Speaker 1: 0:38

She's probably going to be like Mom you got the days or the age wrong, but I will go off memory here. So it was at a very early age that Emily found her passion for snowboarding, when she found out that there was a snowboard camp at Mount Hood in Oregon that you could go to during the summer and snowboard and ski or ride with some of the most well sought out professional snowboarders. She had come to her mom and dad and asked if she could go to snowboard camp that summer and I had told her that I would be happy to send her, but she would have to raise a portion of that money and at the time we owned a home on a lake in northern Vermont that we would go to every summer, would go to every summer, and she just came up with the concept of selling ice creams on the lake to raise the money to go to snowboard camp. She worked with her dad. They got a hand-me-down boat in a troll motor from her uncle and they purchased a sign that had all the different ice creams that she was selling and she every weekend would stop at a large box store, a warehouse store, and pick up cases and cases of novelty ice cream and then sell them dock to dock to the people that were up on the lake. And she did that for about a summer and a half and by that point she had raised the money to go to snowboard camp.

Speaker 1: 2:23

I really think it was at that point I knew that she was an incredibly driven individual and would achieve anything that she sets her mind to. Well, she came back and she thought it was simply incredible. She took some great pictures and shared them with me, with these other women that were in on the snowboarding industry. She just felt as though that I think she looked at them as you know, mentors and people to aspire to be. I think it was then that she kind of saw that women were just, as you know, could do anything that they set their mind to, and they were making names for themselves in, you know, the sports industry. And it wasn't just a guy's sport snowboarding. So she came back, I think, more determined than ever, started entering more competitions. She actually went off to college in Burlington, vermont, yeah.

Speaker 1: 3:18

So her junior year she was studying abroad. I believe it was a boyfriend at the time she was dating who was a graphic designer, and somebody else who had a swimsuit company asked if he could design a logo for her, and she's like but I'm just starting out, I don't have a lot of money, but I could give your girlfriend a bathing suit in exchange. So Emily got the bathing suit, she looked at it and she's like I could make these. She came home one day and said mom, do you have a sewing machine? And I was like well, I have your grandmother's. I don't really know how to use it. I said, but here, go at it. And she YouTubed it, taught herself how to sew, and just decided okay, this is, I could get pretty passionate about this and, you know, make a career out of it. It began as a passion project. I believe I don't know that that time she really thought it was going to become a business.

Speaker 1: 4:16

And then it was after college when she decided she wanted to travel and she wanted to go live in Australia for a bit. And she did some additional traveling Africa, south Africa, spain. She went to many places Morocco and I. It's from there that she just saw the fast fashion and the waste and plastic and everything that was impacting our world, that she kind of wanted to take more of a sustainable approach to that, and that's really, I think, what just kind of catapulted her in the direction that she is now with her sustainable swimwear company. So my name is karen laplume and I am the proud mom of the designer and founder, emily laplume, of saturday swimwear. I said that backwards, but I would just say to emily how incredibly proud we have been through of her um throughout this entire journey and just how you know her tenacity, her innovation and drive has just impressed myself and her dad very much throughout this whole journey of hers. It was nice chatting with you too and, hey, thanks for doing a feature on my daughter.

Speaker 2: 5:34

I remember when I was a lad Times were hard and things were bad. There's a silver lining behind every cloud. Just four people, that's all we were Trying to make a living out of Blacklander. We'd be together in a family circle singing loud.

Speaker 3: 5:53

It's been said that entrepreneurship is not about ideas but about making ideas happen, that entrepreneurship is not for the faint-hearted but for the brave, the patient and the persistent, for the overcome. On episode 56 of Ben Magazine's the Circling Podcast, join me as I sit down with Emily Hoy and Emily LaPlume, two entrepreneurs building outdoor brands here in Bend, oregon. Emily and Emily share their brand's origin stories, some of the lessons they've learned along the way and the value of good mentorship. To begin, emily Hoy shares her story of how the stepping stones of life led a kid from Ohio who dreamt of having her art hanging on the walls of her local skate shop to becoming the first female graphic designer and art director at Volker, helping shape the future and growth of the brand and color designer at Hydro Flask. Emily is also the founder of Ahoya, an outdoor brand with its flagship product, the Ahoya River Tube, due out next spring and, according to Emily, it's the first tube that'll be your last tube and with its focus on community, it's expected to start a river-lution With attention to durability, functionality and color design. And driven by the can-do, will-do attitude of Emily, ahoya was selected to participate in the 2024 Bend Outdoor Works Startup Accelerator Program, helping outdoor brands achieve their wildest dreams.

Speaker 3: 7:32

Joining us, founder and designer of Saturday Swimwear, emily LaPlume, shares the story of her brand's organic beginning and growth and how world travel has not only inspired the brand's design and functionality, but also exposed Emily to the realities that overconsumption and pollution are having on our environment our environment, inspiring Saturday Swimwear to become a leader in the swimwear space by shifting the entire focus of the company towards being more sustainable. Yo, emily Brooke, emily Kate, you two are awesome and what you're doing is awesome. Thanks for being on the podcast. The Circling Podcast can be found on Patreon. Visit our page and learn how a percentage of your financial support will support local nonprofits and the continued growth of local community podcasting. Become a member and learn about this unique opportunity at patreoncom. Forward slash the circling podcast. Lastly, remember to stay tuned after the show credits to hear from both Emilys as they contribute to our Blank Canvas community art project that explores the magic found in art embedded with meaning.

Speaker 4: 8:55

Well played.

Speaker 3: 9:04

Come on, man, that's funny. If nothing else, mic drop, yeah. Um, now I gotta see if I can control the volume on this.

Speaker 5: 9:09

I've never heard of this band before really yeah, I never either, since until last time bridges and he did a collaboration with Krungbin and it was heart melting.

Speaker 3: 9:20

And they played here last summer.

Speaker 2: 9:22

Yes, yeah, dude.

Speaker 4: 9:24

It was amazing. It was so good.

Speaker 3: 9:27

So Emily Hoy.

Speaker 5: 9:29

Yes.

Speaker 3: 9:30

I want you to get that mic way closer. Yeah, yeah, so that thing's super adjustable. Yeah, so get that so you want like kind of a fist breadth. Feel free to move these all around.

Speaker 2: 9:41

So if you get uncomfortable.

Speaker 3: 9:43

It can move with you, it's all it's all I've kind of designed this to be leisurely it is yeah, what was the first concert you ever went? To at Les Schwab, I guess it's not Les Schwab anymore.

Speaker 5: 9:58

Oh my gosh, I can't even remember. I mean, that was. I moved here nine years ago. Oh my gosh, it was probably some free Sunday thing. Do you remember when they used to do the free Sunday concerts?

Speaker 3: 10:12

I do.

Speaker 5: 10:13

I think that was the first time I ever went to les schwab.

Speaker 3: 10:16

I'm trying to turn this down and I'm flailing um so in this, I think I've told this story before on here, but in the summer of 2001 I think it was my roommate and I opened a produce market down in the old mill, and so you know where vanilla used to be you know that little red.

