Omar Diaz, a well-seasoned snowboarder, found his passion for the sport at Hunter Mountain in the winter of 1989. Since then, he has found a love for teaching and sharing his passion with others, whether that be via social media, helping a stranger land their first jump, or through the Hoods to Woods Foundation of which he is the co-founder, alongside Brian Paupaw. The nonprofit’s mission is to promote the awareness of the outdoors to inner city children through the lens of snowboarding.
Over the 12 years that Hoods to Woods has been established, Omar has gone to great lengths to improve the foundation’s effectiveness and outreach. In this year alone, Omar has helped bring over 70 students from inner city communities to both Mountain Creek and Big SNOW to introduce them to the world of snowboarding.
Though Omar’s day job as an Internal Audit and Manager for Anywhere Real Estate Inc. keeps him extraordinarily busy, he devotes nearly all of his spare time to the Hoods to Woods Foundation, as he has made it his life mission to see his students succeed.