Samsara Accelerate
The Samsara Accelerate Program is working to transform the outdoor industry into one in which athletes of color from underrepresented communities play a leadership role. They do this by providing comprehensive training, equipment, and connection to a community of outdoor athletes through the Samsara Athlete Team.
Samsara Accelerate Program’s mission is to support underrepresented athletes from communities of color to close the gap in athletic development in order to achieve opportunities in sport and professional outdoor roles.
Meet our Accelerate Program Team
Zahan: Exum Guide & Founder of Samsara Experience
Zahan grew up in Switzerland, a brown kid in a white society, surrounded by mountains. He was the son of first generation immigrants, so developing the skills to play outside was new to him and his family. With the help of many mentors, he became something he had never seen or heard of: a brown Mountain Guide. In 2009 he was hired by Exum Mountain Guides, and a few years later earned his IFMGA certification. Z volunteers as a guide on the annual Camina Conmigo Grand Teton climb. Z has volunteered with the Coombs Backcountry Program since it first started. He believes deeply in Coombs as one of few opportunities for the Jackson Latino community to experience the benefits of outdoor adventures, and to live up to the Samsara belief that being an athlete, playing outside and discovering your physical gifts is a human right.
Sasha: Professional Skier & Accelerate Program Manager
Sasha is the daughter and granddaughter of Vietnam war refugees and a former Freeride World Tour athlete. She has shared the refugee story of her family in the RedBull TV all female ski film, Nexus, and “The Ski Journal,” to illustrate what can change in just one generation when someone falls in love with skiing and is provided with access to the sport. In 2021 she volunteered as a meditation teacher to facilitate a Mindful Ski Day with Coombs at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. Sasha volunteers with the Coombs Club program. She loves having fun outside and providing representation for the next generation of kids to believe that they too belong in the outdoors.
Athlete Testimonials
“The Accelerate program has opened a world of training methods and community that I’ve never had access to before. Without the long history of training and participating in sports since childhood that many other climbers have, I’d been learning on my own and making up climbing technique and training through trial and error. Accelerate is providing crucial resources, community, and support.”
“Being a part of Accelerate has offered a special (and often missing) space to reflect on identity, belonging, and finding joy in our bodies with my incredible Accelerate teammates. It has introduced me to the magical Samsara approach to training! It has provided me with the resources and community to sustainably invest in my training, to embrace and feel supported in pursuing big outdoor goals and to access a wealth of knowledge from the rest of the Athlete Team that would otherwise have felt intimidating or inaccessible. Thanks to all those that make the Accelerate team possible.”