Speaker 5: 10:40

Oh yeah, the little red barn, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3: 10:42

So that originally back in the day was across the street from what's now REI and it was like the summer of like oh two maybe. My roommate and I rented that place for 200 bucks a month and opened up old mill produce. And it was like this old this indoor outdoor produce market. That's awesome Badass I don't know how we got on. Oh, that was the, that was the summer, that um the amphitheater got to open cold play, first concert there, which was a big act back then, dude oh yeah, coldplay for sure, yeah all right.

Speaker 3: 11:21

Well, where should we begin, ladies? Actually, I'm gonna retract that question just for the sake and normally I try not to do this but since you both have the same name, introduce yourselves so people can start to associate who's who. Okay, so go ahead, emily.

Speaker 5: 11:36

Hoy I am Emily. Hoy, middle name is Brooke Emily.

Speaker 3: 11:40

Brooke Hoy Maybe I'll call you Emily Brooke on this.

Speaker 5: 11:43

That's perfect.

Speaker 3: 11:44

All right, yeah, perfect, then we can differentiate there. It is All right.

Speaker 4: 11:48

And I am Emily Kate LaPlume.

Speaker 3: 11:52

Nice LaPlume. Laplume Is that French Canadian roots.

Speaker 4: 11:56

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 11:57

You're from East Coast, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4: 11:59

I think way back when it was like OG French.

Speaker 3: 12:02

Yeah.

Speaker 4: 12:03

But it's kind of filtered through.

Speaker 3: 12:04

Canada Filtered through. Yeah.

Speaker 4: 12:06

Down to good old southern.

Speaker 3: 12:07

New Hampshire. Yeah, I like it. I used to snowboard a lot with French Canadians.

Speaker 4: 12:12

Ooh.

Speaker 3: 12:12

That region's pumped out some killers over the years.

Speaker 4: 12:15

Oh yeah, yeah, the East Coast.

Speaker 2: 12:19

Well, if you can snowboard on ice, you can snowboard. Yes, usually, usually.

Speaker 5: 12:24

Exactly, riding powder is a skill set, though.

Speaker 3: 12:27

It's easier to learn, though, than riding ice.

Speaker 5: 12:29

Oh yeah.

Speaker 4: 12:30

And you like to snowboard?

Speaker 3: 12:31

I do, yeah, I was pretty hyped on that. In fact, we have a story, a shared experience. I want to, you know, noodle around with you down the road a little bit, because I've been excited for this episode. What I try to do is find some kind of commonality with two people who have never met each other. And I've never met you, emily Kate.

Speaker 4: 12:54

I feel like I'm in trouble.

Speaker 3: 12:56

I know that's funny, that's actually true. Emily, kate, get down here right now. What do we have in common? That's kind of relevant to what we're talking about today, which is, you know, broadly kind of entrepreneurship, brand development and mentorship, and you guys are both at different points in a similar journey and yet different journey. And one thing that I realized we all, I think, have had experience with is the pitch.

Speaker 5: 13:26

And you most recently, absolutely. Share that story oh my gosh, it was awesome actually. I felt like it's kind of what I was born to do in a way, and that was the first pitch I've ever done. But I've done a lot of presentations in front of people, especially for my job at Hydro Flask. I pitch color and the story and the process and the why behind it, so I was kind of used to that. But except this was definitely a bigger audience and like my own baby rather than someone else's so.

Speaker 5: 14:01

I'll tell you, we worked so hard on it so hard that I didn't even need notes. And then I was just speaking from my within story and my passion and it just came across that way and I just I could not believe how well it went. And I was just wiping my forehead after like, oh my gosh, thank God it's over and actually did really well. And Justin, my husband, like supported me and it's so funny top secret, you guys he doesn't even like floating the river that much, he's more of a standup paddle guy, but that's how much he loves me is. He's now supporting me in this journey and this business and doing all the financial stuff, the pro forma, the spreadsheets and all that. So it's been amazing to have him like help me with my dream.

Speaker 3: 15:21

Yeah, I mean, like I said, we could have a podcast episode on each of you. But one thing I think I don't want to miss covering this down the road, is just how busy it is to start up a business and be working full time.

Speaker 5: 15:34

Oh my gosh, are you kidding me?

Speaker 3: 15:36

Because I'm right there with you and I believe I don't know about you. You're an outlier. We'll get to that in a minute Like I'm yeah, there's some. You got some cool lessons that I think people could potentially learn from some of the decisions you've made and that'll be fun. But tell people, emily Brooke, about kind of the context of this pitch. You know, I mean we're starting out and I think in the intro I'll explain to people what you're doing with.

Speaker 2: 16:07

Ahoya.

Speaker 3: 16:07

But I guess briefly, without getting too into it, what was the context of why you were pitching?

Speaker 5: 16:14

Well.

Speaker 3: 16:15

I mean, it was an Edco event, right, it was an.

Speaker 5: 16:17

Edco event and they always have an ask. Like, you get up there and you're not just shooting the shit, you go up for an ask, and our ask was follow our journey on Instagram and sign up for our newsletter. But also I wanted to give something to the audience as a chance of information about floating the river and these Intex tubes are kind of like the fast fashion of the industry and I hated seeing them end up in the trash cans and therefore end up in the landfills and then just the lack of durability. So I really wanted to solve that problem around durability some better functions, some way better colors and design. That's out there and just you know, this is the first tube. That'll be your last, you know.

Speaker 3: 17:02

I love that. Yeah, I have you come up with that.

Speaker 5: 17:05

I did. I have a whole thing here I'm going to. I'm going to tell you my mini pitch for Ahoya. Okay, ready, ahoya, making serious float tubes for less serious adventures and way less serious people, made for your ass, not the trash. This will be the first tube that you last Get ready to glow with the flow and channel your inner tube. Are you ready for the river-lution?

Speaker 3: 17:27

Yeah, that's good. Are you ready for the river-lution? Yeah, that's good.

Speaker 5: 17:33

Thank you.

Speaker 4: 17:36

That's the first time I've used the applause thing, because normally I don't really have context for it, but I felt like that needed a little applause.

Speaker 3: 17:43

I love it.

Speaker 4: 17:44

That was awesome.

Speaker 3: 17:45

Perfect. Yeah, I watched that online. I couldn't make it. I like going to those pub talks. I've learned a lot and met some interesting people at them. But yeah, that was exciting and we're going to get into your story and talk about where you're at with Bao and kind of some of the people that you're working alongside with with what you got going.

Speaker 2: 18:10

But it's it's pretty rad.

Speaker 3: 18:11

People are excited about what you're doing. Yes, you know, there's there's a consensus around everyone who either knows of you or once I explain what you're up to it's. It's kind of like oh yeah, that makes complete sense.

Speaker 5: 18:26

Awesome yeah.

Speaker 3: 18:26

Heck yeah.

Speaker 5: 18:27

I love it.

