Candice Price

Kansas City, Missouri

CEO
Urban American Outdoors

Black people have a historically intimate connection to nature and its tangible magnificence. In 1999, Candice Price developed and launched “Urban American Outdoors,” the first Black reality-sports adventure TV show in the country dedicated to representing our relationship with the joys of conservation, fishing and outdoor recreational activities. Based out of Kansas City, Mo., and hosted by Price’s husband, professional outdoorsman Wayne Hubbard, the show was syndicated in 2003 and airs nationwide across affiliate networks. Its historic run has made the multihyphenate Price, 66, a trailblazer several times over as one of the first Black women to create, own and produce an outdoor lifestyle TV show.

A champion of environmental stewardship and inclusivity, Price was born into a family of activists and pioneers — her grandfather was the first Black dentist in Kansas and her parents owned the state’s first Black newspaper. She’s continued that work by dispelling myths and engaging people of color through “Urban American Outdoors,” which has earned four Emmy nominations and won over 70 broadcast and cable industry awards.

Price is also president and CEO of SODAS Life Inc., an acronym for “Saving Our Daughters and Sons Life,” to engage children in safe outdoor spaces and the fun of recreational activity. In 2005, she debuted the National Urban Kids Fishing Derby to introduce children to aquatic education, fishing events and environmental social justice. That event has given more than 100,000 underrepresented youth the thrill of catching their first fish. When the pandemic put a pause on in-person togetherness, Price took the derby virtual, including participants from 36 states who fished in the open air at a social distance. Her work and ingenuity earned her the Chief’s Award, the highest honor from the U.S. Forest Service, in 2020. — Janelle Harris Dixon