Danni Washington is a science communicator, tv and podcast host, and non-profit founder with a background in marine biology. She’s also an ocean advocate who loves scuba diving and using education, the arts and social media to inspire people of all ages to connect more deeply with the natural world. We talk to her about everything from ocean plastics to mermaids to the importance of representation in STEAM.
Danni Washington is a science communicator, tv and podcast host, and non-profit founder with a background in marine biology. She’s also an ocean advocate who loves scuba diving and using education, the arts and social media to inspire people of all ages to connect more deeply with the natural world. We talk to her about everything from ocean plastics to mermaids to the importance of representation in STEAM.
Find out more about Danni at https://www.danniwashington.com/.
For more information about Faith, Addie and The Trail Ahead go to https://www.thislanddoc.com/thetrailahead.
Faith E. Briggs: Welcome to The Trail Ahead. Conversations at the intersection of race, environment, history and culture. I'm Faith E. Briggs.
Addie Thompson: And I'm Addie Thompson. We bring on folks from all walks of life to have real, authentic, messy dialogue that can lead to tangible change.
Faith E. Briggs: Our guest this week is Danni Washington. She's a Science Communicator with a background in marine biology. I've been fan girling about Danni for a while now, after seeing her on social media. We then connected and stayed in touch after meeting through a media lab.
Addie Thompson: We met up in LA and talked about Danni's ocean work while walking along the beach and, unfortunately, picking up trash.
Faith E. Briggs: It was awesome to finally get to meet in person.
Danni Washington: When it comes to the ocean, it's such an expansive, big place that is out of reach for so many people. It all boils down to connection. That's really all it is. Every individual needs to see their direct connection to the ocean, to the nature, and how it impacts their lives on a daily basis. You've got to bring them to that place of empathy and knowing that their actions matter and that everything that they do is, it has a ripple effect. Like everything in this world.
Addie Thompson: Danni's hosted many science shows on major TV networks, the first Black woman to do so. She loves the ocean and knows it's one of the biggest places where we can make an impact when it comes to climate change, and the risks we run if we don't start changing our behavior. Today, we talked to her about everything from ocean plastics to mermaids, and we started with one of her favorite ways to play outside, scuba diving.
Danni Washington: It is such a meditative activity. You can't think of anything else while you're scuba diving. All you hear is your breath coming through your regulator and the sounds of whatever's happening around you in the water. The little clicks of the fish swimming by, or popping noises, but it's so peaceful. And it's my favorite way to just disconnect from everything.
Faith E. Briggs: I have to say... And it's interesting, I remember last year I had the opportunity to go to Belize and I snorkeled there and I was in the middle of the ocean. And as I jumped into the water, I thought a couple of things. I thought (a), I was like, "My dad would think I was crazy right now." And (b) I was like, "This is low key, terrifying." I was like, "I'm enjoying myself, but also this is tear..." I was like, "Yo, there's a big ass lobster." I don't know. I just wonder how you deal with... I'm sure a lot of people probably say that to you about the ocean, which is a place that you love and spend so much around and also is so unknown.
Danni Washington.: Yeah. Nine times out of 10, that's the type of reaction I get with people. Whenever I talk about some ocean adventures of I've been on, especially when it comes to diving with sharks and going in with the animals that freak people out. But I get it. The vast expanse of the ocean is terrifying. And so many people are scared of the depths and not knowing what's beneath them. And ultimately, what it is, is just a fear of lack of control and not feeling like you have a grasp on your scenario. And you've got this 360 environment that anything can come out of anywhere. I get it. But for me, that feeling is completely opposite. It's pure adrenaline. It's pure joy. When I get to see a deep area and I jump in and all around me, it's just blue. And they are sun rays shooting through the water. That's heaven to me, literally. And so I try to describe these experiences in a way that will be inspiring and make people more curious to want to experience it.
Faith E. Briggs: You are a Science Communicator, so that makes sense. Can you tell us a little bit about what that is for folks that haven't heard of a science communicator and then maybe a little bit about how you got on that path?