Speaker 3: 18:28

All right, emily, emily, kate, you, you, you know, and again, 30,000 kind of foot view. But you, you have a pretty cool pitch contest from your college days, I believe.

Speaker 4: 18:38

Yeah, yeah, I did a couple of them in college. So, backing up a little bit, I started the company kind of by accident, during my semester abroad. I had basically got a scholarship to do a semester abroad and with it I had to start a project that was showcasing the places that I was traveling to and the people that I was meeting and the experiences that I was having, and so with that I basically kind of like found myself traveling to all of these really rad coastal destinations that you know. We were surfing, we were swimming, we were cliff jumping, we were doing all these activities. But I was traveling around in a backpack and I had very little space for stuff and for clothing and all that. And so I found like a common problem that I was having, I was bringing a swimsuit to hang out on the beach and then I was bringing a different swimsuit to surf and I was bringing a different swimsuit to be able to wear. Rad, if I could just have one that checked all my boxes, that was my go-to for every activity. And so in between semesters I kind of had some downtime and I was like I'm going to teach myself how to design and sew. And so I did and I started making swimsuits. And the idea was just to create that like one swimsuit that was my go-to for every activity, but that was functional, comfortable, cute and that I could wear in a variety of different settings, from, you know, like a crop top, to surfing, to laying on the beach, to all the different activities. So I kind of started making those and then didn't really plan to start a business. I was just, you know, I was just making a product for myself and then quickly realized that I had a commodity.

Speaker 4: 20:37

And so when I went to my second semester in New Zealand, I had a 10-day spring break and with it I decided to travel to Indonesia. And I was a broke college student and I was like reached out to a friend of a friend that was studying in Bali at the time and I was like, hey, I don't have any money, but I have these bathing suits. Like, any chance, I can trade you bathing suits for a place to crash, like I can sleep on your couch, your floor, your driveway, I don't care, I just need some place to sleep. And she was like, absolutely. You know, we spend six out of seven days of the week in bathing suits. This is perfect.

Speaker 4: 21:13

So I was trading swimsuits for accommodation throughout my travels and then, slowly, the girls that I was trading swimsuits with started sending me photos of the different places that they were traveling in these swimsuits. And you know, I had some epic surf photos, some like waterfall shots in Thailand, like just these crazy international beautiful photos in these swimsuits that I had just taught myself how to make. And so I decided to start an Instagram page just to kind of like showcase the places that Saturday was traveling to. And I kind of coined it Saturday swimwear because for me at the time, you know, saturdays were that reprieve, like it was no school.

Speaker 4: 21:59

On Saturdays you get out, you go adventure and especially like still studying abroad, it was my opportunity to like go travel and see the places that I was living. And so Saturday was just more like it was a feeling. And so I was like Saturday swimwear just invokes this feeling of like laid back, travel, coastal vibes. And so I started the Instagram Saturday swimwear and started reposting the photos that these girls were sending me. And pretty quickly I was getting DMs of people being like, hey, where can I buy these? I was like, oh no, I don't, I don't sell these. You know, this is just a fun little thing that I do. But then I started thinking about it. I was like, why don't I sell?

Speaker 2: 22:40

these yeah.

Speaker 4: 22:41

And so I just started like basically hustling swimsuits via DM on Instagram in you know 2015 and sending out like PayPal invoices for these swimsuits or like hustling cash, you know, on college campuses and stuff like that. So it happened very organically and kind of by accident. And then, when I got back to Champlain after my year abroad, I had, you know, developed this like Instagram following very small at the time, but it was still a thing that was growing and gaining traction and then came back and like basically gave this whole pitch to the scholarship, the scholarship that I had received, gave them this whole pitch about like hey, this is the thing I started. It kind of happened by accident, but I think it's really cool. I was incorporating designs that were inspired by the places that I was traveling to, and so all the pieces were reversible to solid print or to solid and then a print on the reverse side, so you could kind of have a two for one type deal.

Speaker 4: 23:49

And then I was, during my senior year, approached by the director of it used to be called the BYO Biz Program, but it was Champlain's Entrepreneurship Program and he basically said I think you have something really cool. I think you should, you know, build a business plan, turn it into a real thing. And I want to help you do that. And so I was kind of like, well, you know, I was kind of on track to start working at Burton snowboards and like working for some like youth marketing agency in Burlington yeah.

Speaker 3: 24:24

Where is Champlain?

Speaker 4: 24:26

It's in.

Speaker 3: 24:26

Burlington. It's right in Burlington.

Speaker 2: 24:28

I've never been to Vermont. Yeah it's, it's gorgeous. There've never been to Vermont.

Speaker 4: 24:30

Yeah, it's gorgeous. There's a lot of similarities between. Oregon and Vermont, but it's a very, very special place. Yeah, that's where Burton was like started and that's where their headquarters are.

Speaker 4: 24:42

And that was ultimately like why I chose to go to Champlain. Because I was just such a ski bum at that point and I was actually on the culinary track in high school and I was going to go to culinary school and my mom's like you got to go check out the city, burlington and I was like I'm not going to check out Burlington, there's no culinary school there. And she's like just see it, just come with me, check it out. And she's like if you don't like it, that's fine, I just want you to see it. And so we go up there and tour Champlain College and the kid that's giving us this tour is like I'm interning at Burton Snowboards right now Like I'm going to work in their marketing department and I said that's it Like.

Speaker 4: 25:18

This is what I'm going to do.

Speaker 3: 25:19

And you were a snowboarder.

Speaker 4: 25:20

Oh, yeah, yeah, I like had dedicated most of my time. I like quit all sports in high school to get a job so that I could afford to snowboard.

Speaker 3: 25:30

I love the story of how you bought your first or went to camp. That's great. You moved here in 2019? Correct, and you're from Ohio, I'm originally from Ohio. Where in Ohio?

Speaker 5: 25:42

Oh, my gosh all over, but I was raised on a little farm in Southeast Ohio.

Speaker 2: 25:46

Okay.

Speaker 5: 25:48

Then I moved to Columbus area, went to Columbus College of Art and Design.

Speaker 3: 25:51

Yeah.

Speaker 5: 25:52

Actually went to OSU, Ohio State University for three years.

Speaker 3: 25:56

I want to pause you real quick. I need you to clarify something for me. Why is there so much emphasis on the, the and the Ohio State?

Speaker 5: 26:05

University? I have no idea.

Speaker 3: 26:07

Have you ever noticed that?

Speaker 5: 26:08

I didn't even notice what I was saying.

Speaker 3: 26:10

I don't really ever watch football, but it seems like for some reason like when players are introducing themselves, they really emphasize the, the.

Speaker 5: 26:20

You know what else is the? The is emphasized. When I lived in Southern California, I moved from Ohio to Southern California and it's the 405.

Speaker 4: 26:30

The roads are all the? Don't even get me started. I had never heard of it until I moved out here.

Speaker 3: 26:35

My wife's from Southern California oh yeah, and this was a concern of mine when we were dating was the the when it came to, you're like drop it.

