About us

CJ Goulding (he/him) is passionate about facilitating growth in three things: people, community, and leadership. In his work with the Children & Nature Network and Fresh Tracks, CJ trains, mentors and supports a national network of over 330 leaders who are changing systems and creating equitable access to nature in their communities. This work draws from experience leading outdoor trips, conservation crews, and youth internship programs for the National Park Service. He completed a MaED in Urban Environmental Education with IslandWood and Antioch University, where he studied the power of community and its connection to nature in urban settings. CJ has been featured in the Outdoor Industry’s inaugural “30 Under 30” list highlighting game changers in the outdoor industry, and his essay “Why I Wear Jordans in the Great Outdoors” has been published and featured in culturally relevant outdoor curriculum across the country. He is an eager writer, photographer, and lover of sharing and supporting stories.

Sophie Sarkar (she/her) is an Avarna Group facilitation and thought partner, a community organizer, and artist based on the ancestral lands of the Lenni Lenape in what is now called Philadelphia. Both her art and organizing exist at the intersection of climate justice and collective liberation and in both she works in community with other Black, Indigenous, and People of Color to heal and deepen our relationships with each other, with our ancestors, and with the Earth. Some recent engagements include organizing with residents in North Philadelphia to address urban heat inequity, co-directing the PGM ONE Summit for BIPOC who love the Earth, and co-designing and facilitating Interwoven, a multi-week series on Black and Asian solidarity. She values leading with connection, healing ourselves to heal our systems, holding space for multiple truths, cultivating joy, embracing the wisdom of our bodies and the Earth, and building resilient relationships to address climate change.

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Katie (she/hers) grew up as an “indoor kid” and did not begin fostering a relationship with the outdoors until later in life, at which point she noticed the disconnect between her love of the natural world and who seemed to participate in it. Rooted in a strong background of intersectional identities, Katie is passionate about working to amplify the multi-vocal narratives of all social and environmental spaces. Katie has applied her strong organizational and systems-thinking skills to support the work of organizations working in fair housing, service-learning, allyship and empowerment, racial justice, and community organizing. Her many, varied interests keep her simultaneously busy and engaged in her community. The “indoor kid” that still lives in Katie enjoys knitting and sewing, in addition to hiking or biking anything that can get a view up top.

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José G. González (he/him) is the Founder and Former Executive Director for Latino Outdoors. He is an experienced educator as a K-12 public education teacher, environmental education advisor, outdoor education instructor and coordinator, and university adjunct faculty. His commentary on diversity and environmental outreach has been featured by High Country News, Outside, Earth Island Journal, and Latino USA, and he has been engaged in collaborations with the White House Council on Environmental Quality, U.S. Department of Interior, and the National Park Service. He also represents Latino Outdoors in several coalitions including the Latino Conservation Alliance and the Next 100 Coalition. He has been recognized with several honors, including the National Wildlife Federation, Grist Magazine, and The Murie Center. He received his B.A at the University of California, Davis, and his M.S at the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources & Environment.

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Aparna Rajagopal, J.D.: Aparna (she/her) is an agitator and advisor at the intersection of diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ) and outdoor recreation, environmentalism, and conservation. As an Indian immigrant who loves the outdoors and a mother, she has made it her life's work to work to radically reimagine an outdoors that is more welcoming to the next generation of BIPOC recreationists and stewards. She does this through writing, speaking, training, and facilitating dialogues for people working in outdoor recreation and conservation across the country. When not having difficult conversations with leaders in the environmental and outdoor sectors, you can find her hiking, running, and biking on gravel roads and single track trails in the homelands of the Kalapuya people, where she lives. She and her work have been featured in California Lawyer magazine, Backpacker magazine, Outside magazine, Sierra magazine, the Adventure Gap book, and SNEWS (among others) as well as the She Explores and Outdoor Voices podcasts, and she has contributed to the Harvard Business Review, Earth Island Journal, the Journal of Leisure Research, and National Geographic Magazine’s adventure blog.  She has also spearheaded projects that amplify stories and connections of black, indigenous, and people of color in nature, including Expedition Denali: Inspiring Diversity in the Outdoors. Most recently, Aparna co-founded and has served as director for the People of the Global Majority in the Outdoors, Nature, and the Environment Summit (pgmone.org).

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Ava Holliday, M.A.: Ava (she/her) believes a sustainable future is dependent on simultaneously working towards social and environmental justice. She has devoted the last eight years to researching and working in this field. As a graduate student at the University of Washington in the department of Anthropology, Ava was able to deepen her understanding about justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion efforts and challenges in environmentalism, conservation, and outdoor recreation. At UW, she taught courses covering topics such as power, identity, environmentalism, health, and wilderness. She left graduate school to put theory into practice at the Avarna Group. In addition to her work at the Avarna Group, she has supported  the LGBTQ Outdoor Summit and serves on the Next 100 Coalition. Throughout her academic and professional career, Ava has supported thousands of people and hundreds of organizations in service of deepening understanding of and cultivating skills to address oppression in environmentalism, conservation and outdoor education.

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