness. As people of color we need to be happy. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
The camera can be a tool for good but it can also be a weapon, acting as an extension of racist frameworks. Which is why it important to have POC as photographers, who consciously aim to portray the complex narratives of people of color. When we think of representation we think of capturing people in front of the lens, but to me representation needs to factor in the people who are behind the lens. How we are represented in imagery is crucial to our storytelling.
Shequaya Bailey | Youth Cycling is the Future! Moderator
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Shequaya works at Grounded Strategies as the Director of Operations. She is a native of Pittsburgh who graduated from Peabody High School; attended Pennsylvania State University to study Health Policy and Administration and earned her Bachelor of Science degree; she has her Master in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix.
In her spare time, Shequaya is the President of the Pittsburgh Major Taylor Cycling Club (PMTCC), MajorForce Youth Mentor, a United Way Be-A-Middle-School Mentor (BAMSM) at Westinghouse High School, and Pittsburgh Youth Leadership Mentor.
She has been cycling consistently since Spring 2011 as a commuter and then began dabbling in bicycle racing in approximately 2014. Since that time she has raced bikes for several different teams but is currently unattached. As of 2020, she is now a member of The Black Foxes a collective of cyclists who aim to control their own narratives.
Brandon Valentine-Parris| Youth Cycling is the Future! Panelist
Brandon is a Caribbean native of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, now residing in Durham, North Carolina.
Brandon is an athlete with a love for the sport of cycling and sees the value and importance of good health choices.
He's an Olympic Track and Field sprinter, 15x NCAA All-American, NCAA Champion, 2018 NCAA Athlete of the Year, and 11x CIAA Champion.
Brandon is a member of the 1st ever HBCU cycling team in American history, where he serves as Team Captain and Student-Assistant Coach (a certified USA Cycling coach). He's training and preparing for the life as a professional cyclist with a mission to diversify the sport of cycling and unifying people through sport.
Diego Rafael Rivera | Youth Cycling is the Future! Panelist
Diego is a 17-year-old cyclist, musician, and health advocate based out of Los Angeles, California. He will be riding for the Los Angeles Bicycle Academy race team in the upcoming USA cycling road season. LA Bike Academy is a youth outreach program working to develop entrepreneurship opportunities within the bike industry & beyond.
Visit labikeacademy.org to find out more.
KeJuan Smith | Youth Cycling is the Future! Panelist
Hi, my name is KeJuan Smith. I am a mid-pro cyclist ( thats why I like to think) from Chicago, IL. I have been taking photos for almost 5 years; Photography has been a way to show my art and express myself. I have always wanted to find ways to try to express myself and photography. Cycling is an important part of my life, and I it has also changed my life in a way.Being a BIPOC Athlete means a lot to me because Im setting an example for the future generation that wasn't set for me.
Sasha Catlege | Youth Cycling is the Future! Panelist
Hello my name is Sasha, and I’m 17 years old. And I have been apart of the Bicycle Coalition since 2018, and became a stronger rider over a huge period of time. Ever since I could remember I’ve always been a harder worker , and never let anyone stop me from reaching my goals. I have a very supportive family and lots of supportive people within my life. I enjoy playing basketball and look forward to study Marketing and business in college. And no matter what steps I choose to take later on in my life. I will always be apart of the Bicycle Coalition Youth Cycling team.
The Black Foxes | Zwift Ride Leaders
The Black Foxes is an international collective of unapologetically Black cyclists and outdoors-people that are reclaiming our narratives and roles in the outdoors. The ride will be lead by Jalen Bazile and Shequaya Bailey.
Rachel Olzer | Storytelling via IG
Rachel Olzer (@rachel.olzer) is a queer black woman born and raised in Las Vegas, NV. She got really into cycling in college at Arizona State University where she was pursuing a bachelor's degree. In 2014 she finished her undergraduate degree which, to this day, is her proudest accomplishment. In 2015, she began pursuing a PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Minnesota- Twin Cities. Learning to call Minneapolis home was a humbling experience for her, but she is grateful to this city for turning her into the bike racer she is today. She loves cross-country MTB, cyclocross, and a bit of gravel racing. She saw the lack of diversity in cycling as an issue that she could positively impact. That’s what motivated her to work on projects that call for greater representation and to start Pedal 2 the People.
