“As I educated myself on Black people and outdoors, I’ve learned of the historical racism that kept us from experiencing the outdoors with the freedom of not fearing for our lives,” she explains. “So I do it for my ancestors that couldn’t do it.”
Myles created about twenty videos for the blog. The experience inspired her to quit a human-resources day job and take video production and editing classes at Emily Griffith Technical College for nine months. She soon launched Dope Life Media, which eventually became Dope Mom Life without a real client focus at the time.
One day, Myles shot a video about a neighborhood in Aurora undergoing gentrification. She met a coffee shop owner who was receiving a grant from Aurora’s Lodger’s Tax to renovate his storefront.