(gentle intro music) (lively piano music) - What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna take my foot out.

- Okay.

- And then what you're gonna do is slowly let off the weight in your heels.

- Okay.

- And this should start to slide down.

And then I want you to put the weight back and see if you can get to stop.

- Okay.

- But I'm gonna be in front of you so that you don't go anywhere.

- Okay.

- So, you're gonna hold on to my hands.

Okay, so now you're not moving, so we got to take - Right.

- A little weight off.

- (laughs) Yeah!

- And then just also make sure your weight is centered in the board to keep you from going right or left.

Okay, lift the weight.

Yep, we're gonna just keep doing that.

And then look up at me and see if you can keep doing that movement.

(Alison laughs) (lively music continues) Snowboarding makes me feel like a kid again.

It reminds me of what it felt like to just play outside and I love it.

It brings me so much joy and happiness.

I feel like I am floating, flying down the mountain, and there's no feeling like it in the world.

Because it brings so much joy and I want us to experience that joy, and that is a huge motivator for me to be out there.

(lively music continues) (bright upbeat music) - I'm here at Crystal Mountain to go snowboarding with Tina Blakey.

Tina has been snowboarding for 25 years, most of that time only with white men, in a culture of, "keep up or you can't ride with us."

That all changed three years ago when Tina had the opportunity to go snowboarding with other women of color for the first time.

She experienced the sense of safety and comfort that she'd been longing for, and today I get to experience that myself.

- [Tina] Open up those hip flexors, we're gonna do a little stretch (groans).

And then we're gonna come back, and then we'll do the other side.

We're gonna run through that (exhales).

This is good practice for putting our bindings on.

- Yeah, I know, everything is like a little painful.

- Other leg.

Hiking that thing up.

A little stretch.

My name is Tina Blakey and I am a snowboarder.

I am an outdoor adventurer, advocate and community organizer.

- When you were doing these things growing up, did you feel like you were the only or did you see other families like yours outside?

(gentle guitar music) - So I think I was fortunate in, when I grew up, I was a little naive, and so I didn't really have that awareness that I was the only one.

It was a very unique situation.

My dad is Black, my mom is Asian, two mixed kids.

The lack of awareness really stemmed from the fact that I did not grow up around my family, especially my dad's family, who's Black, the desire to assimilate as a daughter of an immigrant.

And now, looking back though, I realize, oh, wow, there wasn't a lot of people that looked like me.

I didn't see myself represented in the outdoors when I was growing up.

When I started getting into snow sports, which didn't happen till later, and I was fortunate that I had both my brothers, so I wasn't alone.

(lively instrumental music) And we would kind of view it almost as a joke, like, "Oh, look, we're the only Black people here."

Like, "Oh, we saw another Black skier."

But I still don't think I quite had the understanding of the reasons behind that, why I didn't see people who looked like me on the mountain.

I didn't have an understanding that racism can take many forms.

It can be covert, it can be microaggressions.

Do you feel welcome there?

Do you feel like you are included and that people want you there?

And those are the things that I think get missed often, 'cause you can have all of the resources in the world and have the means to get there, and then get in that space and never wanna come back because you don't feel welcome.

- I have to say that that is what has prevented me from getting into snow sports.

I mean, that and the fact that my parents were both immigrants, so they were like, "Snow?"

Like, they came from warm countries.

Like, "Why would you wanna do that?"

But also feeling like I was gonna show up, not know what I was doing, not understand the culture, not have community.

How have you been working to shift that?

- So the moment where things really shifted was, in January of 2021, I received a scholarship for avalanche certification, and they designated 50% of the spots for women of color.

That was the first time I had been snowboarding for over two decades, and that was the first time I had been in a space in snow sports with other women of color.

- Wow.

- So I knew in that moment that I needed to do more than just participate and enjoy the sport.

I needed to bring other people into that space.

(slow rhythmic music) - What does it feel like for you to teach people how to snowboard?

- One of the things that I love the most, is that when I teach, especially the younger people, is they don't necessarily see me as, "Oh, I have a woman of color instructor".

I'm just an instructor.

And what a wonderful thing, that their experience is so different than mine where I'm so aware of it, and I'm so happy when I see another person who looks like me.

I want that to be normalized.

I want them to see Black and Brown instructors and think, "Well of course, this is for us.

Of course we belong here."

(bright upbeat music) And we're gonna start with a very small movement.

And we're gonna start with looking - Okay.

- At the board.

So your back foot, do not let it go past the back binding.

- Okay.

- So you're gonna go, step, go, step.

Good, and then when that feels comfortable, look the direction you're going and see if you can do it.

(Tina laughs) We'll go, see if you can go a little bit further each time, oh, perfect.

- Okay.

- And I would say for - I noticed - The pressure, yes.

- Your balance, yeah.

- So you are leaning, and this is a natural instinct 'cause when you get on the mountain, you'll want to instinctively lean back.

- Yes, to save your life.

- And that will actually make you go faster.

It actually does the opposite of what you're trying to do.

But I wanna see if you can do a nice push, plant, and then just hold until you come to a stop.

And I think this is flat enough that you will come to a stop.

If you don't, just drop your heel.

- Okay.

- It'll stop you.

Okay plant, athletic stance, weight, ey.

Sit on that weight, look where you're going.

Look where you're going, yep.

- Oh, right.

- Just hold it, just hold it.

Just hold it, hold it.

- Ah.

- Whoo.

- Okay.

- Whenever you're ready.

You got this.

Yes, yes.

Center the weight, now put the pressure on the heels.

It's gonna happen, it's gonna happen, it's gonna happen.

Just hold it.

You did it.

- Hey.

(slow rhythmic music) - [Tina] I have struggled with how do I find my identity for much of my life, and I wouldn't say I struggle with it anymore.

I don't view things in black and white.

And I think that's why I've been able to view myself, I am Black, I am Korean, I am American, I am the daughter of an immigrant.

I have a lot of intersecting identities and they are all part of me.

And I am at a point now where I can accept all of those identities.

(slow rhythmic music) I feel very lucky, that's one word, I feel so lucky and fortunate.

(slow rhythmic music)