{"id":19114,"date":"2017-09-12T07:26:37","date_gmt":"2017-09-12T14:26:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=19114"},"modified":"2020-06-16T16:00:23","modified_gmt":"2020-06-16T23:00:23","slug":"bethany-lebewitz-uses-instagram-to-grow-inclusion-in-climbing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/climb\/bethany-lebewitz-uses-instagram-to-grow-inclusion-in-climbing","title":{"rendered":"Bethany Lebewitz Uses Instagram to Grow Inclusion in Climbing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bethany Lebewitz didn\u2019t really start climbing until she was 24. She was living in Austin, Texas, and had just ended a long-term relationship. “I was going through that \u2018What happened? Who am I?\u2019 kind of post-breakup hangover,” she says. Looking for something to “help her find her voice again,” she researched the nearest climbing gym, rode her bike there and asked how she could learn to climb.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was preparing for school applications, and every time I went to the gym it was like I was trying something new. I was kind of terrible at it. I fell. I had to get back up and keep trying,\u201d she says. Persistence was especially valuable to her at that point of her life. \u201cTo be the first person in my family to apply to school, it was a constant thought in my head that \u2018I\u2019m going to fail.\u2019 Climbing really helped remind me that you\u2019ve got to get up and try again.\u201d<\/p>\n

“I pictured everyone around me different shades of brown, like I was, and I realized how different of an experience that would be.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But the more she climbed, the more she started to crave camaraderie. And, as she spent more and more time with climbers, she started asking questions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was at the New River Gorge one time and I looked around and realized just how many white people were climbing,” she says. “You sort of get used to this. But this one time, I pictured everyone around me different shades of brown, like I was, and I realized how different of an experience that would be.”<\/p>\n

Lebewitz, who identifies as bi-racial\u2014half Mexican and half white\u2014started thinking about how she could help make that daydream a reality. \u201cI exist in the climbing community, so how do I lead in this? How do I do something, especially when I don\u2019t work in the outdoors?\u201d<\/p>\n

The answer was to launch\u00a0@browngirlsclimb<\/a>. \u201cMy brother and friends had encouraged me to start an Instragram account, so I thought, \u2018If I\u2019m going to do an Instragram account, let me try and do it in a way that other people can find some value in it.’\u201d<\/p>\n

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A post shared by Bethany (@browngirlsclimb)<\/a> on