We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Brian Paupaw. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Brian below.
Brian, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s kick things off with talking about how you serve the underserved, because in our view this is one of the most important things the small business community does for society – by serving those who the giant corporations ignore, small business helps create a more inclusive and just world for all of us.
Hoods to Woods Foundation is a 501c3 non profit organization that introduces youth in underserved communities to the outdoors through snowboarding by providing free programming, equipment and mentorship to help create more diversity in winter sports..
The main objective of our organization is to help bring free year-round indoor and outdoor snowboarding programs to youth in underserved communities in the New York City tri-state area to tackle the lack of diversity in winter sports.
Hoods to Woods was founded by Snowboarders Brian Paupaw who hails from Brooklyn, New York and Omar Diaz, The Domincan Republic in 2009
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I started Snowboarding in college as I was introduced to the sport by classmates in parsons School of Design. Omar Diaz was a skateboarder and that led him to snowboarding. We’re both proud for making an effort to share the sport with others.
What makes us different is our approach to the sport by being ourselves and giving our students an introduction to snowboarding that lets them know anyone can enjoy the outdoors regardless of your environment. Where you are from is not the only chapter in your life.
How’d you meet your business partner?
We met at a film Screening for a short documentary called ‘Hoods to Woods’ it was about my experience growing up in Brooklyn and how I got introduced to Snowboarding. A mutual friend introduced me to Omar Diaz at the screening
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
I think my challenges of growing up poor in Brooklyn gave me a special advantage in terms of having a desire to beat the odds. It was very challenging dealing with poverty, racism and violence growing up.
Then later in college a friend gave me a book called “Think and Grow Rich: A Black Choice” written by Napolean Hill. I struggled as a freshman in college but that book let me know how much my ancestors had to go through inspired me to look at my struggle and theirs and realize thing could be way more worst than they are. I ended up with a 3.9 GPA from Parson that freshmen year!
Running Hoods to Woods for 13 years was just that. trying to create something in a space that has no diversity is super challenging, but we I never gave up. I saw the community we serve was worth the personal sacrifice because if it wasn’t for the few people that inspired me I would be here today so I want to do that for others. 
Contact Info:
- Website: www.hoodstowoodfoundation.org
- Instagram: @hoodstowoods
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hoodstowoods
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hoods-to-woods-foundation/?viewAsMember=true
- Twitter: @hoodstowoods
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvJLQtbImh31dUM78D3HaIQ
Image Credits
Brian Nevins Jairola Liriano