Driving Social Change Through Great Outdoors
Growing up as one of the few families of color in a predominantly white rural area in Massachusetts was a struggle for Rachel Hailey. What helped was spending time outside in nature, where she had fun and felt free. It inspired her to found DEI Outdoors, which provides diversity, equity, and inclusion services for outdoor organizations, recreation companies, and retailers. They aim to bridge the gap between under-represented people in the outdoor space and organizations who want to support them.
She applied for the Berkshire County Business Accelerator to learn how to move forward with her idea and how to better promote the programs she wanted to offer. “As a new startup, having all those resources for free was amazing,” she recalls. She especially loved the opportunity to Interact with her cohort, sharing ideas and talking through their challenges.
2022 has been an excellent year for DEI Outdoors, according to Rachel. They’ve doubled their client base and hired three new trainers to facilitate workshops nationwide. Her goal is to add another 20 people to her team by the end of next year. For Rachel, EforAll’s impact has been significant. She recommends it to other aspiring entrepreneurs saying, “the knowledge you gain during the program and the EforAll community you become a part of are amazing!”
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