Danni Washington: Yeah, so I studied marine biology in college. That was the dream, the goal. When I was a kid, I learned about this field of studying all life in the ocean and thought that's for me. I want to be going out and doing research and writing papers and becoming an official scientist. Until I actually got through undergrad and did a bunch of internships and learning experiences and realized that I actually wanted to be someone who communicated the science. I wanted to be the bridge in between academia and everyone else. Because what I found was that, as I was learning throughout that undergrad journey, so many people around me, including people in my family and my friend groups, they had zero knowledge of the ocean and the complexities that is the ocean. It's just, it's so amazing. We barely scrape the surface on what we understand about what's beneath the waves. And there was just this gap of information. So it became very clear to me once I was a senior that I could combine some soft skills that I had developed because my mom is an entrepreneur and she has a promotional company. And I, of course, was her sidekick and right hand most of my life. Having to learn about getting out there, promoting things, and interacting with people, and even selling things too. The most mundane objects I learned how to create a story around. So I was like, "Okay. Well, how can I combine those things?" I immediately thought back to one of my inspirations, which is Bill Nye the Science Guy. He was my favorite. I loved watching him after school. He gave me so much joy simply because of his enthusiasm and the way that he was so passionate about what he was talking about and that stuck with me. So I was like, "Okay. Well, I've never seen a woman, especially a Black woman, a woman of color like me do that." So that became my goal. And I had no idea how I was going to get there. I did not have a roadmap and it was just into the abyss, but that's what I do. And that's what the ocean has taught me. Go into the area of the unknown, even if it scares you and you'll never know what you'll find. And so that's where my journey began. And that was 12 years ago when I made that decision. And since then, it's been such a blast. It's been a winding road, but I've hosted videos for textbooks, science textbooks for kids. I've also hosted a nationally syndicated television show on Fox Network, called Exploration Nature Knows Best. And that was in 2016. And that was my first national show syndicated to about 2 million homes across the US and made me the first Black woman to host an American science show.
Addie Thompson: You are becoming a household name if you're not already. And I think that's so amazing and also points to the fact that, how incredible is it that you were the first woman of color to host an American science show? And it also highlights a lack of representation in media, in science, in this field that you are in, and that you're welcoming others into as well. But can you talk a bit about what representation means to you?
Danni Washingto...: When it comes to representation, my basic understanding is that if you can see it, you can be it. Had I seen someone who looked like me when I was 12 on television, doing what I was hoping to do, that would have changed my whole world. I know that for a fact. And so for me personally, I'm just one person hosting these shows and I never know who's actually watching it. I think of that young person, that single individual boy or girl, whichever, watching me on screen and saying, "Whoa, if she can do it, I can do it." That's it. And to follow your passion, do what you love. I know it's super cliche to say that, but it is the truth. And I think that our experiences of 2020 and just this transition that we're in right now as the global community, we've got a lot of things to fix. But one of the first things we should aim to do is to make sure that each individual person feels like they can do what they set their mind to do. Because to me that's where the gold is. That's where the treasure is. Because if everyone applied their specific gifts, their skillsets, their experiences to what they love, I believe that every need would be fulfilled.
Faith E. Briggs: No, it's so true. You made me think of when I was younger, I was trying to... Moving into film, I'm a documentary filmmaker, and moving into film I just wasn't sure it was something that was going to be possible for me. And then I learned about Julie Dash. She was the first Black director that I had heard of. And then I heard about Ava DuVernay and those two names made what I was trying to do seem so much more possible and not this impossible feat. Because there was proof that someone like me could do that. That a Black woman could be a film director.
Danni Washington: Yes, yes. And sometimes that's all you need. That's all you need to see. And boom, it's like, "Okay. I got this. I'll figure it out as I go. But at least I know there is somewhere, there is a benchmark, there is a pinnacle that I can get to." And so that's where my work really lives. And I'm proud to do that because I just hope 20 years from now, I'm going to get stories from those exact same children who are going to be adults. And they're going to tell me, "I saw you on TV. And I wanted to be like you." I'm like, "Oh my God. Yeah." And I actually do get some emails already from parents and young students too, currently, and that makes it all worth it.
