The Power of Invitation: Earl B. Hunter., Jr. Breaking Barriers in the Outdoors 501

Welcome to the Outdoor Adventure Lifestyle Podcast. Today, on episode 501, Earl B. Hunter, Jr. from Black Folks Camp To make a second visit to The Show.

is the Founder and President of Black Folks Camp Too — a marketing-driven business whose mission is to increase diversity in the outdoor industry by making it easier, more interesting, and more fun for Folks to go camping.

He's an experienced business leader across multiple industries. He has been widely recognized for his ebullient personality, hard work ethic, and non-traditional approach to building relationships and closing deals.

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What Happened:

It was the summer of 2017. I was clocking miles like a long-haul trucker, repping campers for a living. My 7-year-old son called me out—said I’d promised to take him to Mount Rushmore. He was right. I’d driven past it more times than I could count, but I’d never stopped. So we hit the road.

We camped our way across the country, father and son, a Black duo in a tiny pop-up trailer, parking it beside some seriously decked-out RV setups. We saw the sights, roasted marshmallows, and somewhere near Albuquerque, we spotted something we hadn’t seen in thousands of miles: another Black family camping. My son lit up and said, “Hey Daddy! Black people!”

That moment stuck. We talked to the family—Kimberly and crew—and she said something that flipped a switch in my brain: “Why don’t you change that then?” That “why not you?” hit hard. By the time we were driving up the California coast, the name Black Folks Camp Too was born.

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Principle:

Too often, we wait for permission—permission to belong, to show up, to start something meaningful. But sometimes, it takes seeing the gap with your own eyes, feeling the silence in certain spaces, to realize: you’re the one who’s supposed to fill it.

And in business, just like in the outdoors, if you’re only serving the same people the same way… you’re gonna miss the fire. The campfire, that is.

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Transition:

Most people think getting more folks into the outdoors is about better gear or cool photos on Instagram. But that’s not it. The real c