Marinel M. de Jesus, Esq. (aka Brown Gal Trekker) is a former lawyer, now a social entrepreneur, writer, filmmaker, and a global mountain nomad. She is the founder of Peak Explorations, LLC and Brown Gal Trekker, both of which were officially launched in 2016. She is a former prosecutor in Washington, DC who left her 15-year legal practice to run Peak Explorations and Brown Gal Trekker.  Having been to over 60 countries to date, she is an avid explorer and mountain trekker. Marinel also founded The Porter Voice Collective, a non-profit human rights organization that advocates for the fair and humane treatment of porters in the trekking tourism industries of Peru, Nepal and Tanzania.

Marinel obtained her dual degree in Social Work and American Ethnic Studies, Juris Doctor degree and Masters in Social Work at the University of Washington in Seattle. Marinel has been an advocate for diversity and inclusion since college, pioneering an Affirmative Action program with the Dean of Admissions at the UW Law School. Shortly after law school, she moved to Washington, DC where she clerked for the D.C. Office of the Magistrate Judges and thereafter became an Assistant Attorney General for the District of Columbia in the Child Protection Section. In her tenure as a prosecutor, she litigated child abuse and neglect, as well as, adult guardianship and mental health cases in Washington, DC.

Marinel discovered hiking much later in life. She is a first-generation Filipina immigrant who moved with her parents and two brothers to Seattle, Washington in 1990.  Mountain trekking started out as a hobby when she first moved to Washington, DC in 2001.  Soon enough, she began leading treks locally, nationwide and overseas as an organizer for numerous outdoor groups in the Washington, DC area.  Burnt out from the demands of her legal career, Marinel took a 1-year sabbatical from her legal career and trekked solo in 21 countries from 2014 to 2015.

This experience solidified her calling involving only one thing – mountain trekking.  Meanwhile, as a trek organizer, Marinel has taken hikers to over 30 countries when she realized the need to create changes in the trekking tourism industry.  Her hiking life of over 15 years revealed the inequities within the trekking tourism industry involving women and indigenous communities, many of whom are overlooked in the industry.  This inspired her to launch her social enterprise, Peak Explorations, in June of 2016.

Marinel is currently based in Cusco, Peru where she investigates current business practices on the Inca Trail and acts as a volunteer for the Porter Voice Collective.  She is also a freelance writer and has published lesser told and controversial stories related to the travel and outdoor industries. Her articles have been published on Outside Magazine, Adventure Journal, Backpacker Magazine, Matador, Huffington Post, and more.

Marinel has been featured on Vice Cable TV’s Second Act Mini-Documentary Series, House Hunters International, Backpacker Magazine, Vox, Outdoor Project, Roadtrippers, Gear Junkie, She Explores Podcast, among a few others.  She is an Ambassador for Kuhl and AKU Trekking Shoes and a member of the steering committee for the Outdoor CEO Diversity Pledge.

All treks worldwide with an affinity toward the trails of the Himalayas and the Andes where spirituality and ancient cultures can still be experienced.

Her future hiking aspiration includes trekking the entire length of Nepal’s Great Himalaya Trail to document the stories of indigenous women along the way.   As being a nomad goes, her personal goal is to live in at least 5 continents in her lifetime. She has so far lived in three continents; hence, two more to go.