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Chelsea Murphy

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Encouraging a more inclusive and equitable outdoor community while celebrating and representing Black motherhood in the midst of a dominant culture. Join me here.

Shifting outdoor culture. Inspiring joy + liberation.

she_colorsnature

Here to help you find your way outside 🌿
🏕️ Black motherhood in the outdoors
🍄‍🟫 30 minutes OUTSIDE everyday
📍 PNW 💌: shecolorsnature@gmail

I had to laugh so I didn’t cry 😭 I tried to go an I had to laugh so I didn’t cry 😭

I tried to go and do a multi sport day (paddle, walk, bike) like I was doing before I had my third kiddo. It took every ounce of energy to get things ready and out of the house, but at the very last second I realized I forgot my paddle 😆

…so instead I had my coffee alternative with a gorgeous river view. I took it as a sure sign from God I wasn’t meant to be on the river that day. I know that getting outdoors can be difficult, but it shouldn’t feel impossible. 

Just wanted to make sure I shared this video with you to remind you that even seasoned outdoorists make mistakes AND ALSO because I filmed the entire thing and didn’t want it to go completely to waste 🫠😂

Have you had an experience like this one before? What would you have done?

I hope you find your way outside today 🫶🏾
Summer time at the cabin 🤍 Never too old for a go Summer time at the cabin 🤍

Never too old for a good ol fashion thrashin’ on the inner tube. I’ve never laughed harder than when I do when I’m on the tube coming face to face with death. No kids were harmed in the making of these memories. 😉

There is nothing sweeter than summer 🌞

What’s been your favorite summer memory so far? 

#SheColorsNature #DiversifyOutdoors #BoatLife #BlackPeopleSwim #LakeCoeurDAlene
Connecting with the water is our birthright 🤎🌊 I’ Connecting with the water is our birthright 🤎🌊

I’ve been continuing my journey to heal my relationship to water all summer long! Swimming, water aerobics, paddle boarding, diving, tubing and playing in pools, rivers and lakes around Washington state. As a child I was almost a drowning statistic, and I’m going everything I can as an adult and mother to reverse that experience.

BLACK FOLKS SWIM.

An honest 10/10 review of @hairbrella. Loving this Black owned brand with the mission to share that as Black people: our hair is our glory, not a stumbling block! 🙌🏾🫶🏾✊🏾

#DiversifyOutdoors #Swimming #BlackPeopleSwim #BlackOwned #SwimCap
MYTH: Black people hate swimming‼️ (SAVE + SHARE MYTH: Black people hate swimming‼️

(SAVE + SHARE this to your stories today!)

Enjoying swimming has nothing to do with your ethnicity and much more to do with your lived experience - or that of your parents!

‼️Drowning is the number one killer of young children with staggering inequities with Black children.

Historically, institutional racism allowed for private pools for whites and left Black communities with nothing more than a community funded wading area. The ripple effect and exclusion of Black swimmers is still at play today. I know we all know someone who actually believes Black people can’t and don’t enjoy swimming. Shoot, you might even be able to find a Black person who has convinced themselves of this narrative.

In most cases when a parent doesn’t know how to swim, there is only a 13% chance their child will learn. If a parent had a bad experience nearly drowning, chances are high they will pass that fear on down generations. 

Water is fun - but can be dangerous and swim lessons are becoming more accessible. Teaching kids and youth to be safe and comfortable around water is not a luxury, it’s urgent - a life saving superpower! 

👉🏾 Do you know how to swim? If no - let’s change that for you and the children in your life today!!

Organizations making change👇🏾

@blackkidsswim 
@afroswimmers
@outdoorafro
@swimuphilldotorg 
@blackswimmingassociation 

Every summer we discuss this topic, it will always be important. I will never stop talking about it.
#TeamBronco_Ambassador // 🌊🐚☀️ On our recent trip #TeamBronco_Ambassador // 🌊🐚☀️ On our recent trip to Oregon we couldn’t help but take the Bronco for a spin in 4x4 sand G.O.A.T. Modes® (Goes Over Any Type of Terrain). With the desert sand color pallet, she was made for this!! 🤎🤎

I love that you can drive on the beach in some places along the west coast! 10/10 recommend. Have you done this before? 

@fordbronco @ford 

Disclaimer✨ 2025 Bronco® Big Bend® model with optional equipment, available Ford accessories, and extra-cost color option shown.
‼️ Black kids drown most. (SHARE this to your sto ‼️ Black kids drown most.

(SHARE this to your story today)

‼️According to the CDC, Black children drown at 7 times the rate of other children. In the United States, where 10 people die daily, that is a lot of Black lives lost to the water. With situations like the Nolan Wells case currently receiving national attention and the viral video we all saw with the family saving that Black boy from the river on their paddle boards while the boys he came with peer pressured him into swimming outside of his ability, proceeded to use racial slurs, make monkey noises and yell “BLACK PEOPLE CANT SWIM” - now is not the time to look away from this! Now is the time to dig in! 

Year after year a national study reports that 64% of Black children cannot swim while only 40% of White children cannot swim. Both statistics were alarming to me. But get this, the fatal drownings of Black children are 3 times higher than that of white children based on population (may differ by age or location)

Stereotypes suggest Black people don’t want to swim or are scared of water and will do anything to avoid getting their hair wet. These widely held negative stereotypes are LITERALLY killing us! 

Much like riding a bicycle, swimming is a life saving skill that kids MUST learn at a young age. I did not grow up a strong swimmer and it’s something I am dedicated to changing for my children, while simultaneously strengthening my own skills.

We MUST teach our children how to swim so they do not become another statistic. 

💦 Donate to @outdoorafro Making Waves program, let’s help them reach their goal to sponsor swimmers this season. LINK IN BIO!

👉🏾 Tag swim and lesson opportunities that are in your area?

👉🏾 Black swimmers make some noise. WE OUT HERE!!!

((Stats sourced from the CDC and USA Swimming Foundation))

#SheColorsNature #BlackPeopleSwim #BlackSwimmers #BlackKidsSwim #Swimming
Come hike with us 🫶🏾 My first installment of mom’ Come hike with us 🫶🏾

My first installment of mom’s summer hike journal because approximately 47 people this month have reminded me how fast this time with young kids goes. So I’m just going to leave this here 🌳🍄🌼

📍ICICLE GORGE TRAIL, rated easy on @alltrails. On the ancestral homelands or the Wenatchi peoples.

⭐️ My review: Kid friendly | 4.7 mile loop | river access | 360 feet elevation gain | ~2 hours hiking time (not including a stop for lunch and dilly dallying) | Forest Service parking permit required | Bathrooms open and clean | Bridges, babbling brooks, nature rich, butterflies, chipmunks, wildflowers, swimming, places to stop and rest! Happy hiking 🥾

#MomsSummerHikingJournal #SheColorsNature #BlackLivesMatter #BlackMomsHike
#TeamBronco_Ambassador at #BroncoWildFund supporte #TeamBronco_Ambassador at #BroncoWildFund supported event curated from the ground up by @indigenousrrf at their annual Rising Roots Spring Camp 🌼🪶 

@fordbronco continues to “connect people to the outdoors, responsibly” through Team Ambassadors like me. In this season, that looks like serving many Indigenous communities of Washington state. Bringing them back to their Land, their traditions and having their native language being spoken and heard there for the first time in over a century. The work Indigenous Roots and Reparations Foundation is doing is SO important now more than ever!

Thank you @fordbronco @ford and #BroncoWildFund

🎥: @bravespace_media 

2025 Bronco® Big Bend® model with optional equipment, available Ford accessories, and extra-cost color option shown.
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