Ayesha McGowan | Tea Time
Ayesha McGowan is a professional road cyclist for Liv Racing and an advocate for better representation of POC in cycling. Upon entering competitive cycling in 2014, she quickly discovered that there had not been a single African-American female pro-road cyclist. She recently became the first.
Through launching various initiatives that focus on diversity and representation in the sport of cycling, including her ‘Do Better Together’ virtual ride series, and The Black Foxes collective, Ayesha has inspired countless people, particularly people of color, to ride their bikes more often—both competitively and recreationally. Her work also encourages people of all backgrounds to challenge themselves and who they picture when they define the word “cyclist.”
KC Cross | Put Yo' Self First: Redefining Self-Care In the Outdoors
KC (they/them) is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Northwest Arkansas. KC is currently a Mental Health & Performance Clinician for the University of Arkansas Razorback Athletics. For the last 6 years, they have primarily worked within university counseling centers providing services to LGBTQ+ and BIPOC students. KC also provides trainings and workshops around gender, sexuality, and race to enhance organizations' knowledge of & services provided to diverse gender and racial identities. KC is also incredibly passionate about creating spaces for trans, non-binary, women, and gender diverse individuals to explore their sexuality free of shame and providing education around healthy sexual behaviors.
Tyjuan Morrow | OG Adventurers Panel Moderator
Tyjuan Morrow (he,him,his) is an avid recreational cyclist, advocate, and professional youth development specialist from North St. Louis. Tyjuan enjoys finding new roads on long rides and encouraging others to show up in spaces as their authentic selves. His joy is deeply intertwined with the fight for justice and liberation. “Joy is a feeling of freedom.”
Emily Taylor | OG Adventurers Panel
Emily Taylor is the founding director of parent consulting company, TayloredFit Solutions and creator of the vision project, Brown Girls Climbing Program. She has nearly three decades of expertise creating and developing adventure and outdoor leadership programs, building prosperous youth team programs, and operating and coaching an independent multiple tiered team. She is a multifaceted Renaissance woman, with a specialty in training climbing athletes and people with adaptive capabilities. She is a committed professional climbing coach, an experiential facilitator, sports diversity advocate, educator and consultant.
Phil Henderson | OG Adventurers Panel
Born and raised in San Diego California Phil started his career as an outdoor professional in 1992. He worked for over 2 decades for the National Outdoor Leadership School which included time in Kenya and Patagonia, Chile. He was the recipient of the 2020 Outdoor Afro Lifetime Achievement Award. His outdoor experience includes biking, backcountry skiing, rock and ice climbing, fishing, rafting, canoeing, and kayaking as well as five major expeditions that include Denali, Everest, and Kilimanjaro.
Aparna Rajagopal-Durbin | OG Adventurers Panel
Aparna (she/her) is the daughter of Indian immigrants, mom to an amazing teen, and founder of a consulting firm that supports the outdoor industry with diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice efforts. She has loved outdoor sports and recreation since she was little (thanks to adventurous immigrant parents). She's an avid hiker, runner, road cyclist, mountain biker, and rock climber who is mediocre at all of it but doesn't really care because it's all so fun! Right now she's really digging riding single track through fairy forests in ancestral Kalapuya land, where she currently lives.
Nelson Vails | OG Explorers Panel
Nelson Beasley Vails (born October 13, 1960) is a retired road and track cyclist from the United States. He rode as a professional from 1988 to 1995 representing the USA at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California, where he won the silver medal in the sprint, behind countryman Mark Gorski.
DJ Black Daria | Live DJ Afterparty
DJ Black Daria is a DJ, cyclist, and community organizer from Portland, OR - currently based out of Mexico City. She is the former co-host of Everyday Mixtapes on XRAY.FM, and reps Portland's Noche Libre DJ collective. She draws inspiration from her Black and Mexican roots, reclaiming the dance floor with classic riddims, R&B reworks, neo perreo, whine anthems, throwback cuts, and everything in between. She is also the co-founder of We Got Next, a digital DJ workshop for women / trans / femme, LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC communities.
Beyond Djing, she is the organizer for Portland's Black Liberation Ride, and her favorite rides include hills, gravel, camping, and commuting around Mexico City.