Addie Thompson: I just wanted to talk for a second about the ocean, because it is such a huge passion of yours. Something you're extremely knowledgeable about, you're an expert on. It is such a key part of the fight against climate change. And I just wanted to ask you a bit about how your advocacy has changed based on the community you've started to develop and the widening audience you have, and why it's so important to advocate for the ocean, why it's such a key part of the fight against climate change. If you could speak a bit more to that.
Danni Washington: Yeah, definitely. I mean, the ocean is, in my opinion, the biggest solution that we can approach when it comes to climate change. The ocean has always been a climate regulator for us on land. It's been the carbon sink that's absorbed all the carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that we've emitted into the atmosphere. And now the ocean has reached kind of its carrying capacity. It's like at the brink of being like, this has been too much, because we burn fossil fuels, because we're doing all this stuff on land, the ocean is having to deal with the repercussions of our behaviors. Not only that, we're consuming so much from the ocean as well, whether it's seafood or deep mining or harvesting things out of the ocean. We're doing it too quickly. It's not something that everyone thinks about every day, but it is on my mind every single day when I wake up to when I go to bed. And we have just a beautiful opportunity, a very small window of opportunity right now to take on this challenge of protecting 30% of the ocean by 2030. That is currently a global goal that a bunch of organizations and conservationists and the United Nations have committed to pursuing. I think we should protect a lot more than that. More like 50% at least, but 30% is a decent doable goal. The challenge is that so many countries, once you go past that exclusive economic zone, that EEZ, which is about 200 nautical miles from the coastline of any country, it becomes this no man's land. It's open territory. There's no enforcement, nobody's really regulating what's going on out there. And so it's a tragedy of the commons where everybody owns it, but nobody owns it. And so we have to shift that and we have to look at the ocean as an entity that deserves rights, just like human rights, just like other rights of animals, the ocean as a whole has to be healthy and intact for us to live and to be here with every other breath coming from the ocean because of phytoplankton producing oxygen for us, or again, the food that comes from the ocean, all of those things are generating energy for us and keeping us around.
Faith E. Briggs: I was struck when you said the tragedy of the commons. I guess I've been thinking a lot about land ownership as a tool rather than something that I truly believe in, in terms of like, if we all saw ourselves as public land owners and took more ownership over that shared responsibility, when more people feel called to be a part of these environmental conversations, if it felt more personal or if it felt more like the amazing gift that it is. And it's interesting what you're saying about the ocean, it's like, who does feel called and responsible, and how do people that don't live right nearby and don't have access to a beach or don't have access to even an aquarium locally, how do they begin to have that relationship with a place? And I guess science communication, obviously is part of that answer.
Danni Washington: Yes, it really is. It's about bringing it home and bringing these stories to people and meeting them where they are. I think I've seen a lot of communicators out there who try to tell these ideas and share these ideas, and talk about concepts, but they're not making it relatable. And they're not understanding where their audience is located physically, mentally, emotionally, and not taking that into consideration. And to me, that is so arrogant to walk into a room of people you don't know and be like, oh yes, I'm just going to tell you it is, this is how I want to do it. And we've seen that pattern replicated with colonial conservation, where scientists will just arrive at a place that's somewhat remote and has something unique to offer and something that they want to study, but yet they're not considering the people who actually live there, who have known the space and land for generations, and not allowing them to be a part of the process. That to me is like, ugh, it's awful. And so how do we empower more people who are the most familiar with specific areas of land or water, you mentioned, that they feel ownership of and give them the tools to share those stories and to make people see, this is a whole system that my community depends on to live and we need your help to protect it. And that, I think, I just had a vision as you were talking that I was like, wouldn't it be so cool if like people could adopt... You know how you can adopt a highway or adopt a tree? If we could adopt like a square, I don't know, a square mile of ocean, or even smaller than that and have tech people install underwater webcams, like a small non-invasive unit that could have 24/7 rolling film of this area, as well as a surface buoy and people could log online and just look and see what's swimming around at that time.
Faith E. Briggs: That's such a cool idea.
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Faith E. Briggs: I love what you were saying about as a science communicator, the importance of making the work relatable and meeting people where they are. And I wanted to ask you about, I have seen quite a few photos of you just dressed up like a mermaid.
Danni Washington: Yes.
