Navigating diversity in the Adirondack region: A conversation with Tiffany Rea-Fisher

Adirondack Diversity Initiative director discusses her work, and what inspires her to do it

By David Escobar

The most recent census confirmed a couple of trends in the Adirondack Park: a steady decline in population and a continued lack of diversity.

Roughly 95% of the 123,300 full-time Adirondack residents identify as white, a statistic that has guided the mission of the Adirondack Diversity Initiative (ADI) since its founding in 2015.

A branch of the Adirondack North Country Association, ADI works to foster a more inclusive Adirondacks through diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.

Tiffany Rea-Fisher, who splits her time between the Adirondacks and New York City, became the initiative’s second executive director in February 2023.

As a professional dancer, Rea-Fisher, 43, has been involved with the Adirondack community for over two decades.

The Explorer sat down with Rea-Fisher as she approached her first full year at the helm.

Here is more of the interview, edited for space and clarity.

Q: Can you tell me about your history and relationship with the Adirondacks?

I came up originally as an artist in residence through the Lake Placid Center for the Arts with my dance company, and I fell in love with communing with nature from an artist’s standpoint. There’s something that biologically happens to us — especially if you’re an artist — if you’re able to be one in nature.

I then became the director of the Lake Placid School of Dance after doing master classes for them. There were very few students of color and there were no teachers of color. And when I came in, you all of a sudden had a black female director and instructors of color. 

During 2020, many parents felt at a loss about how to speak about what was going on in the world to their students. I was able to fill in that gap very easily and honestly. I think that experience helped me understand that sometimes the body in which we move through the world makes a real difference.

Q: Why did you want to lead the Adirondack Diversity Initiative?

I felt that I had an understanding of what the issues were. I had and have a deep, deep love for this community. I have a lot of faith in this community. I have a lot of hope in this community.

I had already been doing a lot of DEI work unofficially in the region. I felt like if I didn’t try, I would regret it. I was a new mom at the time, and I’d been thinking a lot about the next generation of Adirondackers.

I felt that if I didn’t go for this job, I would just be someone who was critiquing this place that I love without an action behind it. And that didn’t sit right with me.  

Q: Three people are on staff at ADI, yet your organization covers millions of acres. How do you approach that work?

The numbers that I always say are three, seven and 14. There are three people, and our focus areas are the seven different areas of diversity for 14 counties.

It’s an absurd, crazy task, but that is the task. The three of us — Melanie Reding, Tamara Jolly and myself — are dedicated. Until we can get more boots on the ground, we’re here for it because it’s a very slow hearts-and-minds campaign.

The payoff probably won’t happen in my lifetime, but the goal is to get to the point where the Adirondack Diversity Initiative wouldn’t even have to exist.

Q: How would you describe your work?

Your first point of contact as a visitor or as someone who lives here might be some type of law enforcement. So we have a cultural consciousness training program for law enforcement that operates in all 14 counties.

We drill down on the history of policing and the history of protest. We discuss where people think modern policing began. It actually began with slave catchers, and the way that slave catchers were identified was by a star on their shoulders. A similar star is still represented on police uniforms today.

So if you don’t understand that as an officer that’s going into a community that does have that understanding, there’s already a tension that you don’t understand. The point of the training is not shame and blame, but education.

We’re also starting a micro-credential program for small businesses through North Country Community College. It’s a 10-module online course. It helps businesses understand how to be more welcoming to customers and employees from diverse backgrounds.

From an economic perspective, people who are othered are a bit more discerning with where they spend their money. If you come to a place and don’t feel comfortable, that’s a loss of income for a business.

It behooves us to be a welcoming place. For this area to thrive, people have to fall in love with it. They have to see a future here, so our programs help with that.

Q: What was your understanding of ADI and how does your vision for the future differ?

Before I became director, the world was on fire in a very particular way. Our local organization had to respond to news on a national and global level. That’s a big ask. One of the things I said to my team is that I want us to be responsive without being reactive.

The difference is that responsiveness includes intentionality, and it’s a little bit slower pace. I think where there’s confusion is that sometimes people want ADI to police other people’s behavior.

We cannot police individual community members, and I think sometimes that is what people want. ADI is here to educate people. 

Q: You split your time between positions in the Adirondacks and New York City. How do you handle that?

A week for me is absurd and chaotic in the best way. I would not advise people to have jobs in two different cities hours away.

It’s hard knowing that no matter what you do, you’re always letting someone down or there’s something falling through the cracks. However, even if Melanie, Tamara, and I were in Saranac Lake working 24 hours a day, every single day, we still would not be able to hit our seven areas of diversity in all 14 counties.

Luckily, we also live in a digital age, so it’s not hard to track issues if something blows up. I can make a statement from everywhere. But I think that it’s important to show my face as many places as I can.

Q: Do you feel that your work and lifestyle are sustainable?

In the DEI space, the burnout rate is high. I think about sustainability a lot because I don’t like letting people down.

I don’t know how long the job is sustainable, but I know that I will give it everything I have for as long as I have. And I know what I have is a lot.

I have to go into rooms of people who do not look like myself and basically teach them why it’s important to treat people who look like me as human beings. That’s my job. The level of hurt is deep, and that means that my heart gets hurt by the work, by design.

Q: What are some of the issues you’re most concerned about in the Adirondacks?

I think climate justice is really interesting because there are going to be climate refugees sometime in the future. The topography of the Adirondacks has always provided shelter and safety.

I do foresee that coming and that’s why I’m trying to educate our businesses and schools about welcoming and belonging. As these refugees come, it behooves us to make sure that they feel welcome so that they can invest in this place.

I think a lot about our LGBTQIA+ youth and our rights as people — just as humans on this earth. Whether your rights have ever been challenged really affects how you think about politics and how you’re allowed to move through the world. I think this is what keeps me up at night and also infuses my work.

Something that I think really trips people up is the arrangement of the letters in “DEI” — they should be inverted. If you’re working from an inclusion and equity standpoint first, you will get diversity.

David Escobar is a Report For America Corps Member. He reports on diversity issues in the Adirondacks through a partnership between North Country Public Radio and Adirondack Explorer.

Photo at top: Adirondack Diversity Initiative director Tiffany Rea-Fisher poses inside of her office in Saranac Lake. Photo by David Escobar.