Speaker 5: 26:46

You're like we got to drop it. Yeah, I don't know this one word, man.

Speaker 3: 26:55

There's actually, I think it's a Saturday Night Live or skit. There's some. There was some comedy show back in the day that was. That was kind of a bit that was derived around that or based on that, I think so too.

Speaker 5: 27:01

Yeah, it sounds familiar.

Speaker 3: 27:03

So, prior to starting Ahoya, which is in the process right now, but tell people a little bit about your background, because you have a pretty, you have a cool background.

Speaker 5: 27:13

I have, oh my gosh. Well, it's cool because I have questions for Emily, because I actually used to design swimwear textile prints and repeats.

Speaker 4: 27:23

And it was awesome.

Speaker 3: 27:25

And that was for who? Was that? Manhattan Beachwear? Manhattan Beachwear, exactly.

Speaker 5: 27:30

So I did all kinds of print repeats for swimwear, and it was a blast. I love it. So I you know I'm born and raised in Ohio and at the age of 27, I got hired to be the very first female graphic designer at Volcom.

Speaker 3: 27:44

So I did all yep Volcom Stone. I mean, I don't, you know, yeah, Like, like, I don't know if people so again, this is worth, this is worth giving Volcom credit where, where credit to do? Yeah, because there's kind of like the Volcom of 2024.

Speaker 2: 28:03

Right, and then there's like the.

Speaker 5: 28:04

Volcom of like 1994., Absolutely Right, Absolutely and.

Speaker 3: 28:09

And they're kind of. Well, they're not kind of To me. They're very different.

Speaker 2: 28:12

Yes.

Speaker 3: 28:12

Volcom stones Absolutely. You know and no judgment, just different. It is different. Different Because the culture changed.

Speaker 5: 28:22

You know, I think, what happened when I was there. I was in the hype of Volcom. And it was a dream job from 2003 to 2013. So I was in the hype of Volcom and the whole skate industry blowing up. So, in my opinion, what happened is, after a while, the dads grew up, or the dudes the skater dudes grew up and started having kids, and those kids don't want to wear what their dad's wearing. I don't want to wear Volcom.

Speaker 5: 28:50

They wanted to wear Stussy and like Diamond and these like more like street wear brands. So it kind of the whole surf skate scene kind of took a little dip down. Even people were skiing versus snowboarding, or rollerblading instead of skateboarding.

Speaker 3: 29:06

You know there's it's always cyclical, like you were saying there is, there's something about not doing what your parents do.

Speaker 5: 29:12

Absolutely and.

Speaker 3: 29:13

I think there's something like like, like evolutionary, about that I've learned at one point, but I can't recall Like diverse I could be.

Speaker 2: 29:21

Yeah, I don't know what I'm talking about really, but at some point that rings a bell you know, there's a there's a reason why that is yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 5: 29:30

So, you.

Speaker 3: 29:30

They hired you for their senior graphic designer.

Speaker 5: 29:33

I was just a regular graphic designer.

Speaker 3: 29:35

Well.

Speaker 5: 29:35

I mean same thing Cause. I was the only female girl there. So you guys, it was so cool. I kind of had my own t-shirt line. They really had their eye on the men's brand and their focus was the men's brand. So the girls, we kind of got away with a lot of stuff doing our own thing. I got to travel I've been to Australia, Tokyo, Copenhagen, you name it and all we did was research art. We go to art shows, we go to music shows and we go shopping. That's awesome.

Speaker 5: 30:03

How did you land that job? You know what I was? Right out of college I started working for Hollister. I don't tell too many people because I'm like it wasn't really my people, but how much they were paying me. Right out of college my dad's like you better take that job. So I was like okay, so I got great experience doing graphics, but it was under Abercrombie and Fitch and this campus in Ohio and it was weird. I was there during the whole days that it was weird. So anyways I they sent me to an ASR trade show out in Southern California to do some research.

Speaker 5: 30:38

I slipped Volk in my resume like here you go and my little mini portfolio. Sure enough, she called me. I flew out for an interview and after I had that interview interview, I knew I had it yeah, I was like I knew it.

Speaker 5: 30:51

I used to go to skateboard shops and snowboard shops in Ohio and tell the guys I go, my art's going to be on those walls one day, my art's going to be on these clothes one day, like that's how determined I was. I was like. I was like you. I was like diehard snowboard actually wanted to work for Burton yeah in college all my projects were based all around Burton like oh my god it's.

Speaker 5: 31:13

I know when you were saying that I was like oh my god, burton, I have such a love for them too. So, yeah, it was.

Speaker 3: 31:19

That's awesome, yeah that's really awesome yeah yeah, what was your first kind of like creative outlet? I mean, you were so you were. You studied graphic design, yes, but like what, what was your first kind of point of contact with kind of creating something graphical? Graphical yeah, I don't know if that's a word or not Graphic Graphic in nature.

Speaker 5: 31:39

Yeah, Like.

Speaker 3: 31:39

Were you a painter, a photographer? You know what I was? All of it, I was.

Speaker 5: 31:43

I did it all, but once I got introduced to Photoshop and Illustrator, I was like oh my gosh, this is my jam. Like manipulating photography, like because I did love photography and I for that, I actually could paint pretty well and draw pretty well, but something about the computer and the sharp edges and the lines in the modern context of that you get out of doing graphics on a computer, versus the organic.

Speaker 5: 32:11

My personal style is more like kind of geometric, so I think it kind of really molded into more computer. And then my buddy I was drawing all these letters. He's like you should be a graphic designer and it just clicked. I was like, oh my gosh, that's it, that's what I'm going to do, making logos. To this day, I love making logos and just shifting shapes and creating color and making something awesome. Yeah, so I've done art. I did art for Volcom, but I also had some featured artist things. I did a pair of Smith goggles, rad. I did a pair of Moment skis, stance socks, even the Gap.

Speaker 3: 32:53

That's cool.

Speaker 5: 32:53

Yeah, so I got to do collabs, teva sandals. I got to do my own webbing strap for Teva.

Speaker 3: 32:59

How do those collabs work, like when I see artists that I know or athletes that well, I get the athlete part of it, but like artists, it's not a lot, oh yeah, but it doesn't seem like much is in that industry anymore.

Speaker 5: 33:13

Yeah, it's more like oh you get, you know your name with that company which is kind of cool.

Speaker 3: 33:19

Yeah, yeah, that's cool. It is Do you still do freelance?

Speaker 5: 33:22

Absolutely. I do a lot of freelance, you do.

Speaker 3: 33:26

And you're also the senior graphic designer and color designer at hydroflask. Absolutely, and that's what you moved here for in 2015.

Speaker 5: 33:35

No, actually I moved here with no job in 2015 in 2015 and I was freelancing. I actually did some good life can art for? This awesome crew, it's called crow works. They're in town. So I was doing like little. I, you know, did some logos in town for people. I still had some freelance connections in Southern California but after a while I was like, okay, the hustle of just trying to freelance on your own was just like oh my gosh. So I went to an outdoor retailer same thing slipped my resume portfolio to Hydroflask.

