The Unpopular Black

Black Outdoor Culture, Representation, & Access

The Unpopular Black exists to shift how we see ourselves, Black people, in the American outdoors.

For a long time, the narrative has been narrow. It has overlooked history, ignored access, and flattened the relationship many Black Americans have with land, nature, and recreation. The Unpopular Black expands that narrative by offering representation, information, and access that reflects the depth and reality of our experiences.

This is a storytelling platform, a visual guide, and a growing ecosystem. Through content, partnerships, and community-centered resources like the Unpopular Black Directory, the work highlights Black explorers, athletes, guides, and everyday people who have always been outside, even when that truth was not widely seen or supported.

The goal is simple and layered at the same time. Inspire curiosity. Build confidence. Create pathways for people to engage with the outdoors in ways that feel informed, grounded, and their own.

Since 2018, The Unpopular Black has collaborated with brands like REI, Outside Inc., and Travel Noire, contributed to conversations around equity in outdoor and travel spaces, and reached tens of thousands through digital storytelling and community engagement.

Work with me

If your work touches the outdoors, travel, wellness, or culture and you want to engage Black audiences with more intention and depth, there is space to collaborate.

I partner with brands, organizations, and institutions through:

Speaking and workshops
Strategic consulting and DEI advisory
Content creation and storytelling
Campaign and brand partnerships

Whether you are building something new or rethinking what already exists, the work starts with clarity and moves toward impact.

Let's Chat.

Courtney Lanctot

I created The Unpopular Black because I was not seeing the full picture of us reflected in the outdoors.

My background moves across fashion, marketing, and tech, but the throughline has always been understanding people and how they connect to what they experience. Over time, that focus turned toward land, movement, and the deeper relationship between identity and environment.

I have spent the last several years working at the intersection of outdoor recreation, travel, and wellness, while also living nomadically and engaging directly with the spaces I speak about. That lived experience shapes how I tell stories and how I approach this work.

My work has taken me from conservation trips in the Arctic Circle and the Owyhee Canyon to speaking at universities like University of Denver and University of Colorado Boulder, to consulting with brands and organizations that want to better understand and serve Black audiences.

At its core, I am interested in how people expand. How we move from hesitation into curiosity. How we rebuild relationships with nature that were disrupted over time.

The Unpopular Black is an extension of that. So am I.

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