Apr 21, 2021
As a highly functional sufferer of depression, Olatunji Oboi Reed needed an outlet for himself to heal-- ultimately finding a form of therapy one day when he decided to take his bike out for a ride for the first time in years; finding joy in the wind and sun around him.
He developed a passion for cycling and in the process he found that there were significant inequalities as far as safe mobility in black and brown neighborhoods. Oboii decided he needed to join the fight for racial equity, through the means of increasing safe mobility in these neighborhoods.
Episode Highlights:
- How cycling became a part of his therapy during his time of depression
- His drive and motivation for cycling
- How he worked through his depression
- Getting help with his mental health and the sigma that can be associated with mental illness
- Mobility issues for Black and Brown people across the US
- His project to address the mobility issues of minorities
Guest Bio:
Olatunji Oboi Reed’s passion is deeply rooted in community, culture, and health. As a racial equity technician, he works globally with other organizations to bring racial justice and increase mobility around the world.
Given his background in management and corporate, he is able to build a whole team of diverse individuals, all working together to achieve racial equality and mobile justice in the city of Chicago.
He was the co-founder and served as the President & CEO of Slow Roll Chicago. Slow Roll Chicago was a spin-off of the Slow Roll rides that started in Detroit. Slow Roll Chicago, purpose is to ride bicycles to make black/brown neighborhoods better. Slow Roll Chicago’s vision is equal bicycle usage across the City of Chicago with respect to race, income and neighborhood. The vision was bicycles as a form of effective transportation, contributing to reducing violence, improving health, creating jobs and ultimately making black/brown neighborhoods more livable
Oboi was awarded The White House Transportation Champion of Change award by The White House and the United States Department of Transportation, under President Obama.
He is currently the founding president and CEO of Equicity, his main outlet to manifest his social justice passions for equal mobility for all-- targeted mainly at uplifting the lives of Black and Brown people across the United States. Equiticity vision is a city where racial equality is integrated at the policy and legislative levels. He envisions Equiticity creating a US city that serves as a model for the rest of the world on how to normalize, prioritize, and operationalize racial equality in terms of resources.
Connect with Olatunji Oboi Reed:
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