Shelma Jun

Shelma Jun is the founder of Flash Foxy and the Women's Climbing Festival. Flash Foxy is a multi-media platform created in 2014 to celebrate women climbing with women and to be a place women can come to feel inspired by and connected to each other. The Women’s Climbing Festival, which first started in 2016 in Bishop, Calif. brings 300 women together over a weekend of climbing, panels, clinics and more. An additional festival location was added in Chattanooga, Tenn. in 2017. A leader in the outdoors community, Jun has written, spoken and presented on the importance of creating a climbing community that reflects and welcomes everyone who identifies as a climber.

Jun is a Korean-American immigrant based in Brooklyn. Her advocacy work through events, writing and films intertwine her desires to create opportunities for women to support one another, work in partnership with other grassroots initiatives to amplify the voices of underrepresented folks and honor Indigenous connections to the places we recreate in through land acknowledgment. Jun's unmistakable style from her trademark outrageous earrings to her signature cut-off denim shorts bring a coolness to the crag but also remind others that there is more than one type of climber to be celebrated. She also currently sits on the Board of Directors for Access Fund. Her writing has appeared in Climbing Magazine, Outside Online and other publication and she has spoken on panels and at dinners for the American Alpine Club and the Access Fund. In 2017, she was named one of 40 women who’ve made the biggest impact in the outdoor world by Outside Magazine.

Prior to Flash Foxy, Jun worked for five years in NYC as the Community Design Manager at Hester Street Collaborative and as a Community Planner at Asian Americans for Equality. During her tenure, she created participatory tools to engage people in shaping their public spaces, developed community-based plans, participated in neighborhood coalitions and facilitated the creation of public art installations. She also co-found Biking Public Project, an organization that aims to expand local cycling advocacy discussions by reaching out to underrepresented bicyclists around New York City including women, people of color, and delivery cyclists. Raised in California but currently based in Brooklyn, N.Y., Jun can often be found plugging widgets into horizontal cracks at the Gunks or getting scared on granite highballs in Bishop.