Adventure is Out There Podcast The Adventure Is Out There Podcast

This week I am so excited to talk again with my friend, Hiker, Author of the upcoming memoir Pack Light: A Journey to Find Myself , Influencer, & Mental Health Advocate, Shilletha “Dragonsky” Curtis.

Follow Dragonsky on Insta: https://www.instagram.com/i_am_dragonsky/

Pre- Order Pack Light: A Journey to Find Myself https://books.disney.com/book/pack-light/

Andy and Shilletha's conversation from February 2022: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5yeoaSwdWlvrChf4tbKSvQ?si=dbdb699113a14ce2



Music is licensed from Musicbed.com.  

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Get a Gregory Mountain Products Pack or Luggage for your next Adventure by using code "andy15" at checkout at www.gregory.com to get 15% off your purchase and help Andy and the Podcast out.

Need Outdoor gear for your next adventure? Use Andy's REI affiliate link and help Andy out: https://alnk.to/fSeu523

About Shilletha: Shilletha “Dragonsky” Curtis was born in Newark, New Jersey, and spent much of her time growing up on the Jersey Shore. Shilletha received her Bachelor’s in Social Work from Rutgers University in 2014 and spent a summer abroad in Beijing, China (2012) to further her Mandarin speaking skills and then she traveled to Romania (2013) to do an internship at an orphanage in Cluj-Napoca. Helping people has always been her passion, but she eventually found that she had a profound love for animals and eventually the outdoors. She trained as a Veterinary Technician in 2016 in Austin, Texas, and practiced for two years. She lost her job due to the coronavirus pandemic in March of 2020. Like many, with a new outlook on life, Shilletha pursued hiking, beginning with the Appalachian Trail. One day, her dream is to finish The Triple Crown, which is the highest honor, in hiking, completing the Appalachian, Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide. Her journey to complete continues though in every way--she's already won.

About Pack Light: A Journey to Find Myself : Shilletha Curtis, also known as "Dragonsky," takes readers on a profound journey through her life, from the shores of New Jersey to the rugged terrain of the Appalachian Trail. Born in Newark, New Jersey, Shilletha's upbringing was marked by adversity, including fractured family dynamics, bullying, and abuse. However, despite these challenges, Shilletha's unwavering spirit and passion for helping others shine through.

After losing her job as a Veterinary Technician due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Shilletha embarked on a life-changing adventure—the Appalachian Trail. Pack Light chronicles her courageous decision to confront the roots of her trauma while hiking through 14 states, battling depression, anxiety, PTSD, and ADHD along the way.

But this memoir is more than just a hiking story. It's a powerful testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the transformative power of nature. Shilletha's journey challenges the conventional narrative of "Hiking While Black," asserting that the great outdoors belongs to everyone.

Through vivid prose and heartfelt reflection, Shilletha invites readers to join her on a journey of self-discovery, healing, and empowerment. Her experiences resonate with authenticity, offering hope and inspiration to anyone facing their own challenges. Explore Shilletha Curtis's remarkable story and share in her triumphs and tribulations. This memoir is not just a book—it's a testament to the human spirit's resilience and capacity for growth.


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This week I have the wonderful opportunity to talk with Outdoor Photographer & Content Creator, Jhamil Bader

Follow Jhamil on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jhamilbader/



Jhamil Bader is a commercial photographer and content creator based in Portland, Oregon, specializing in outdoor lifestyle and travel work. Through captivating visual content and the value he provides his community, he has built a following of 140,000+ outdoor enthusiasts across his social media channels. His posts, which combine outdoor and travel inspiration, introspection, and personal growth, aim to inspire his audience to get outdoors, travel, embrace new experiences, and grow in their personal and business lives. Using his 7+ years of branding and social media experience, he works with other freelancers and small business owners to develop their branding identity, expand their social media presence, and increase brand recognition by harnessing creative marketing strategies and high-quality, narrative-driven content.



Music is licensed from Musicbed.com.  



