Marinel de Jesus

Founder at Brown Gal Trekker & Equity Global Treks

United States

Marinel M. de Jesus, Esq. is a former civil rights lawyer from Washington, D.C., who turned her passion for hiking into a full-time endeavor as a social entrepreneur, solutions-focused journalist, activist, and speaker. She is the founder of the award-winning media platform, Brown Gal Trekker, and mountain trekking enterprise, Equity Global Treks, both of which aim to elevate the status and roles of women and indigenous communities in the outdoor and travel industries. Her work as the co-founder of Khusvegi English & Nomadic Culture Camp in Mongolia with the eagle hunters has won several recognitions including winning the 2021 Social Entrepreneurship Competition - Launch Track, hosted by UNWTO, ITB Berlin, TUI Care Foundation, SINA, Eberswalde University, and Travel Massive.

Marinel is a full-time global mountain nomad and travels to mountain destinations regularly to create tourism initiatives that are community-led and/or focused on female leadership as a way to decolonize the tourism and outdoor industries. In 2019, she founded the non-profit human rights organization, The Porter Voice Collective, which aims to advocate for the human rights of porters and mountain expedition workers in Peru, Nepal, and Tanzania through storytelling and the use of media while focusing on the importance of recognizing Workforce Equity Tourism as a form of sustainable tourism. 

Marinel has been featured in and has written for various travel and outdoor media platforms such as Alpinist Magazine, Outside, Fodor’s, Backpacker Magazine, HuffPost, Adventure Journal, International House Hunters, Tamron Hall Show (ABC network), VICE Media's Second Act Documentary Series, and more. She was a Board Member of the American Hiking Society & JEDI Committee Chair from 2020-2022 and a Brand Ambassador for Osprey & AKU Trekking Shoes.