Faith E. Briggs: I was super curious. And that seems very relatable because you've talked about that.
Danni Washington: Yeah, of course. So the mermaid concept or the idea of being a mermaid has always intrigued me. I mean, when I talk about the games that me and my cousins would play as kids, it was nine times out of 10, mermaids. We would be in the pool a lot too. And I was obsessed with The Little Mermaid when it came out. And so for me, this idea of being half fish, half human has always been a core idea in my imagination because what a dream it would be to be able to have those abilities and to be able to breathe underwater. So I've just taken that idea and played with it and use it as an image that is kind of like the honey to attract bees. I want people to ask questions and be like, "Yo, this girl has a real mermaid fin on right now. And I don't know why, but I'm going to ask her about it."
Faith E. Briggs: Love it.
Danni Washington: So I have a brand that's coming out, that's going to be launched pretty soon called Mocha Mermaid. And that's like my alter ego. And I named it Mocha because I love the color brown and all that. And I wanted to be inclusive of those who have never seen imagery or stories being told of brown mermaids. A lot of times in media, we'll see only white mermaids and it's like, no, everybody can be a mermaid. Anybody can be a mermaid. So I'm really excited about that.
Addie Thompson: So Danni, on this topic of inspiring curiosity, expanding the audience or expanding kind of the community of people that are talking about ocean advocacy, can you speak a little bit about your non-profit that you founded, Big Blue & You. We'd love to hear the journey you've been on as a founder and just sort of where it's come from and where you're at now with that.
Danni Washington: The journey in creating a nonprofit has been challenging, but the reward is so worth it. I've been able to work with, gosh, at this point, we've interacted with at least 30,000 children in South Florida where we've created content and programming that connects them to the ocean and more so introduces them to the ocean. Because when I was first starting to volunteer, I became a naturalist as well at this beautiful nature center in Miami called the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Biscayne Nature Center. And I would run field trips for kids K through 12, who would come to the nature center and I would take them on the sea grass beds. We would collect animals that live there and look at them and then release them. We take them checking through the Mangrove Forest and just showing them like this beautiful world that we had right in our backyard. And so from there, I was like, wow. Some of these kids have never even been to the beach. This is craziness. So I wanted to combine art, science, and media, and create content that would be engaging for kids who don't have access to the beach, who don't have access to specific types of science learning opportunities because they're in a school that doesn't have that of programming. So we started doing this event called Art by the Sea. And we invited local artists and scientists, marine scientists, to come out and work together in tandem and create hands on activities for kids to learn about specific topics in ocean conservation. Everything from shark finning to coral bleaching, to ocean acidification, all these really like complex things that you'd never think you'd understand, but we broke it down. And so the event was just for them to come, do the hands-on activities, and then simultaneous to that happening, there's like paddleboarding, kayaking, drumming, yoga, like just sensory overload. Kids can not get bored. And then on top of that, we're right on the shoreline. And so they're getting to meet the ocean for the first time. And that's the space we wanted to create because we go to so many environmental events and we just hear people talking on the doom and gloom and all the problems. It's like, no, like the next generation is ready to take this on. We just got to show them what's what.
Faith E. Briggs: Totally. I mean, obviously we need it. I think we, when we met with you, even in our short walk in the beach when we met up for our socially distanced meetup, in barely a few footsteps, I mean, we were finding so much trash, so much plastic. And of course, I have to be honest, I expected some of it, but I had no idea the concentration, just how much we'd find in such a short amount of time. I was pretty surprised, overwhelmed, outraged by that.