Subscribe to my YouTube:⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠www.youtube.com/@andyfilmsandhikes⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠

Follow Host Andy Neal on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.instagram.com/andyfilmsandhikes⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠

Check out my TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.tiktok.com/@andyfilmsandhikes ⁠⁠⁠⁠

Buy Andy a Coffee ⁠⁠https://www.buymeacoffee.com/andyfilmsandhikes ⁠


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This week I have the wonderful opportunity to talk with my friend, attorney and advocate, Darrah Blackwater.



More About Darrah: https://blackwatersoul.wordpress.com/

Follow Darrah on Insta: https://www.instagram.com/blackwatersoul/?hl=en



Darrah Blackwater is from Farmington, New Mexico and is a citizen of the Navajo Nation. She is a conceptual artist and an attorney specializing in Indigenous law and telecommunications law. In a previous career she was a tennis professional at the John Newcombe Tennis Ranch in New Braunfels, Texas and in Zhongshan, China. While in China, Darrah and her walking partner, Ann Liang, walked 1,388 miles from Zhonshan to Beijing to raise money for organizations that empower people with disabilities. She spent a year of law school working on tribal issues in Washington D.C., and has assisted in building multiple community networks in Indigenous communities. Darrah has extensively researched and written about the concept of spectrum sovereignty, the idea that Native Nations have exclusive rights to the electromagnetic spectrum on and over their lands. Darrah spent her summer after law school hiking the Colorado Trail to raise awareness about the digital divide and Indigenous issues. Her Native Lens video on Indigenous spectrum sovereignty (below) is featured in the National Museum of Natural History exhibit Cellphone: Unseen Connections through 2025. In her spare time she can be found playing tennis, making art, or playing in the mountains.





Music is licensed from Musicbed.com.  



Subscribe to my YouTube:⁠ ⁠⁠⁠www.youtube.com/@andyfilmsandhikes⁠⁠⁠ ⁠

Follow Host Andy Neal on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.instagram.com/andyfilmsandhikes⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠

Check out my TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠www.tiktok.com/@andyfilmsandhikes ⁠⁠⁠

Buy Andy a Coffee: ⁠https://www.buymeacoffee.com/andyfilmsandhikes ⁠


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This week I have the wonderful opportunity to talk with my friend, playwright and TV writer, Franky D. Gonzalez.



Follow Franky on Insta: https://www.instagram.com/phattheddproductions/



Franky D. Gonzalez is a playwright and TV writer of Colombian descent splitting time between Dallas and Los Angeles. Nationally, his work has appeared with The Lark, the Sundance Institute, the Ojai Playwrights Conference, Berkeley Repertory Theatre's Ground Floor, the NNPN National Showcase of New Plays, the Latinx Playwrights Circle, the Texas State University's Black and Latino Playwrights Celebration, The Sol Project (SolFest 2022), Urbanite Theatre, Visión Latino Theatre Company, the Great Plains Theatre Conference, the Goodman Theatre (Live @ Five Series), Launch Pad at UC Santa Barbara, The New Harmony Project, Bishop Arts Theatre Center, Repertorio Español, LAByrinth Theater Company, Ars Nova (ANT Fest 2021), Dallas Theater Center, the William Inge Theatre Festival, Austin Latinx New Play Festival, Stages Repertory Theatre's Sin Muros Latinx Theatre Festival, the Latino Theatre Company’s RE:Encuentro 2021: National Virtual Latina/o/x Theatre Festival, the Latinx Theatre Commons 2022 Comedy Carnaval, Seven Devils New Play Foundry, the HBMG Foundation National Winter Playwrights Retreat, Tofte Lake Center, Ignition Arts, Play4Keeps Podcast, the Antaeus Playwrights Lab, Clamour Theatre Company, Ammunition Theater Company, Greenway Court Theatre, the Cloud Factory, The Mid-America Theatre Conference, The Midwest Dramatists Conference, and the One-Minute Play Festival. Franky was a recipient of the Charles Rowan Beye New Play Commission, an MTC/Sloan Commission, the Risk Theatre Modern Tragedy Prize, co-recipient of the MetLife Nuestras Voces Latino Playwriting Award, won the Crossroads Project Diverse Voices Playwriting Initiative Award, the Judith Royer Award for Excellence in Playwriting, the Short+Sweet Theatre Festival Manila Best Overall Production Prize, and was a staff writer for the fourth season of 13 Reasons Why. The 2023 Chicago Production of his play That Must Be the Entrance to Heaven garnered two Non-Equity Jeff Awards (for Short Run Production and Director). Previously Franky was named the 4 Seasons Resident Playwright, a Sony Pictures Television Diverse Writers Program Fellow, and a Core Writer with the Playwrights Center. Currently Franky serves as the Bishop Arts Theatre Center Playwright-in-Residence, is writing on a Sony/Amazon show, and is developing a series with Sony Pictures Television. He is proudly represented by Valor Entertainment, the Gersh Agency, and the law firm Del Shaw Moonves Tanaka Finkelstein Lezcano Bonn & Dang. 



