Operation FAQs
How was Brown Girls Climb (BGC) founded?
Brown Girls Climb was founded originally as an instagram in the fall of 2016 by Bethany Lebewitz. In the spring of 2017, BGC meet-ups began in Washington D.C. and expanded in May to Denver, Colorado. Now, BGC is run by Bethany, Brittany Leavitt, Monserrat Alvarez, Sasha Diane, Jael Berger, and Laura Edmondson. Special thanks to Chela, Gabriella Dickerson, and Grace Anderson who helped BGC in its formative stages.
How does Brown Girls Climb operate?
Brown Girls Climb is a limited liability company, meaning we are a for-profit entity with a sole proprietorship. Bethany Lebewitz is the founder and CEO of Brown Girls Climb, LLC; she works alongside a national leadership team of five women of color who drive what BGC is today. As we grow, we hope to employ WOC full time, part time, and contracted positions. As of today, everyone who works with BGC works under a contracted position. We believe that economic independence for WOC is critical towards becoming better leaders in our society, creating more equitable wealth distribution, and provides a step towards financially supporting individuals, non-profits and organizations that align with our goals of supporting communities of color.
How does Brown Girls Climb make money?
Brown Girls Climb provides a variety of services to support the work we do for the community:
- Memberships
- Events
- Consultation & Speaking
Our hope is to be funded ⅓ directly from the community through memberships by 2021. Your investment in Brown Girls Climb helps support general operations, compensation to WOC on our leadership team and collaborative artists and speakers, and building better products and services for our community.
Membership FAQs
Are the memberships only for Women of Color (WOC)?
Our goal is to create a community that supports and celebrates WOC through shared knowledge and leadership so our memberships services are designed to provide accessible climbing and advancement to Women of Color. We also value our allies and know that together we can create a more inclusive climbing community, which has always been one of our primary goals. We offer monthly memberships to allies that offer ways to support communities of color, initiatives that prioritize equitable practices in the outdoors and workplace, and education on ways you can be a better ally!
What are the benefits that come with a membership?
Benefits for memberships can be found here. Brown Girls Climb focuses on partnering with companies and organizations that provide services that you need and aligns with our values. Working with our partners has it’s challenges but we work closely with our partners to hold them accountable and ask our members to do the same with us. If you have any suggestions on companies to partner with or things you would like to access through BGC or have any questions or comments, please contact sasha@browngirlsclimb.com
