We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Omar Diaz. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Omar below.
Omar , looking forward to hearing all of your stories 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.
Snowboarding is my passion and a way of life; it takes me to a special place in which nothing else matters but the thrill of the moment. This special bond with snowboarding and all the great people in our community served as the spark for my desire to share snowboarding.
It’s no surprise that snowboarding is out of the reach of most people of color, but sharing my love for the snow with my community was important to me. As a child attending public school education oftentimes, we would be visited by individuals to encourage us to reach our full potential and share stories of success. There was a flaw in this process, none of the speakers ever looked like me, spoke like me, or even came from the same environment as me. This created a disconnect, which never allowed me to internalize or accept anyone’s message no matter how great their story, none of it ever appealed to me. Fast-forward to my adulthood, I achieved a normal lifestyle by society’s standards. I wasn’t famous, wealthy, or had achieved anything exciting. The one thing I had done all along was give back to my community, I donated time and money whenever possible. One thing I never considered was combining my passion with giving back to others, it was something I did for myself. This all changed the day I met Hoods to Woods founder Brian Paupaw and realized that I had something special to share with my community. I had a love for snowboarding all along but failed to connect this love with my community. Upon meeting Brian at a movie screening in which he shared his love and inspiration for snowboarding the two of us realized that we had something very special in common. We both loved snowboarding and our community alike. We decided that together we can be the heroes of our own community and share our love of snowboarding with the inner-city youth. I knew this idea would work as we were very passionate about snowboarding, and driven men of color that weren’t ready to give up on something we felt so strongly about. Somehow, I knew the kids would listen and relate as we looked like them and came from the same place as they did. At times it is hard to imagine that we have been around for 14 years giving inner-city youth an opportunity to be outside and get that feeling that has kept me loving snowboarding all these years.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Omar Diaz, I’m a Co-Founder and Program Director of the Hoods to Woods Foundation. I love to skateboard and snowboard. I have a huge passion for both activities and enjoy riding as well as teaching others how to skate and ride. For an Afro-Latino born in the Dominican Republic, a tropical island, I never thought that I would come to love winter so much and spend most of the winter outdoors on a snowboard. If I’m not on snow, I’m on a skateboard, or spending time with my family and friends. Although most people believe all I do professionally is run Hoods to Woods, I happen to have a full-time career as an Internal Audit Manager in the real estate sector.
What’s Hoods to Woods about? Our mission statement is simple: We are an organization that promotes awareness of the outdoors to inner-city children through snowboarding. In essence, that is what we do, but we are also much more than that. Over the years, the children and young adults that have participated in our program have made me aware of what we mean to them. I have been a mentor, a friend, a disciplinarian, a teacher, and a family member. We have created a space of inclusivity for any youth that comes from a disadvantaged environment, it’s not about color or race, we cater to anyone that would likely not have the means to be in the great outdoors. One of the most fulfilling aspects of our program is the genuine gratitude that comes from our youth. They are so grateful for the opportunity we provide them, and they don’t hesitate to show it; it’s the smiles, the high fives, the hugs, you name it. Parents alike leave messages expressing how happy their kids are and how much they have come to love snowboarding. Although people primarily get to see Brian and I, there are so many amazing people working alongside us to make things happen. Our core volunteers have gradually become family. Hoods to Woods is a huge diverse family that embraces all those that come into our door, we aren’t perfect, but we all share our love of snowboarding and do our best to create a caring and supportive environment for the youth in our program.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
In 2009, Hoods to Woods was ready to kickoff, and give four kids the opportunity to gain experience on how to snowboard. As a new foundation, we fully relied on the kindness of anyone willing to help us make our dream come true. For us to get the kids to Mountain Creek, our home mountain, we had a local church provide their shuttle van for transportation to and from the ski resort. A few days prior to our program kicking off, the church told us that the van was no longer available. When Brian gave me the unwelcome news, he looked defeated and felt as if this was the end of all the work and effort, we put into kickstarting our not-for-profit. In my mind, all I could think of was the disappointment of those four kids who we had promised the opportunity of a lifetime to try snowboarding.
Although I lived in the inner city as a child, by this point I was living in the suburbs of New Jersey, which was about an hour away by car from Brooklyn, NY. There was no way I was going to disappoint those kids, and I took it upon myself to drive one hour from NJ into Brooklyn, NY to get Brian and the kids and then from there, drive another hour to the ski resort. After we were done, I would drive the kids back to Brooklyn which would turn into a two-hour commute due to New York City traffic, and then back to NJ. Those were exceptionally long days, five hours of driving, but it enabled us to keep our dream alive. Hoods to Woods started with a Honda Civic in 2009 to now using a 56-passenger bus in 2023.
We faced many challenges then and continue to face challenges now but will resume doing what is best for our youth and not let outside interference disrupt what we have worked on so persistently to achieve.
How’d you meet your business partner?
I met Brian Paupaw Hoods to Woods Founder in 2008 at a movie viewing he held in New York City of a short film titled Hoods to Woods. The premise of the film was Brian’s life as a snowboarder. It was a narration of his journey in finding snowboarding and all the amazing places it took him to. At the end of the film, there was a question and answer (“QA”) session regarding the film and his love and drive for snowboarding. Brian wrapped up his QA session stating that his dream was to give his love of snowboarding to his community. Those words deeply resonated with me as I have always served and given back to my community. At the time, it had never dawned on me to use snowboarding to serve and give back. That evening in 2008, we stood at the entrance of the film venue and promised each other that we would make the mission of giving back through snowboarding a reality. That evening was the birth of the Hoods to Woods Foundation.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.hoodstowoodsfoundation.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hoodstowoods – https://www.instagram.com/omard809/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hoodstowoods
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hoods-to-woods-foundation/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/hoodstowoods
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvJLQtbImh31dUM78D3HaIQ
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@hoodstowoods http://www.hoodstowoodsfoundation.org/blog/ https://open.spotify.com/show/1uaTyJzNxMCJc1R1ZT5cnO?si=4788049618ba4505 https://www.threads.net/@hoodstowoods
Image Credits
Jairo Lirano