Speaker 3: 34:07

It worked once. It'll work again, baby.

Speaker 5: 34:10

It did, there you go, boom done so cool. Here I am.

Speaker 3: 34:14

I've learned and I would argue, this podcast studio as a result of it is if you come to someone that you want to work with or you're interested in with the solution to a problem they might not have even thought about, at the very least you'll get a meeting.

Speaker 3: 34:30

Right and more often than not you'll get another meeting, you know. So it's, I think. I think people would do well to be a little bit more proactive, like, if you, if there's something that looks cool, like, do whatever it takes to kind of position yourself to have the best shot of making the next step yep, you know I think there are a lot of people that are are scared of that leap, though oh, like, because it's uncomfortable, yeah, and

Speaker 4: 34:55

I think it takes a specific type of person to pursue entrepreneurship but also to just like, do stuff like that, like you're on a business trip and you slip this perspective. You know company, your resume and that's just so. Like some would say that's really ballsy, but it's. I agree. Like if you want something bad enough, I have always been an advocate for just do whatever it takes. But it takes a specific kind of person to think that way.

Speaker 4: 35:24

And I think a lot of people are so comfortable with where they're at that, you know, in order to kind of grow and to get what you want, you have to like get comfortable with the uncomfortable, absolutely.

Speaker 3: 35:38

Couldn't agree more dudes.

Speaker 5: 35:41

Absolutely yeah.

Speaker 3: 35:41

I spent like the first two hours this morning talking that through with I'm a big advocate for mental health. Through with I'm a big advocate for mental health. The Oregon I've never gone and sat with a psychiatrist before in my whole life. But after COVID I'm a healthcare provider licensed in Oregon. They had like this kind of opportunity for healthcare providers to go meet with a psychiatrist and kind of just debrief right, because that was a crazy time for everybody, but in healthcare it was wicked weird Wicked. You like that.

Speaker 2: 36:14

I did Wicked man.

Speaker 3: 36:18

I worked with a guy that is from New York and went to med school in Vermont, so I've never been there, but I've kind of been there by proxy. I don't know if I want to pick it up.

Speaker 4: 36:28

It was really natural, yeah. So was really natural, yeah, so I back it.

Speaker 3: 36:32

What was I talking about?

Speaker 4: 36:34

Mental health.

Speaker 3: 36:35

Oh yeah. So anyways, getting back to what you were saying, emily, about being uncomfortable, like both physically but emotionally, kind of you can really only grow, I think, when you're uncomfortable. Honestly.

Speaker 3: 36:51

I'd have to agree and I think more people in our culture would do well right now to maybe be uncomfortable, like sit with stuff that makes you just like. Maybe your instinct right now is to like just go berserk, like sit with that for a minute and just struggle with it, because it doesn't mean you have to change your opinion. Just learn how to kind of be not so reactionary.

Speaker 5: 37:16

My mom had this awesome quote during COVID and it's just like my favorite thing that she ever said If you don't shake stuff up every once in a while, all the good stuff settles to the bottom. I'm like that's pretty dang awesome. That is good.

Speaker 3: 37:31

That reminds me of my athletic greens with hemp shade this morning dude, All the hemp seeds sunk to the bottom.

Speaker 2: 37:38

You got to shake that shit up.

Speaker 3: 37:39

You do got to shake it up All right, freelance. I would argue there's a big difference between freelance work and entrepreneurship. What are your thoughts?

Speaker 5: 37:54

Yeah, because it's not really your baby, it's someone else's baby.

Speaker 3: 37:58

Yeah.

Speaker 5: 37:59

So I think, with the entrepreneurship you wear many hats when the freelance you're just wearing the one hat that you're hired for and if it doesn't work it's not your fault. You know, with entrepreneurship if something goes down, that's all. All the weight is on your shoulder, shoulders of everything, and I think for that's what I'm noticing the biggest difference of entrepreneurship is like you have this permanent weight on your shoulders that doesn't really go away. You just got to find ways to balance it or lighten it every once in a while, because for me, there's always like something I could be doing right now.

Speaker 3: 38:37

For sure.

Speaker 5: 38:38

I'm like, oh my gosh, it's a bit overwhelming, yeah.

Speaker 3: 38:42

Yeah, there's trade-offs, for sure. Yeah, I also would. I would add to what what? I agree with what you're saying and I would add that freelance work depends on your ability to pump out the work Meaning if you're not creating a design, you're not getting paid. The goal, I would say, in my opinion of entrepreneurship is to kind of create something that with time will create some degree of revenue stream, regardless of your kind of investing in it at the moment or not.

Speaker 3: 39:14

Absolutely, you know which is I think you know, whether that's a lifestyle brand or a performance brand, but ultimately I mean that's my goal right. Is to kind of is to is to do something as long as you need to do it until you can get someone who's better at it than you are and like then you're moving. There you go, you know like I don't want to create another job for myself.

Speaker 4: 39:39

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 39:39

Ultimately, you know, because that's you can do that.

Speaker 4: 39:42

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 39:42

You can create a job and then you're, you have a job. But if you create something a little bigger than what that job is, then I think that's to me what's really interesting with this whole entrepreneurship thing, whereas if you're a freelancer you're kind of I guess, kind of creating a job. I guess that's what I'm saying.

Speaker 5: 39:59

I think freelance is easier for me because I can say yes or no to it, because it's not my main source of income, which is kind of nice. But my fault is I love what I do so much so it's hard for me to say no, Like no, I can't do a fun colorful print for your black strap, freaking baklava or however you say that, Cause that's what I've been working on. That. And then Rumpel with Abe, absolutely.

Speaker 3: 40:26

He's been on this. Oh, of course he would be perfect for his episode was great, I can imagine.

Speaker 5: 40:32

I'll have to check it out. Um, but yeah, for me it's so fun. My, my husband's like, he's like, babe, you're a workaholic. I'm like, can you switch the word work with creative?

Speaker 3: 40:44

That's fair. Yeah, Totally fair. What is a Hoya going to be? Is it going to be a lifestyle business or is it like yeah? Yeah, I think so, or compared to what I guess Like a performance business.

Speaker 2: 40:55

Like I guess.

Speaker 3: 40:56

I've been thinking through this. Like build with Story Booth, like is this going to be? Like? I heard this analogy and it made sense to me. Like if you're given a piece of property to build something on it, do you want to build like your dream home that you're going to live in for a while? Or do you want to build, like you know, a high rise apartment complex that has maybe more value, that you unload and like, what's your, what's your goal with it? Because to me it seems like knowing that from the beginning can help, kind of how you position yourself. Absolutely Like for me. I'm more, I'm more naturally drawn to like a lifestyle business.

Speaker 3: 41:31

And that's you know. From my perspective, that's what it seems like the two of you have built and are building.

