Marinel de Jesus was a former human rights lawyer from Washington, DC. In 2016, she founded her social enterprise, Peak Explorations, and media site, Brown Gal Trekker. Both entities aim to create equity and inclusion in the outdoor and travel spaces.
In 2019, she launched the nonprofit organization, The Porter Voice Collective, which utilizes media to advocate for the rights of porters in the trekking industries of Peru, Nepal and Tanzania.
Marinel is also a writer who focuses on stories that elevate the voices of women, people of colour and immigrants.
She has recently discovered filmmaking as a means of advocacy for social changes and completed her first film project, We Are Nomads, in Mongolia where she currently stays as a result of the pandemic.
Marinel is an avid trekker and a full-time global mountain nomad.
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Show notes
What Marinel does
Being born and raised in the Philippines
Getting into hiking due to having a stressful job
Joining a meet up group to go hiking
Giving hiking a second time
Starting to lead treks around the world
Speaking to us from Mongolia due to Covid
Thinking about making the transition from a lawyer to a hiker
How can you make a career out of hiking?
Taking a year long sabbatical from work
Making the decision to sell her house
Becoming a minimalist
Not having the confidence to start her own company
How the website and blog evolved
Losing her mum in 2017 and leaving law
What Peak Exploration is and does
Educating people through the blog - Brown Girl Trekker
Becoming a global mountain nomad
Being inspired by being in the mountains
Working and running her business from Mongolia
Focusing on writing
From a lawyer to a mountain nomad podcast
Advice for making the transition from a full time career to digital nomad
Having thinking time outdoors
Advice for women who want to travel solo
The power of taking small steps
The preparation and planning for a trip
Film project - ‘Don’t date a girl who treks’ and ‘We are Nomads’
Final words of advice
Social Media
Websites:
Facebook @bgtpeakexplorations
Instagram @browngaltrekker
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