Job Title: Social Media/Marketing Manager and Team Coordinator
Employer: The House Boardshop
Years on snow: 18 on a snowboard. 27 total.
Days on snow: A lot
Currently I am: Sitting in my backyard in Portland with my MacBook and my roommate’s dog Gaper.
Shay: Tell us a little bit about yourself
Adryan: Born and raised in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. I’m a freckle faced mountain girl through-and-through. Recently moved up to Portland from a 3-year stint in So-Cal. Lover of books, cooking, vino and friends.
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Photo: Izzy Lalive
Shay: How has snowboarding changed your life?
Adryan: It’s hard to put into words and begs for a cliché answer but snowboarding has affected every aspect of my life in a positive way. Traveling the world for snowboarding has been a better education then any college course I’ve ever paid for. Most of my closest friends are indirectly or directly related to snowboarding. Riding alone on a powder day in the trees is the closest I have ever come to religion. I even have a Japanese Kanji tattoo I got when I was 18 that means “snow”… no regrets though.
Shay: How did you get your start in the industry, who or what opened up more opportunities for you?
Adryan: Sounds a little corny but I was kind of born into it. Being raised in Steamboat Springs you didn’t have much of a choice. If you weren’t on the mountain five days a week you were a loser. Back then the cool kids chose ski racing, but I went for snowboarding. I used to get made fun of for it. One thing led to another, I competed for a bit, and when that came to an end I couldn’t think of anything else I wanted to do more. I had a lot of friends riding and working in the industry and I wasn’t ready to be done with it, so I went for it.
Shay: How has your previous education or work experience helped you in your current job?
Adryan: I used to work on the media side of things- first freelancing for outlets like Fuel TV, Snowboarder Magazine, and Warren Miller among others, then linking up with Future Snowboarding Magazine and GrindTV.com. I knew I wanted to switch over into marketing within the industry and having an in-depth understanding of modern-day print, TV and online action sports media is absolutely the most valuable aspect I can bring to a marketing position.
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Shay: Tell us about your role at The House and a description of the work you do?
Adryan: I linked up with The House Boardshop fairly recently, in August 2010. I was brought on to help with Social Media and Marketing. This includes managing all of the obvious social platforms and company blog as well as building and maintaining a new knowledge-based portal that offers non-bias and unique how-to articles and videos that link to our e-commerce storefront and provide our customers and fans with helpful content related to product and sport.
I also took on most of the team management responsibilities. The House already had a strong snowboard team in place, all of whom I’ve continued to work with, and I was able to bring on a couple more riders to round out the crew. We had our first team shoot earlier this season and I’m hoping to start utilizing more of our riders photo’s and personalities in our marketing efforts- everything from our Fuel TV commercials to print ads to mailers, etc. Now that snow season is over I’m looking at building out our wakeboard and skate teams to help with our marketing efforts.
Shay: What’s an average day like at work for you?
Adryan: I work remotely from my home office in Portland. The House Boardshop is based out of Minnesota. After a substantial amount of coffee I spend most of my time on my computer balancing my days working on creating content, building out a new team site, tooling in CMS’s, working with contributors, obtaining assets, growing partnerships, event sponsorships, working with our riders, collaborating with the brands we sell, checking our social platforms and engaging our fans and customers. Occasionally I travel to events we support or industry trade-shows to create content and keep current with trends and product development.
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Photo: Cort Muller
Shay: What are some memorable experiences from working in the industry?
Adryan: Another cliché answer on this one… traveling, the people I’ve met, and the memories I have from all of it. Although I’m stoked to be a little more rooted now, back in my media days I was lucky enough to be able to travel all over the world to cover snowboarding. Switzerland and New Zealand are two of the most incredible places in the world, and as far as I’m concerned, they should be on everyone’s bucket list. I have memories that still make me laugh out loud when I think about them- and there are people in this industry that are hands down the most interesting people in the world, to me at least.
Shay: What do you think are the biggest challenges that the snowboard industry faces and what changes would you like to see for the future?
Adryan: I think the industry sometimes forgets how important it is to recruit new fans to snowboarding and encourage beginners. It shouldn’t be a secret club that only the cool kids or really rich folks get to try. In a perfect world snowboarding would be as affordable as skateboarding… although I realize that’s unrealistic. It breaks my heart to see resorts charging up to $100 bucks a day for a lift ticket and brands charging $500 for a jacket. I know every industry needs it’s high-end/low-end, but in times like this keeping snowboarding borderline elitist seems counterproductive to industry growth. At the end of the day I want as many people to try snowboarding as possible and have a chance to love it like myself and so many people do.
Shay: Education vs Experience…which do you think is more important?
Adryan: Experience.
Shay: What advice would you give to people wanting to work in the industry?
Adryan: Be nice. Don’t underestimate networking. Don’t get burnt out and grumpy once you do get your foot in the door… at the end of the day… it’s just snowboarding and it’s awesome.
Find out more at:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/HouseBoardshop
Twitter: @houseboardshop
Website: www.the-house.com