Speaker 5: 41:37

Right, I think I'm going into it as I want to evolve with it and see where I'm at with it, but also starting lifestyle. I don't think I want a massive empire, like big corporation thing, I just want to be happy and comfortable in my life and just do a Hoya. So I think that's the goal and this first year is going to be very telling of like I don't even have proof of concept. Like what was cool, Emily, your story about you know you selling just to friends and stuff. It's kind of like dating you guys were friends first and then you got married.

Speaker 4: 42:15

Yeah, for me I'm like jumping right into the marriage part. You're like no, like was that barely testing?

Speaker 5: 42:17

yeah, absolutely. I'm like a 90-day fiance with the tubes, oh man. So yeah, I think, and that's what's scary, but also exciting. You know, I'm like, oh my gosh, yeah.

Speaker 3: 42:32

Skin in the game is good for you.

Speaker 4: 42:34

Yeah, I think there's a lot of value in doing what you're doing, though, because I think I I had, you know, I dove in head first but had to, like take a couple steps back, you know, because I didn't have a business plan.

Speaker 4: 42:47

I didn't, I didn't even want, I didn't even know I was creating a product. You know, I was just making this thing that I was using that filled this void in my life, whereas, you know, looking back on it, I think I would have had a way better to. To have had a better framework and a better foundation to be able to then build on, I think would have been really valuable. So, to see, you know, to see what you're doing and you're also building hype around it, like you know, people are talking about it and just even like seeing it in person and like getting a couple out there and, like you know, doing this and having some photos in bed magazine, I think like building that hype and that anticipation around it is really a rad way to launch a product, yeah, and I think that's going to pay off in the long run.

Speaker 3: 44:05

I agree, especially with a product that I mean, in this town, floating has become the thing and it's a good problem that you're solving. I mean, floating has become like the thing, you know so, and it's a good problem that you're solving, and it's one that needed to be solved, absolutely yeah. What is your vision for Ahoya?

Speaker 5: 44:24

I have lots of visions, honestly. Swimwear down the road or just like river gear river ready gear accessories. There's so many things you can attach onto those daisy chains that I have a list of things I want to do. But everybody's like whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down, focus on the tube first. But my creative side is just like. I want to do a dry bag fanny pack. I want to do sunglass retainer.

Speaker 3: 44:50

So it's a brand.

Speaker 5: 44:51

A brand.

Speaker 3: 44:55

And its first product is going to be just like heavy duty, like lifetime tubes.

Speaker 3: 44:58

Absolutely yeah, and maybe functional in winter and yeah, maybe a dog one down the way, a cat one, yeah, I think I told you I I was, I thought for a while um in new zealand they call like little igloo coolers, chili bins oh yeah, oh yeah. And I was like I've always thought that like if someone had like a fun, colorful little, cheap, cooler for the river and you call it, and you branded it, chili bin by Ahoya, absolutely. You would slaughter.

Speaker 5: 45:26

Yeah, oh man, that'd be so fun. It'd be super fun. I'm down for all the things.

Speaker 3: 45:30

Yeah, when you get there, when I get there.

Speaker 5: 45:31

Yeah, when you get there, when I get there.

Speaker 3: 45:32

Yeah, tell me a little bit about at the moment what your kind of, what your current mission is Like. What are you working to kind of get you closer to that, that vision, you know?

Speaker 5: 45:43

Yes, well, I just got a WeChat text this morning from the factory saying they're ready to ship out the tubes, so hopefully that's sooner than later, but definitely within the next month I'll have the fourth prototype. So we're going to test that this summer or within the next month or so, as quickly as we can to get it moving in order to have 500 tubes for our first PO that we will place, probably in November, ready for spring of 2025.

Speaker 3: 46:12

Yeah, so this time next year, this time next year, they'll have been available for a little while. Yes, 2025. Yeah, so this time next year, this time next year, they'll have been available for a little while.

Speaker 5: 46:18

Yes, hopefully, yes, so we're still kind of figuring out, you know pre-sale, when that exact moment is going to be and everything. But definitely spring of 25, we're going to be ready.

Speaker 3: 46:28

And are you going to be like direct to consumer? Yes no-transcript yeah.

Speaker 5: 47:00

Okay, bow is Bend Outdoor Works and they are like a mentor supported, but also you get peer to peer mentorship, which is really cool. So you're in this, you're in this group with three other businesses that have that. Are you businesses that are entrepreneurs, I guess, that are growing their business and scaling it, and we're all at different levels. So we've learned and all the mentors have had businesses themselves and have their stake in the ground here in Bend in the outdoor industry for a while, for a while. Like Gary Bracelet, he's just, he created this whole thing because he was sick of seeing the tech industry taking over and everything's all about computers and cyber, whatever he's like. What about the outdoor industry? So he's so cool.

Speaker 5: 47:45

He started the whole thing, brought on amazing mentors, lo and behold, one of the mentors is Meg Chun and her and her husband, dave, started Kiloa Paddles and my personal sup is a Kiloa and it is my favorite sup. So I found out Meg started this thing. It is like, oh my God, how full circle, how meant to be is this? And she's just been a wonderful human and a wonderful support to the brand, and she knows about inflatables and her husband. So it's pretty cool. So the mentorship is a 14-week program. You meet once a week for three hours over Zoom, and then you have three two-day in-persons, so you're two days all day back-to-back. So that's six days you have full. But now so that has ended. Now we meet once a month and then in October is a huge pitch in October where we could win a lot of money. People will come, the public can come and vote for us.

Speaker 3: 48:49

I've been the last two years. Yeah, it's super fun.

Speaker 4: 48:51

It is so fun. You should go next year, emily. Yeah, I've never even heard of this.

Speaker 3: 48:55

It's during um.

Speaker 3: 48:58

I think, this year it's called Bend Innovation Week. It used to just be called Bend Venture Conference and it was a two or three days and now they're adding on, they're starting to collaborate without different sectors of startup, entrepreneurship and industry and they're starting, I think, with Innovation Fest, which is the. There's a my buddy, kyle McLeod, started and I participated in last year, which is like that an open pitch, early stage pitch contest at Deschutes Brewery, and then the rest of the week there's BOW, which is like a bunch open pitch, early stage pitch contest at Deschutes Brewery, and then the rest of the week there's bow, which is like a bunch of different panel discussions, and then you can go and they have the pitch contest and the crowd like crowd voting for the winner, which is super fun, but you just it's really fun connecting with different people in the community that are that are building things.

Speaker 3: 49:53

And, like you, learn so much and make connections and, yeah, it's invaluable and it's and I don't know cause all I ever have to compare things to has been, but it sets the bar high, but it I'm told it's an incredibly unique ecosystem of startups and entrepreneurship that we have here in terms of support.

Speaker 5: 50:11

It's unreal. If you want to start a business, this is the town to do it in. Yeah, it just. I think it's because it's so small that, like, when you move here, you can't necessarily find the job exact job that you want, so you create it. And then there's all these people moving from big cities. They're like well, I can offer this help and I quit Nike, so now I want to do consulting?

