Meet the Founder

My name is Haason Scott and I am from Oakland, California. I grew up all over the Bay Area and love to travel. I have been working in the recreation industry since 2017. I started as a recreation intern at a lodge 15 miles outside of Yosemite National Park. From there, I traveled to Bryce Canyon National Park and volunteered on the search and rescue team. After that, I went to Alaska to study Outdoor Leadership in college. This led me to work with the Conservation Association as an interpretive intern for Wrangell-St Elias National Park in Alaska in the summer of 2021.

To work with the National Park Service at the largest national park in the United States was an amazing opportunity. I was able to get an inside look at how the government works and manages national parks. While I was there, I realized that a career with the National Park Service was not the route I wanted to take, even though this was a dream I had since volunteering with them at Bryce Canyon.

While working with the park services, I was able to get an idea of who visits these parks—it usually was not African Americans or minorities. I have been noticing this since 2017 and in college, I was the only Black person in the outdoor program. I have told my story to lots of young Black people and hoped it would inspire them to get out there, but that was ever enough. Over the years, I’ve gotten used to being the only Black person—or one of few—in these spaces, but I always wonder how I can change that. 

I’ve wanted to start my own business for a long time, but I didn't have the right idea. I was reading a book called Black Faces, White Spaces by Carolyn Finney and I remember having that “Oh my gosh” moment that changed my life. In the beginning of the book, she talks about the outdoors, magazines, and how there are not enough pictures of Black people in the outdoors. In chapter four, she really goes in on magazines, their content, and their history. After reading this book, I knew I wanted to start this magazine company.