Introduce yourself! What should the world know about you?
My name is Ina Tubilleja from New Jersey. I love gardening, hiking, camping, and skiing.
What are you passionate about?
I am passionate about all things plants, food, gardening, and being outdoors. It’s been incredibly life-changing and nourishing to spend time outside to grow my own food and cook with fresh ingredients. I believe that spending time outside for healing, rejuvenation, and inspiration.
What drives you as a person, a leader, and a storyteller? What or who shapes you?
I am driven by creating spaces and an environment where everyone can live their healthiest lives possible. I believe that with spending time and providing access to the outdoors, we will find the answers to how we can live our healthiest lives.
Why did you apply to the Rethink Outside™ Fellowship? What are you hoping to learn from this experience?
The way we relate to nature, the stories we tell, and transforming the way we build a relationship with the land cannot be done alone. I believe in a future where everyone can enjoy a life outside, where we do not have to live with the fears and anxieties of climate change, and that we nurture the place and home that nurtures us (the Earth). I want to learn what a positive relationship looks like between humans and their environment. I am eager to learn from other experts in the field to build upon and continue the work that they’ve already started. Our relationship with nature is an active relationship – it must be consistently worked on. I want to do the same with the community that is working to rebuild connections with nature.
How will the Rethink Outside™ Fellowship experience help you address the systemic barriers for access to, and representation / leadership of Black, Indigenous, and people of color in the movement to connect people and nature?
Creating a shared narrative allows us to share experiences, gather and create community around shared experience, and strengthen the values that we have for nature. When I hear stories of others’ experiences and how they connect people and nature, I am able to practice empathy. We are able to more closely understand what it feels like to be connected to nature, or what it feels like to experience barriers to connecting with nature. There is strength in numbers and a shared narrative can create a community to make a larger impact by sharing different assets or resources. The shared narrative creates a support structure to inspire and encourage each other and can fuel our own sense of power. With an empowered community, we can make systemic change.
What is your favorite activity / place which connects you to nature and the outdoors?
Gardening.