Speaker 3: 50:33

for small businesses, because there are so many small businesses here. Yeah, it's pretty cool. Yeah, what have you? What have you integrated? Like, if you look back at your experience with bow at this point, what have you learned that has kind of like made its way into Ahoya and and kind of redirected or or shifted how you're doing things the most?

Speaker 5: 50:54

Yeah, honestly, brand voice and value proposition, your core beliefs. It's basically like your North Star of the company, like it just finding that voice of who you are. Because we got in early enough and I say we meaning my husband and I. He joined this mission with me. It did start off with me, but he's like I'm going to help you and I was like, yes, but yeah, before we even posted to Instagram, I already had all this homework, all these notes here about brand voice and clear and concise words, even wordsmithing to the exact words that you want to say. So this whole little pitch that I read you guys at the beginning, that was work behind the brand voice and the value proposition for Ahoya, yeah, and keeping it a couple sentences, you know, and streamlining it. That has been amazing. But also learning.

Speaker 5: 51:49

My husband did a pro forma. Do you guys know what a pro forma is? Because I had no clue before Val. It's basically forecasting of how much money you're going to make. So, therefore, how much money you're going to need now versus later, it's just, basically nobody has a magic eight ball for anything and this is the kind of the best way to do it. So we put that into place. Also, we learned about website auditing, like I had no clue there was so much behind the website of just

Speaker 3: 52:21

little changes and where you know your top of the website page is where you click, people click the most, and so moving things up there, just like a little reorg, could totally change your business yeah, I think I, um, I don't know how old you are, I'm 45 and I think we're around the same generation where, um it I remember like ordering stuff out of magazines, like we're, we're unique because we have this foot on either side of kind of this analog, digital kind of shift in humanity. And you know, there's a lot of people it's always been like that integrating business and tech. But I'm really bad at tech and I'm realizing that because I'm trying to start a business that relies so much on tech, you know, relies so much on tech, you know that's another.

Speaker 3: 53:19

I've noticed as an participant in the audience at bow is that they seem to have a lot of good community relationships with other agencies in the area that specialize in those things Like don't, they, don't they don't they do like a deal with? Is it Algalify or?

Speaker 5: 53:30

Algalify, absolutely Algalify, were some of the mentors with us Absolutely. I mean, we even get CPA hours. Yeah, we get lawyers advice like anything and everything you need Branding Gary Braceland's wife Jarell she does marketing. So, you get all these, like everything you need for your business, yeah. It's pretty unreal.

Speaker 3: 53:53

It's super cool.

Speaker 5: 53:54

Yeah, it's very cool.

Speaker 3: 53:55

Yeah, so so much of what BOW is and you just mentioned it is mentorship and developing relationships with some of those mentors and then leaning kind of what they have to offer through their life experience, and Meg being a perfect example of that, and Dave with Kealoa yes, they were on this, they were one of the first couples that.

Speaker 3: 54:16

I interviewed. That's the first time I ever met Meg and since then she's kind of stepped into a mentorship role with me. What I'm doing is outside, of outdoors, so it doesn't really fit in that space, but there's so much fundamental kind of business development, basic thought processes to learn and systems to develop that she's been. She's amazing.

Speaker 5: 54:38

She is like A plus human right there, so like in every aspect.

Speaker 3: 54:43

Yeah, yep. So I got her on the phone and she was kind enough to chat with me.

Speaker 6: 54:49

I first met Emily because she came into my Opportunity Knox group. It's a women's entrepreneur business group and I'm one of the co-facilitators of that group business group and I'm one of the co-facilitators of that group. Opportunity Knox is really just a monthly meeting for business owners with facilitators. There's some accountability but it's a lot of peer-to-peer mentoring and what I saw in Emily was that I kept giving her homework, basically because she was starting this brand and was interested and I was like this woman executes, so she'd get homework. I'd be like you need to go talk to Jeff at Tumalo Creek. Boom, she comes back next month. Here's the information I got.

Speaker 6: 55:28

So what I saw in her was a person who was willing to do the work and for BOW, for Bend Outdoor Works, which is this outdoor accelerator that I work with, emily is actually really early stage. Typically we take people who already have a product developed and have sales, but but when we all sit down to talk about what's our ideal candidate, one of the hugest things is people are willing to put in the work, because we're putting in so much time and energy into our participants that we want them to meet us in that our participants, that we want them to meet us in that give, if you will. And I kept saying look one she's local two.

Speaker 6: 56:09

She's a woman and we're always trying to get more women in our cohort. 50% of our 2024 cohort was women this year and I said, and she will do anything we recommend she do, she'll execute, she'll get work done. And then, intelligently, she brought her husband in, which was a great move because Em works full-time and Justin had some. You know, it's really challenging to have a full-time job and start up a business, so bringing him in was a really smart move and he helps her on the operational side. She's a, as you know, an amazing, um, uh, color expert, graphic designer, all around marketer and she has exuberant joy, love, you know, just this positive vibe that just explodes all over the place. Um, so she got into bow on her own merit, really, and and? But what her got her there was her willingness to put in the work. Quite honestly, she, you know, went back home while she was already in development and she was floating, you know, in a tube and she was like, oh my God, like this is why this is why I love this so much. And she kind of came back and she's like, oh, I had this huge aha. She sort of it was deep inside her, but she didn't know that it actually all stemmed from childhood memories of floating with her, I believe, her sister, just friends, relatives hanging out, you know, um so, and you know she's really community oriented and so she's really wanting to make floating become a like, create a community around this idea, not just Ahoya itself, but the the, the idea of floating in general. So it's it's interesting where it'll be really fun to see where she goes with all of this.

Speaker 6: 57:58

I'm sorry, I'm just laughing because she texted or she sent me an email yesterday. You know she's always making up names and things and her new name for me is the Magnificent. Yep, I just am laughing because that's how she signed it. When he wrote to me yesterday and it just popped into my head, she had all these other names for me, but this is the one she's currently locked on. I know Alright. Well, hey, if you need anything else, give me a holler. I think our work here is done. You too, have a great day. Thanks Bye. You are good, adam the magnificent, it's fun.

Speaker 3: 58:40

I've fallen in love with playing these audio clips for people it's so sweet.

Speaker 5: 58:46

It's so sweet it's super fun.

Speaker 3: 58:50

We got a good one for you. Yours is like a podcast episode inside a podcast episode.

Speaker 4: 58:56

I can't wait.

Speaker 3: 58:57

I'm excited to hear it yeah, I don't know anything in there that Meg said, yeah, I'm excited to hear it. Yeah, I don't know. I mean anything in there that Meg said that like you want to kind of share more about. I mean, clearly you're a hard worker. I think it's rad that you're in their early stage, you know. I mean that says a lot not only about you, but about kind of how much they believe in what you're doing. That's what it communicates to me too.

Speaker 5: 59:24

It's so true.