Danni Washington: Yeah, that's the feeling that I feel every time I go to the beach. And we were on a relatively clean beach too, because from a distance, if you looked at the sand, it's like you couldn't see anything. But as you got closer, then you're like, "Oh my God. It's everywhere." And this marine debris, plastic pollution problem is pervasive. And it's all because of our decisions every single day on land. Plastic coming from crude oil, where we are now extracting fossil fuels out of the ground, which by the way, used to be animals, [inaudible 00:20:55] now it's compressed dead animals basically. We're pulling them out of the ground, we're refining it, and then one of the byproducts of that refinement process are the components of creating plastics. And so now that we've become so advanced in how we use plastic and what we use it for, it's like we've got all these different types of things and most people are just blindly using single use plastics, things that they're going to use for one second and then throw it away. Thinking like, "Oh well, somebody will take care of it. No problem." No. Nobody's taking care of it. It's going to a landfill or it's ending up in our waterways and then ultimately into the ocean where it breaks down into microplastics and then animals ingest it. And then guess who eats the animals? We do. People who eat seafood are now eating plastic. And it's startling to think about the amount of trash that we continue to create every day. And I'm a part of that problem, too. I'm not perfect. I'm not completely zero waste. I'm not there yet. I'm working on it hard, but it's damn near impossible to do anything, to buy food, unless I have a whole farm for myself, to find things that are not wrapped in plastic. But in an ideal world, I'd be like, "Oh well, I could just move off the grid and start growing my own food and living off the land." And I'm like, that's not going to happen for me.
Addie Thompson: I like what you said about your own private farm because it is, it's kind of true that maybe that is the extreme example, but that would work. That would be zero waste, I suppose. Very circular.
Danni Washington: Absolutely.
Addie Thompson: But is it attainable for 99.9% of us? Probably not.
Faith E. Briggs: I mean, for me, that brings up the question. I think a lot of the times there's another layer of class and privilege question that is relevant, but might not be the full truth in terms of the examples that we brought up were buying an electric car or subscribing to a grocery service. And sometimes that's not accessible for everyone. So I guess my question, and you don't have to have the yes/no answer, Danni, but is it more expensive to be more environmentally conscious or is that what we tell ourselves in order to justify continuing to do the same thing?
Danni Washington: I think it's a mixture of both. It is expensive definitely because going back to that basic economic concept, it's supply and demand. And there just isn't enough demand for the products and things that could be a better choice for the environment. And so in order to stay alive, a lot of those companies have to make their products higher price points. But at the same time, we look at food deserts, we look at communities, marginalized communities, around this nation that have lack of access to fresh food and are only dealing with convenience stores and liquor stores and fast food restaurants in their community. And that's on purpose. And recognizing that people have really planned that out to prevent those communities from eating nourishing food. And to me, that's one of the greatest disservices and one of the most, I don't know, just insidious things about this country that I think is... I mean, it has to be changed obviously. And so many local leaders are taking that charge and building their own community gardens and doing all that. But it's a big hill to climb up and it's totally understandable for people to get dissuaded or just not feel encouraged to continue because of lack of access.
Faith E. Briggs: Yeah.
Addie Thompson: Yeah.
Faith E. Briggs: I have a follow-up question to what you just said, which is how do you keep going, stay focused, stay the path when you know about so many different things that are insidious, that really are tragic? And I think it's something that I struggle with and I just am constantly like, "Okay, this is my role. This is the role that I can play here." Because I get really overwhelmed with all of the things that... And I get inspired by all the people moving in those places, but there's just so much wrong and so often it is black and brown communities that are most affected, that are the first people hit by everything from natural disasters to these systems that have created things like food deserts like you just mentioned.
Danni Washington: It's really hard, Faith. Every day is a new struggle to try and find inspiration. But I will say that my experiences in nature are what keep me going. The more that I can just get outside and I can remind myself of this is the reason why I'm doing what I'm doing, that really helps. And it sounds so simple and basic, but it's true. I mean, whenever I'm feeling super low energy, I have to get to the beach. If you just get me to the beach and it'll just re-energize me instantly. And so doing that more and more and recognizing those moments in myself and doing something about it is what works the best for me. But also just doing what I can. We can't solve everything. We can't take the whole world on our shoulders. That's not going to motivate anyone to do what we need. It's about taking control of what you can do and actively stepping into your purpose. And so that's what keeps me going.
Addie Thompson: What I've learned from you even so far, getting to know you and your work, has been sometimes it's just about creating this sense of place and home and connection and joy around a space that doesn't always have to be about how much carbon is it sequestering. While that's great, it's also about creating a connection with new communities of people. So it's been really interesting to hear you talk about that and to kind of see the work that you do and how that reflects that theme.
