About Us
Outdoorithm is a social enterprise on a mission to make public campgrounds more accessible for first-time and urban campers. Leveraging AI, we are building a powerful platform that takes the guesswork out of planning your perfect camping trip - empowering you to discover new places, gear up with confidence, and (re)connect with nature.
Our Team
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Sally Steele is a strategic leader with proven experience scaling mission-driven organizations from grassroots initiatives to thriving enterprises. She combines her expertise in operational excellence and building inclusive community programs with firsthand experience making outdoor recreation work for urban families. Previously, as Co-Executive Director of City Hope, Sally grew the organization from a volunteer initiative to a multi-million dollar community development center, serving thousands across San Francisco through programs focused on healing and community transformation.
An REI Embark Fellow and ordained minister with degrees from the University of Virginia and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Sally bridges the practical and life-giving aspects of outdoor experiences. Her work creating spaces where people feel seen and connected, together with hands-on experience getting urban families outdoors (camping 30+ nights annually with her family of six), fuels Outdoorithm's mission of making nature's restorative benefits accessible to all through technology.
Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer
Justin is a seasoned technology leader with a Bachelor's degree in Engineering from the University of Virginia and dual master's degrees in business and public administration from Harvard. With over a decade of experience in public interest technology, he led major initiatives at Google.org as Director for the Americas, overseeing $700 million in philanthropy, launching Google's AI Opportunity Fund, and creating its first racial justice initiative. His work has empowered millions through digital skills training and innovative, techenabled solutions for social impact.
At Outdoorithm, Justin combines his technical skills in full stack development, AI applications, and data science with a commitment to accessibility, building a platform that simplifies camping for urban families. Shaped by his own experiences exploring the outdoors as part of a mixed-race African American family, Justin is dedicated to making nature more inclusive and enjoyable for all. Outside of work, he enjoys outdoor adventures with his family, fly fishing, and coding for home automation.
Our Story
Sally and Justin on their first hike together in Shenandoah National Park in 2004 (notice the Timberland boots and blue jeans, classic tells that we were early in our understanding of how to stay comfortable outdoors)
Justin and Sally met at the University of Virginia and have been camping and hiking together ever since. Justin grew up summer RV camping with his family in the Pacific Northwest while Sally grew up in a military family where the answer to "Should we go camping?" was, "Why would we do that?" Both also grew up in mixed families with Black fathers and White mothers. In any space, families that looked like theirs were rare, but especially in outdoor spaces.
As they became more comfortable occupying outdoor spaces and experiencing the mental health benefits of making it a regular practice, Sally and Justin began, mostly unsuccessfully, to recruit their friends to start camping too. The barriers of place (where do I go and how do I get a campsite there?), equipment (will I have what I need to be safe and comfortable?), and belonging (is the outdoors a place where I will be included and valued?) kept surfacing, so the Steeles set out to create a platform to address these barriers for families like theirs who want to go camping but don't know how to do so in a way that consistently works for their family.
Sally and Justin on the last leg of the Zion Traverse in Zion National Park in 2018 (as you can see, we learned a thing or two about equipping ourselves in the 14 years since our first hike in Virginia)
The entire Steele family in 2022 camping at Kirk Creek campground in incredible Big Sur, California
The Steeles have spent hundreds of nights camping as a family, buying and testing more gear than they care to admit and exploring campgrounds all over the country. From their home base in Oakland, California they have used weekends and holidays to road trip to amazing places, zero in on the gear they love, and figuring out what makes for a memorable camping trip for the whole family.
Sally and Justin co-founded Outdoorithm with the desire to make experiences in the outdoors more accessible to urban families. They love seeing their kids experience the joy, empowerment and awe that comes from spending time in nature, and are excited to help other families find their own rhythm outdoors. Their hope is that the Outdoorithm platform, which combines the nerdiness of tech-enabled algorithms with a cultural focus on urban families, will help more folks start or expand their journey in the outdoors.