Outsiders Origin Story - The beginning of our diversity-focused outdoor talent marketplace
After years of working as a producer on outdoor asset captures, Holly Fraser was flat-out frustrated. “It was such a challenge to find talent who had the necessary skills and were comfortable working outside,” she remembers. “Agencies often weren’t able to answer the call for the sort of talent my clients needed.” Indeed, Holly often relied on her friends and acquaintances to serve as models on her shoots. Sure, they lacked modelling experience, but at least they could link their turns and they knew how to dress for the weather.
There was another issue, too: Not only was Holly struggling to find authentic outdoor talent, she was also struggling to find the diversity of talent her clients were requesting. “The positive thing is that there has been a sharp increase in the desire to cast talent from communities who’ve historically been underrepresented in the outdoor industry,” she says. “But as a producer, it hasn’t always been easy to find those people. There hasn’t always been a good mechanism for them to connect with brands and producers wanting to hire them.”
Outsiders Was Born
To create that mechanism (spoiler alert: it’s the Outsiders Network), Holly turned to her friends Danielle Kristmanson and MJ Legault, founders of an outdoor creative agency called Origin. Both Danielle and MJ had over two decades of outdoor industry experience, as well as lifelong personal passions for the outdoors, and they immediately understood the value of Holly’s idea. “In our own productions, we were facing the same challenges Holly faced with finding authentic outdoor talent,” explains Danielle. “And as white women of privilege, we felt strongly called to leverage that privilege, along with our skills and experience, to help make the outdoors a more just and equitable place.”
It was crucial to all three women that they not only find a way to connect diverse and authentic outdoor talent with those looking to hire them but that they do so ethically and respectfully. They also set a goal for themselves of finding a way to support the very communities that have historically been underrepresented and marginalized within the outdoor industry and the outdoors as a whole. Each quarter, as part of its commitment to help make the outdoors more accessible for everyone, Outsiders Network directs 1% of its profits to a charitable organization that is focused on supporting diversity, accessibility and sustainability in the outdoors. The result is a give-back program designed to support organizations that are helping more Outsiders get outside and get after it.
To guide them toward both of these goals, they sought out and partnered with a panel of diversity, equity, and inclusion professionals. “We knew we had blind spots, and we needed to find people who could help us identify those blind spots and guide us on this journey with sensitivity, authenticity, and curiosity,” says Holly. “We’ll likely still make mistakes, and that will be uncomfortable, but staying comfortable isn’t going to do anything to resolve the inequities and injustices we’re seeking to address.”
Of course, the Outsiders Network alone isn’t going to bring full equity and justice to the outdoors. This is the work of decades, if not generations. But even the work of generations begins with a first, humble step. And ultimately, says Holly, that’s what this network is intended to be. “We’re not going to solve these issues on our own. But we are going to work hard, work transparently, and maybe most importantly, work with humility. And we’re going to ask others to do the same.”