Outdoor Central Oregon January/February 2020

JAN/FEB 2020 approach to motherhood. She’s done incredible work paving the way for female athletes to become mothers and keep their professional career. But I know none of these paths have been easy for any of these moms. Maybe the advice is, there’s no right way to do it, just do what feels right to you… and don’t be hard on yourself. Also, get exercise, it’s so important for mental and physical health. In the past I got all my exercise snowboarding, surfing, play- ing soccer, biking, but it’s really hard to find those big chunks of time with a baby’s sched- ule, so I also went all in on Barre3 and Groove Yoga to stay in shape for when I could get out there...and also to not lose my mind. You were a writer at first, and then worked your way up to Editor in Chief at Tran- sworld Snowboarding? Give us that timeline? I majored in Cultural Anthropology at Montana State University, which mostly involved writing term papers, I feel like that’s where I got my start. After graduating in ’99, I went back to snowboarding full time, I was sponsored by Arc’teryx, Airwalk, Prom Outerwear. But without the mental challenge of school, I wasn’t feeling totally fulfilled. I got my first byline in Couloir Magazine (a backcountry skiing magazine that has since been absorbed by Backcountry). I wrote about an avalanche we had been involved with near Bridger Bowl Ski Area. The article was originally a blog post on the World Boards snowboard shop website. The editor of Cou- loir wanted to reprint it and pay me for it. I went on to write quite a few articles for Couloir and other outdoor magazines about splitboarding, backcountry huts and lots of gear reviews. Then I got a regular column with Snowboarder magazine documenting the Montana snow- board scene. And I started contributing to the TransWorld Resort Guide and Buyer’s Guide. I eventually got hired as an associate editor for the special issues at Transworld, which had me in SoCal for the summer and spring, then back to Montana for the winter. I did that for two years, working at the Yellowstone Club in between and freelancing before taking a full time job with Transworld. Then I just worked my way up. During Transworld’s hay day It was the largest circulated Snowboarding magazine in the world. You became the first female Editor in Chief in the history of the sport, and maybe the only one in the entire outdoor sports industry. Do you feel you were a trailblazer, being the outdoor sports industry is very male dominated? Who are some of the other female trail blazers you have met in the outdoor sports industry? It was a huge honor for me to take over the magazine in 2008. I think by that time everyone in snowboarding knew me so well it wasn’t totally earth shattering, but it was still remarkable because there wasn’t a precedent for having a female editor at any ski or snowboard title. Snowboarding is a very male dominated field, but it shouldn’t be. Women helped build the sport, there were female pros from the beginning, there are female product reps and instruc- tors and engineers, but it’s unfortunate that it does look like a man’s world when you step back. It shouldn’t be that way. I never once doubted whether I belonged in a top decision making position in snowboarding, I only questioned why there weren’t more women. Fortunately, a lot has changed since 2008. There are currently female editors at Powder, Backcountry Magazine and the online Ski Magazine. It’s great, but I know what the chal- lenges are in magazines these days, it’s not like the heydays. I really look to the athletes like Kimmy Fasani who’s made being a professional athlete mom a long overdue reality, Leanne Pelosi with her Runway Films Productions, Victoria Jealouse for literally trailblazing big Alaska lines and Janna Meyen, because she was my favorite rider back in the day and she gave me a style to try to emulate. There are plenty of women including Donna Carpenter at Burton who in addition to serving as the CEO of the biggest snowboard brand in the world, has implemented industry leading female-friendly policies. Sports agent to the stars, Circe Wallace also gets it done. As someone who enjoys writing, what were some of the major differences you experienced once at the helm of the content of a major publication? There’s already a big difference between being a writer and a magazine editor. As a free- 11 lance writer, you write and you manage your own business. But as an editor you’re in an office setting, working collaboratively, managing freelancers and in the case of TWSnow, producing events like the Good Wood Board Test and Riders Poll and Team Shootout or working out the logistics of herding a group of pro snowboarders and photographers to some exotic location, so there’s a whole different skill set you develop in addition to writing. Snowboard magazines have a very annual workflow. In the fall, we’d hold an editorial plan- ning meeting with our staff of nine and our senior contributing photographers where we’d identify all the features to pursue for the whole twelve-issues volume. We’d brainstorm new columns, revisit everything in the magazine to see how it could be improved or was it’s time up. Then we’d execute all winter, which means traveling and snowboarding —the best part. Transworld was a very photo-driven magazine, so it all hinged on the photographer’s sub- missions in the spring. We’d assess what we had and I’d lay it all out over the volume, get assignments out and try to keep us on track for deadlines and budget. Even as EIC I kept writing regular columns and features in addition to all the managerial stuff. It was important to me to keep that skill, writing is one of those things you have to keep doing or you lose it. By the time I reached the top of the masthead, there was such a focus on digital both on twsnow.com and iPad, and of course social media—everyone had digital obligations. We started sending filmers out on all our features, so we could have video in addition to the an- nual films we’d crank out. The huge focus on video, eventually led me to leave Transworld in 2012 to pursue an op- portunity as the programming director at a YouTube-funded action sports channel called Network A. Besides Snowboarding what are some of the other outdoor sports you partake in? Definitely mountain biking, the new bikes are so fun. My husband and I trade off Phil’s runs while our son sessions the pump track. I like to play soccer, indoor or outdoor depending on the season. I will also take any and all offers to wake surf. Have you lived in any other mountain towns? Is Bend everything you hoped for? What would you change about Bend? I’ve lived in Bozeman before and I always catch myself comparing the two towns. Bozeman is a little more isolated, you don’t get friends passing through like you do here in Bend. The backcountry terrain is more accessible outside of Bozeman in that you can snowmobile right into the terrain you want to ride, or find challenging lines in the mountains around town. I probably just haven’t had enough of a chance to explore around Bend in the winter. Bend wins hands down for the public parks and spaces over anywhere I’ve ever lived. One thing Bend can improve on is the snow plowing around town. Like, seriously? If you weren’t writing professionally, what other profession would you pursue? What else interests you? I really like storytelling in general, I’ve found that I’m happy at any opportunity to tell a story, profile a person or offer a deeper understanding of a topic, whether that’s through written words, video or another digital medium. You, your husband, and son are on a exotic vacation, where on this planet would we find you? If my husband was calling the shots, we’d be in Tavarua or Bali on a surf vacation. My choice would be a backcountry catboarding or heli lodge in interior B.C., Canada. Both sound like great options.

Outdoor Central Oregon January/February 2020 | Page 11