What happens when the thing that makes you feel most like yourself doesn’t fit neatly into the version of success you were raised to pursue?
For Alexis Nikole Nelson, aka The Black Forager, that question has shaped nearly every chapter of her life. From growing up as a curious, outdoorsy kid who learned about plants in her mother’s garden to studying environmental science and theater, working in marketing, and eventually building a community of millions around her love of foraging, Alexis has never really fit into just one box. And that’s exactly the point.
In this episode, Alexis joins Brown Ambition to talk about building a life and business that makes room for all of her interests, identities, and curiosities. She shares how her mother introduced her to foraging as a child, why she initially kept her love of plants and the outdoors to herself, and what it took to stop suppressing the parts of herself that didn’t fit other people’s expectations of Blackness, femininity, or success.
Mandi and Alexis also get into the less whimsical side of turning a passion into a business, from navigating taxes and forming an LLC to saying no to brand deals, managing burnout, and learning how to treat your creativity like a business without losing the joy that made you love it in the first place. They also talk about connecting with Black ancestry through food and the land, the importance of curiosity in adulthood, and why getting to know the world around us can make our lives feel a little more magical.
In this episode, we get into:
Growing up with a mother who was a Black corporate leader and finding connection with her through gardening and the outdoors
How Alexis discovered foraging at five years old and never really stopped being curious about plants
The pressure to pursue a traditional, “successful” career and what happened when Alexis realized environmental engineering wasn’t for her
Going from environmental science and theater to marketing and eventually becoming a full-time creator
Why Alexis chose the name Black Forager and the importance of making Blackness visible in spaces where it hasn’t always been expected
Challenging narrow ideas about Black femininity, identity, hobbies, and what Black people are “supposed” to be interested in
Finding a deeper connection to Black history and ancestry through plants, gardening, and the land
The complicated history of Black people and the outdoors and what it means to reclaim those spaces
What happens when your hobby becomes your livelihood, including burnout and the pressure to always create
Building a business around your personality without losing yourself in the process
Why curiosity is a muscle we have to keep exercising, especially as adults
Making everyday life more magical by getting to know the natural world around us
Giving yourself permission to be playful, weird, creative, and fully yourself
Alexis’ new cookbook, Happy Snacking, Don’t Die, and the community that helped bring it to life
Plus, Alexis shares a few beginner-friendly foraging tips, the plant she thinks we should stop calling a weed, why we might want to rethink our relationship with black walnuts, and her official ranking of some very whimsical activities.
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