Iya Vargas (l) and Denise Chau (r)
Founder and Co-Founder, Wear a Map
TBD
Steering Committee Member
The Basics
Company Name: Wear a Map
Location: Bay Area, CA
Founded: 2019
Full-Time Employees: 2
Products: National Park Map Tubular Bandanas
Social: Instagram
Claim to Fame: First to print official national park maps onto wearable gear.
The Culture
The best thing about working at Wear a Map is:
The ability to connect with people and to connect people to nature
When we’re not working, we’re:
Engaging in what we call three B’s: Beach, Beer, Barbecue
What we’re reading:
When the Elephants Dance by Tess Uriza Holthe
What we’re listening to/Watching on Netflix:
Mostly island reggae music and various NPR podcasts.
If they made a movie about our workplace, it would be called:
Live small, dream big
Inclusion in the outdoors matters because:
For us and many others, the outdoors is a refuge. Many claim that the outdoors does not discriminate, but that’s untrue. Just because a place is public, it does not mean it is accessible to all. There are systemic, racial and socioeconomic barriers. BIPOC communities are especially impacted by these barriers, and outdoors BIPOC folks may not feel safe or welcomed. The outdoors should not only be readily available to those who have economic resources and advantages, and being outdoors safely should not be a privilege. The physical, psychological and overall health benefits of being outdoors are well known, so the systematic exclusion of BIPOC folks could further exacerbate existing disparities in health and well-being. We believe everyone should have access to public parks free of intimidation, harm or hate, so that everyone can reap the benefits of spending time in the outdoors.
Five years down the line, it’s our hope that:
We can celebrate outdoors for all. Also, we hope that through our business we can continue to support programs that connect BIPOC folks to our national parks.