Danni Washington: Thank you, Addie. I mean, on that note, I think the other element or the other term that we could probably throw into the mix there would be empathy. My friend, Dr. Erika Woolsey, she's a marine biologist, coral biologist, and she's one of my greatest friends. And we became very close throughout 2020 because we were working on a podcast that actually just launched this past weekend called 21st Century Mermaids.
Addie Thompson: That's so exciting.
Faith E. Briggs: So exciting.
Danni Washington: Yeah. And we're interviewing different women and allies who are in the ocean conservation space, who are working to contribute to that UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, but also who identify as mermaids because this is a very common thread when I speak to different people in marine science. We all have this affinity. So we decided to make it up and then create a podcast all about it. But a lot of Erika's work is about empathy and the ocean. And she's working with the UN to also establish the UN Decade of Ocean empathy. And so when you think about it, it goes back to the idea of personifying the ocean, but just to a certain extent where people can feel connected to it and understanding that it is this living, breathing entity that has many different components and parts, but all those parts deserve to be protected. And then one other note I wanted to make a mention of is that when it comes to communities of color, specifically black communities in America, our relationship to water is very unique compared to a lot of other communities of color around the world. Reason being the experience of the transatlantic slave trade, that process traumatized our people. And though the remnants of that trauma are still present today where so many black Americans, African-Americans are not interested in learning how to swim. There's a very specific fear around water and depths and things like that. And it goes right back. It's generational trauma. It's epigenetic trauma. And we have to address that. And I think that I truly believe that if we want to find healing in our experience in this country, I think it starts with water. The ocean, to me, is the ultimate healer and the ultimate equalizer. When you're in the water, we're all the same. And I just hope through my work that I'll be able to inspire more black and brown people to get over that trauma, not get over it. I'm sorry. That's not really the right term. It's more like address it, acknowledge the trauma and do the work to heal it.
Faith E. Briggs: I feel even hearing that said that there is epigenetic trauma, which is one of the reasons why we have this disconnect with bodies of water, with swimming, with water activities, even hearing that I think could be an encouragement to people because they realize it's not coming from nowhere, and would have an additional motivation to say "No, no more, this ends here."
Danni Washington: Yeah. You think of like the worst thing that could ever happen to you. I mean, imagine being trapped on a boat, you can't move, you're seasick, you're watching people die around you, you have feces and urine on you. I can't think of anything worse that someone could ever experience than what our ancestors experienced in those ships. And for me, I could see how the ocean, once our ancestors left the shorelines of West Africa, that was the end. The ocean represented the end, death, and they never saw their family again. So, it makes sense. It all makes sense.
Faith E. Briggs: Yeah. Yeah, it does. Man, it's interesting with story sharing, there are so many different mediums, and sometimes it feels hard and strange to have a conversation like that, a conversation like the one we're having about epigenetic trauma and have it show up in Instagram posts. But then on the other hand, I feel like it goes back to science communication and communication in general, and meeting people where they are, where it's like, we need to be addressing these things, we need to be having these conversations, and we kind of have to have them everywhere. And I don't know, I mean, you use social media a lot. Your relationship with social media is varied. I think some people feel a lot of pressure around using it or not using it, network or being "good at it" or not. And I wonder if you can just talk a little bit about your relationship with social media and maybe the wider landscape in terms of your work too.
Danni Washington: I see social media as a tool, that's it. I think social clout has now become this monster where people are like, I'm not worth anything unless I have this amount of followers. And that's not true at all. You can have 10 followers, you could have 10 million followers. You never know who's watching you. You never know who's being inspired by your story and your journey. And so the way that I approach social media is just about giving people a glimpse into what I'm experiencing and my thoughts. And that's it. And I want to bring people on an adventure and allow them to have fun and not make everything so heavy all the time, even though my mind is there. I try my best to interpret those thoughts and try and create solutions out of it and give people options. Because the worst thing you can do I think, is to talk about the sad stuff, the hard stuff, and not offer something else, or at least inspire people to ask that question of what they can do to help alleviate that situation. So, that's how I usually approach it. I mean, it's a lot, it's like another job because with any social media app, we know how these apps were developed. They're all about engagement, not only on the audience side, but on the creator side. They want you to continue to create consistently because that's how they get their numbers up, that's how they make their money. It all works out. In the end, we know that that's their bottom line. But that doesn't mean that people who have a clear message, an important message, a unique message, should move away from using those tools. Go within your comfort zone, but also expand out of it as well sometimes, so that you can see who you end up interacting with. Because you're always going to have naysayers, you're always going to have critiques coming your way. It's just a part of life.
