Keynote Speaker
BIPOC Outdoors Summit @ Northern Michigan University – Save the Date
BIPOC Outdoors @ Northern Michigan University will take place Monday, August 4, 2025 - Friday, August 8, 2025. The convening includes the BIPOC Outdoors Summit, Monday, August 4 - Tuesday, August 5, 2025, a gathering of BIPOC individuals and allies from Michigan, the Midwest, and beyond sharing best practices for facilitating BIPOC-centered spaces in outdoor recreation, environmental justice, and conservation movements. Attendees will engage with keynote speakers, panelists, and grassroots leaders, exchanging innovative strategies to strengthen the relationship between BIPOC communities and nature.
Complementing the summit is the BIPOC Outdoors Rest Retreat, Wednesday August 6 - Friday, August 8, 2025, designed to support BIPOC academics, environmental justice professionals, and community leaders at risk of burnout from combating racial and climate injustice. Over three days, attendees will reconnect with nature, themselves, and one another through low- to medium-intensity activities, fostering renewal and resilience. This initiative aims to break down barriers to participation, create inclusive outdoor spaces, and promote mental health benefits. Together, these programs address knowledge gaps, activate systems-level change, and build a more inclusive community, advancing the goals of catalyzing sustained environmental and social impact.
Alice Jasper (she/they)
Creator, Producer, Host of “Color Out Here”
Alice Jasper (she/they) is a sustainability professional and outdoor enthusiast. Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, Alice relocated to Michigan, where she attended college at Northern Michigan University in the Upper Peninsula before putting down roots in Grand Rapids, MI. Today, Alice is the creator, producer, and host of “Color Out Here”, a media platform and community organizing project intended to explore the opportunities and barriers to inclusion faced by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color in outdoor recreation and environmental stewardship. Color Out Here works to build access and belonging in Nature for BIPOC through public learning, amplifying representation and examining the braided narratives of ‘place’.
Asha Shoffner
Keynote Speaker
Asha (she/her) is a queer trans-racial adoptee residing on the stolen homelands of the Dakota people, presently known as Saint Paul, Minnesota.
As an outdoor educator and founding organizer of BIPOC Outdoors Twin Cities, Asha facilitates safe and empowering outdoor programs by listening to community, leveraging resources, and centering the wisdom, experience, and joy of those who are most marginalized.
Asha loves to be on the water or in the woods and is a self-proclaimed sunset chaser. She is the cat mom of Slay (short for Mouse Slayer), and the proud auntie of three nephews, whom she affectionately refers to as her Lil’ Homies.
Garrett Dempsey
Keynote Speaker
Garrett Dempsey is the lead Sierra Club staff with Detroit Outdoors. His experiences growing up in San Francisco and organizing with communities in Oakland, California have shaped his passion for connecting urban youth with the outdoors and nature. Garrett is passionate about equitable access to nature and expanding the definition of what makes people conservationists and outdoor enthusiasts. Garrett is also the volunteer chair of the Sierra Club Detroit Inspiring Connections Outdoors program and he serves on the Executive Committee for the Sierra Club Southeast Michigan Group.
BIPOC Outdoors - Events Safety and Inclusiveness Code of Conduct
All attendees of the BIPOC Outdoors are asked to review the following- Events Safety and Inclusiveness Code of Conduct.
