A Conversation with Faith and Addie of 'The Trail Ahead' Podcast
Faith and Addie are adventurers, athletes, environmental advocates, and creators.
We’re excited to share this conversation between EarBuds founder, Arielle Nissenblatt, and co-hosts Faith E. Briggs and Addie Thompson. Faith and Addie are adventurers, environmentalists, athletes, and creators.
They launched their podcast in 2021 with an aim to have in-depth conversations with guests at the forefront of environment, race, history, and culture. The Trail Ahead includes a visual component, which you’ll learn more about in this chat.
Faith and Addie
Here’s our conversation…
Arielle Nissenblatt: Tell us what sets The Trail Ahead apart from other outdoors/nature/athletic-minded podcasts.
Faith and Addie: The Trail Ahead sits firmly at the intersection of race, environment, history, culture, and the outdoors – so while it features athletes and outdoors enthusiasts, we dig deeper into the tough questions surrounding representation, access, safety, privilege, tokenism and so much more. We really hope to invite people into the conversation and share perspectives not only about sport or the environment but also about the human side of all of these stories. Get ready to get uncomfortable and learn a ton, we do each episode!
AN: How did you two first start working together?
F&A: We were both living in Portland, OR when we were introduced. During hours of rides to trailheads and climbing crags, we went deep on conversations about privilege and access in the outdoors, conversations Addie had never had to this extent. While these discussions were difficult and at times uncomfortable, they made our friendship strong and REAL. We then started working on film projects together – small gigs here and there – and eventually began pitching the idea for This Land, a film that asked “what does it mean to be a conservationist?” as it dissected the proposed rollback of protections around the National Monuments, told through Faith’s experience as a Black ultrarunner. After This Land, we realized there was an appetite to keep having these hard conversations and dive deeper into these topics, so we started the podcast.
AN: What's been the biggest adjustment for you two between producing video and audio? Is one harder or easier than the other?
F&A: Oh my goodness, yes! Audio is hard. We have both been in the film world for a while now – Faith as a filmmaker and Addie as a producer – and both our minds think in terms of shot lists, locations, movement, framing a scene, etc. Audio is a whole new world, both in terms of telling a story and in terms of budgeting to tell that story! We didn’t know what we didn’t know (and now we, to some extent, know). The biggest adjustment has definitely been learning to let go of our scripted questions and let the conversation flow where it may. It’s also been incredible to have more time to really listen to our subjects, vs only having to choose a few small soundbites. It feels like we get to share more of the story in audio. But, we also love video and couldn’t give it up, so we actually create one-minute video profiles on each of our guests, which you can find on our Instagram and website.
AN: What are your long and short-term goals for the podcast?
F&A: In the short term, we’ve been stoked to hear the feedback of people listening multiple times, sending to their friends, using our episodes in education circles or co-conspirator groups, etc. We also have loved being able to elevate our guests and their incredible stories, both through the audio episodes and accompanying video profiles we make. In the short term, we’d love for all of this to continue. In the long term, we want to be a part of creating the necessary shift in the outdoor community and industry, from one that is primarily homogenous and less aware of certain privileges to one that encourages access through knowledge sharing, education, increased representation, mutual understandings of risk and safety and is more inclusive to all. To us, that is not a pie-in-the-sky vision – it’s one we believe we can collectively achieve.
AN: Tell us about an interview you've recorded that really shifted your perspective on a topic.
F&A: We are so incredibly lucky to be able to interview folks from all walks of life – every single one leaving a lasting impression – so it’s really hard to choose. We feel like all interviews have shifted our perspective in one way or another. A recent episode with our friend Noël Russel helped us both to infuse contentment and gratitude into our days, while also helping us and our audiences to widen the aperture on what it means to be “outdoorsy.” This episode is such an incredible complement to a deeply-needed conversation from our first season with Layel Camargo, who really questions the emphasis on “success” over connection through their work, and is really funny at the same time.
AN: What's your favorite method of outdoor activity lately?
F&A: When Faith isn’t busy on film shoots, she’s home helping to parent two young boys, and Addie just moved across the country - SO - we’d say: the name of the game is just getting out into nature. Whether that’s a walk on a trail with the sun in our face, or walking barefoot on a beach, both of us are enjoying the simple things at the moment. It’s something that aligns so well with redefining what success or achievement looks like in the outdoor realm. Sometimes, just getting out the door is a win.
AN: Advice for someone looking to get more into "the great outdoors?"
F&A: We know how hard it is to take that first step sometimes. Whether it’s finding a new spot or trying a new activity, outdoor pursuits can be intimidating and hard to access (and exponentially harder when the people you encounter don’t look like or move you). Start small: covid taught us that some of the best adventures can be five minutes from your house. Faith used the time during lockdown to explore the alleys and backroads near her house on close-to-home runs; Addie headed to local trailheads she’d overlooked in favor of farther-out locations. The definition of “the great outdoors” is literally (as Noël reminds us!) spending time outside, no matter where that is.
AN: What's next for you in the world of podcasting and/or content creation? Anything big on the horizon?
F&A: We have an awesome full season of the pod ahead of us that we’re so looking forward to, especially getting to meet and spend time with lots of these folks in person (something that was harder to do in covid). We’re excited to keep exploring and expanding our podcasting style, so stay tuned as we test out some new formats!
AN: Any shoutouts or plugs?
F&A: We are so so lucky to work with amazing folks to bring these episodes to life. We are fortunate to work with Adode Media (Ona Oghogho and her amazing team!) as well as Stepfanie Aguilar and Christina Stella. Also shoutout to Jen Chien who quite literally taught us both everything we know about tone/vocal quality/warming up/interviewing/story editing/you name it. We’re also learning so much from the brilliant minds at Tink Media and from Rekha Murthy. As you can see, we are surrounded by dope women who have so much knowledge about this space.
We’d also love to plug the website we made for our film This Land, if you check it out, we have created education resources including a curriculum and a collection of local and nationwide groups you can join to meet folks to get outside with.
AN: Where can we find you on social media?
F&A: Faith is faithevebee and Addie is adelinemthompson, and we are thetrailahead_podcast as well!
Thank you to Faith and Addie for the conversation!