Faith E. Briggs: Yeah. Reminds me of this Zora Neale Hurston essay sometime ago where she wrote about, How could anyone deny themselves with my presence?" I just love it so much because clearly she's writing in a very racist time, but she's like, "I'm wonderful. Do you realize this?"
Danni Washington: I love that. I love that. It's true. People are missing out on the wonders of humanity. We all have so much to offer and so much to bring to the table. And for people who choose to be racist, gosh, I feel really bad for them because they're just missing out, they're missing out.
Faith E. Briggs: 2020 was such a hard year all around between the pandemic and all of the grief that we've experienced as a global community. The Black Lives Matter uprisings in the United States and around the world have also created new widespread awareness on issues of injustice that hopefully will have lasting effects. And then we started 2021 with White supremacist terrorist attacks on the Capitol that brought up a lot of ugly truths. I mean, we have been in it. How are you staying afloat? What is bringing you joy right now? How are you finding balance? Or if you just generally have any reflections that you wanted to share.
Danni Washington: Yeah. Big facts. Yeah, I think about it every day. And there's this feeling of just an existential crisis because we're here trying to do and live and be to the best of our abilities. And yet these traumatic and awful things are happening in the world because of greed, because of fear. I don't know. I mean, in a way it definitely gives me hope because I know that we're finally reckoning and acknowledging the things that have been ailing our for so long. And we have to look at it. We have to be with it and sit with it, be with that moment and not push away from it as hard as it is, and we'll get through it. And so I think we're just in this transitional period of life that we're going to have to get through this together, become closer, and recognize the changes that need to be made. And we can't be complacent anymore. That's one big thing. And so, for me to take care of myself and to get me through these moments, I've really stayed focused on self-care. We all have to put our oxygen masks on first and make sure that we can give our best to the world. And that requires you to focus in on what you need to do to take care of yourself during these trials and tribulations, because that's what we're in right now. Question arises about Black bodies, and the world is showing us that in general, it doesn't care about our livelihood, about our existence even. And that to me is a rally cry for Black and Brown people around the world to step it up in how we take care of ourselves, and make sure that we are finding every resource that we possibly can to stay afloat and to ascend. Everyone deserves to be heard and seen. And that's it. It's as simple as that. We bring so much magic and so much joy and so much ingenuity to anything in any space that we enter. We see the system is broken. Now it's time for all of us to fix it. I'm tired. I know so many of my friends are exhausted, but that doesn't mean we should stop. Our ancestors were waiting for us to have this moment. And it all depends on what we decide to do with it.
Addie Thompson: That was the force of nature that is Danni Washington. Thank you again, Danni, for taking the time to hang out with us. Make sure you check out her podcast, Genius Generation, her nonprofit, Big Blue & You, and stay tuned for Mocha Mermaid launching soon. Find the links in the show notes on thislanddoc.com/thetrailahead where you can also find our companion video series.
Addie Thompson: The Trail Ahead is created and hosted by us, Faith E. Briggs and Addie Thompson. It's produced by Lantigua Williams & Co. Jen Chien is our editor. Our sound design and original music is by Cedric Wilson.
Faith E. Briggs: Podcast art is by Shar Tuiasoa. Check her out on Instagram @punkyaloha. Special thanks to our amazing teams from Merrell, Adam Koepfer, Lauren King, and Will Pray. And from Patagonia, Bianca Botta, Sasha Teniety, Clare Gallagher and Whitney Clapper.
Addie Thompson: Big thanks also to Trail Butter and Outdoorsy. And thanks to our team on the visual side, Tyler Wilkinson-Ray, Fred Goris and Monica Medellin. Thank you for listening and for spreading the word. For updates and additional links, visit thislanddoc.com/thetrailahead. See you next episode.