Full Play Reading of Even Flowers Bloom in Hell, Sometimes By Franky D. Gonzalez  -  https://open.spotify.com/episode/5qHu05Z8Wzw6lkAVoR6KmE?si=_yyuEjKCRzeD3zNcPQ2AEw

Andy's Past Interview with Franky on the Ashland New Plays Festival Podcast - https://open.spotify.com/episode/2M9TDqe7B2hCh9DCBZN81c?si=Ul5g2-g_QSmND2Hxa1U0MQ





Music is licensed from Musicbed.com.  



Subscribe to my YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠www.youtube.com/@andyfilmsandhikes⁠⁠⁠

Follow Host Andy Neal on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.instagram.com/andyfilmsandhikes⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

Check out my TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠www.tiktok.com/@andyfilmsandhikes ⁠⁠

Buy Andy a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/andyfilmsandhikes 




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I am so excited to have Erick Andino trail name "Dogfoot" on the show this week! Dogfoot was born and raised in L.A. but traces his roots toHonduras, Central America. Erick served as a firefighter/medic in the Navy from Aug 2001 to April 2009. In 2022 he took on the PCT as his 1st thru hike with the ultimate goal of going for the triple crown. 



We'd like to thank our sponsors: 

Gregory Packs. To get 15% off your order, and help Andy out use promo code ‘Andy15’ when you check out at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.gregorypacks.com 

Music is licensed from Musicbed.com.  

Subscribe to my YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠www.youtube.com/@andyfilmsandhikes⁠⁠⁠ Follow Host Andy Neal on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.instagram.com/andyfilmsandhikes⁠⁠⁠⁠ 

Check out my TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠www.tiktok.com/@andyfilmsandhikes ⁠⁠

Buy Andy a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/andyfilmsandhikes 


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Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/adventureisoutthere/message

This week I'd like to welcome the founder of Make Plus Equal, Andrea Kelly.

Voted by Outside Business Journal as one of 2022's Twenty Most Influential people in the Outdoor Industry, Andrea Kelly has been championing Size Inclusion in the  apparel industry for over 20 years.

With her belief that every body deserves the same amount of choice, she launched her consultancy, Make Plus Equal in the Spring of 2023. Her mission is to educate and guide apparel brands and retailers as they work to serve a more size-inclusive consumer base than they've traditionally served in the past.

Andrea's countless years behind the scenes in the apparel industry, passion for the outdoors as a plus-sized person herself, and engagement with the plus- sized community, give her the unique perspective and experience to bring about change in the apparel industry.

See more from Andrea at https://makeplusequal.com

We'd like to thank our sponsors:

Gregory Packs. To get 15% off your order, and help Andy out use promo code ‘Andy15’ when you check out at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.gregorypacks.com

Music is licensed from Musicbed.com. 

Subscribe to my YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠www.youtube.com/@andyfilmsandhikes⁠⁠⁠ Follow Host Andy Neal on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.instagram.com/andyfilmsandhikes⁠⁠⁠⁠

Check out my TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠www.tiktok.com/@andyfilmsandhikes ⁠⁠

Buy Andy a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/andyfilmsandhikes


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Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/adventureisoutthere/message