Episode 03: Jocelyn Rice
Jocelyn Rice: Outdoor Apparel Designer and Founder of Black Earth United | Interviewed by Rashad Floyd
I realized over time, the morning is the most important time for me to be myself and to be comfortable in my space. A lantern, the candles, it's just part of what I do, and I don’t know how I started. When I can hear the birds or the rain or whatever, I want to be as present in that moment as possible. In order to do that, I didn't want to turn on my lights. I didn't want to let the rest of the world in yet.
Having the opportunity to tell stories through clothing, and something that my people are rooted in, just really transformed my life. The clothes that I love is something that is really meaningful to me. I want something that when I put it on, I can embody what that is, as a homage to our hair and our culture is really, really important to me. And bringing it into this outdoor space, which is something new. I do genuinely feel like I'm providing people with something that's really good for them. I love to read history of Black folks and the outdoors. One of the stories that I read that I love the most is the story of Joseph K. Bowler. He created a Jim Crow traveling kit. It consisted of a pair of old mechanics coveralls and a little stove. He wasn't allowed in hotels, and he would sleep out in the wilderness, so his connection is very different. The stories of folks that you've never heard of still have to be told. Why not tell them in this way? It might be Harriet Tubman's story, or it might be Angela Exodus' story. It's kind of that connection to a story and ancestry, and the outdoors.
The artificialness of the world has always kind of bothered me a little bit. Just walking outside and putting my feet in the grass, really bringing it back to the very, very basics, it's just so incredibly peaceful, and it is nothing but me in that moment. It's inside all of us, but because we have so many other devices around us, so many other things going on, we don't pay as much attention to it as we used to. When I was working in corporate, I couldn't get my ideas through. They weren't understanding the different connections I was trying to make, understanding that nature and outdoors can mean different things to different people. For me, my hair was a barrier to me getting outside. I wanted to make sure that I was figuring out a way to create something that had meaning in it and that was for a new purpose. So the durags seemed like the perfect place to do it. I think durags are a form of self-expression. The patterns, the stitching, even how you wear that piece, you can wear it 15 different ways. It has such a rich history to it. It is for us. And it's so personal to Black folks. You can wear it in the gym, you could wear it on a hike. I mean, that's the beauty of a durag too, it's so different, depending on what you're going to do that day.
I want to see more Black women designing outdoor apparel, like we just don't exist there. I want a full on line. I want rain jackets, I want fishing gear, I want the whole thing. And Black folks can say, “I purchased that from Black Earth United.” At the end of the day, I'm still making something that somebody's got to go out into the world in, and it matters how I'm thinking about that product. Every piece I make, I bless it. I put it in my best energy because it's me making it. The connection to the culture is you, it’s us. The intention is very different than what a big company has, but the hustle is exactly the same.