Speaker 3: 59:24

Yeah, and then you know, I mean, clearly you're, you come at this with a you know a really neat background and story and you know this origin story. And I'm, the older I get and the more I see people do cool stuff. It's usually because they have this kind of stepping stone through life where they've learned or met or develop these, you know skill sets or superpowers, that then the right time opens up and you can kind of just you know, apply them and maybe something starts.

Speaker 3: 59:55

And that's what it appears to be with you, my friend.

Speaker 2: 59:58

Absolutely so. I'm excited for you.

Speaker 5: 1:00:00

Thank you. Yeah, it's going to be fun. It's going to be with you, my friend, Absolutely. So I'm excited for you, thank you.

Speaker 3: 1:00:01

Yeah, it's going to be fun. It's going to be super fun. What is real quick? And I think I understand and we touched on it a little bit but this community that Meg was talking about?

Speaker 5: 1:00:10

Yes, so we call it tube culture. We kind of want to make a thing we want to have like community events, like bring in in, like do a sunday float or do something with the bend boarding babes like we just did a couple weekends ago. Okay, um, do river cleanups, get everybody involved and have like a stoke event yeah bring people together, connect um. I've always said often, you know, when I moved to bend, everybody's so outdoorsy, getting up 4 am, going on mountain bike rides or hitting the hiking the cone like go, go, go.

Speaker 5: 1:00:44

So serious, we want to slow slow slow and connect and more about with people. So when she says community, I think that's what it's about and just you know, doing river cleanups and really igniting the mission about having an adventure but being conscious why we're having these adventures of connecting with people but also connecting with the water and the river. That's what we're made up from. And clean it as we go and put loot the deschutes out of business, you know no more digging up cans or whatever they dig up out of the river.

Speaker 3: 1:01:46

Yeah, it's incredible how much stuff. I actually want to get one of those guys on here.

Speaker 5: 1:01:50

I was going to say they would be perfect.

Speaker 3: 1:01:52

I know they got some cool stories.

Speaker 5: 1:01:53

They have to yes, yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 3: 1:01:56

Well, that makes a lot of sense. I mean, everything about what you're doing is very genuine and authentic, you know. So that's huge. Yeah, awesome, awesome.

Speaker 5: 1:02:06

Yeah, thank you.

Speaker 4: 1:02:07

Do you know the girls that do that 7 am dance party?

Speaker 5: 1:02:10

around town, I know.

Speaker 4: 1:02:12

Yeah, have you been to it? I have, I have not. It's amazing. What is this?

Speaker 5: 1:02:17

It's Zoe and Abby. Yes, they throw. It's called Rise and I forget what it's called but it's an early morning dance party.

Speaker 4: 1:02:27

No way.

Speaker 5: 1:02:28

At like 7 am.

Speaker 4: 1:02:28

Yeah, 7 am, they serve coffee and it. Basically they just go for an hour. They blast music. It's usually on Thursday mornings and the idea is just to start your day a little bit different with community and energy and just get outside and move. It's a ton of fun I would love to sponsor that event. I was going to say some way to collaborate with them. For sure, that would be really fun.

Speaker 5: 1:02:55

That would be very ombrand for Ahoya yeah definitely.

Speaker 3: 1:03:00

Okay, emily, kate, I guess we'll transition onto your story here. We've kind of touched on some of it. You grew up in New Hampshire. You studied marketing and event management at Champlain College in. Burlington. You thought you were going to be a Burton employee. What kind of snowboard do you ride right now?

Speaker 4: 1:03:19

I'm riding K2. I've got a good friend who is the global marketing director for them and he has been very generous, so I went from getting free Burton to getting free K2. So I ride with free.

Speaker 3: 1:03:33

Yeah, there's an old saying, if it's free, it's for me Exactly.

Speaker 4: 1:03:37

You can't argue that.

Speaker 3: 1:03:45

I'm going to die by that getting together the record about like a significant moment that kind of shaped who you are and I'm starting to kind of believe that I read this book and listen to this guy talk a while back about. For most people that go into some degree of entrepreneurship or brand development, there's usually some life experience that happens between the age of 10 and 13 that gives people a sense of empowerment for their first time and there's this kind of connection with that that I think ultimately a lot of people are trying to reconnect with through entrepreneurship. And I can relate with you because I grew up it sounds like very similar like I wanted to go to High Cascade more than anything in my entire life. I think it was like 1991 or 92. So I hustled and made money. I didn't make enough to go and then my mountain bike got stolen and our parents' homeowner's insurance covered the mountain bike.

Speaker 3: 1:04:45

So wouldn't you know? The check I got for my mountain bike was like, almost to the dollar, what I needed to go to camp.

Speaker 3: 1:04:53

Oh my gosh, that's meant to be, and I was like 12 or 13 years old and like it was kind of that first you know moment of kind of experiencing something that you want to pursue more, and I don't even think you know what it is at that age, yeah. But so you share your story of kind of going. You know what it is at that age, right, but so you share your story of kind of going to camp and and cause. It's a cool one and I think that through it we can probably get a better sense of who you are.

Speaker 4: 1:05:20

Yeah, so I started snowboarding when I was 10. My sister, you know we started skiing when we were three or four years old. It's like what you do if you honestly, if you can afford to, yeah, so um which it was a lot easier back then.

Speaker 3: 1:05:36

Yeah, it wasn't so exclusive.

Speaker 4: 1:05:38

Yes, true, yeah, and we were riding a you know 400 vertical foot hill.

Speaker 4: 1:05:44

So it was just like not not anything to write home about, but so started snowboarding when I was 10. And I honestly think it was about 13 when I first found out about High Cascade. Because I started snowboarding, picked it up super quickly, very, very quickly, realized that I was good at it and that I loved to do it. It was like all I thought about, all I wanted to do every day after school. I'd find the right like a ride to the closest mountain and just it's all I could think about.

Speaker 4: 1:06:15

And so when I was probably 13, I heard about High Cascade and I told myself, like I'm going to, I'm going to go to High Cascade someday and I'm going to become a professional snowboarder and all this stuff. And so I went to my parents with this like newfound information about camp and I was like, can I go to camp? And they basically said to me, like if you can raise the money, you can go to camp. And so I love that man. Yeah. And you know, I think, to be totally honest, I think part of them like didn't think I would be able to.

Speaker 4: 1:06:50

To be totally honest, I think part of them like didn't think I would be able to. You know, I was like this kid and so I was like all right, like challenge accepted.

Speaker 3: 1:06:57

What year are we talking? Because I there's like there's camp used to be expensive, then it got expensive and now I think it's really really expensive yeah. So you're this is like this is 16.

Speaker 4: 1:07:11

How old am I? I'm 29. Okay. So, this would have been 14, 15 years ago, I think I was 15 or 16 when I first went.

Speaker 3: 1:07:20

Yeah, so yeah 15 years ago, so early 2000s. Yeah, yeah, okay.

Speaker 4: 1:07:25

Yeah, and so, yeah, my parents basically challenged me that if I could raise the money then I could do it, and so I started brainstorming different ideas. And my dad is a very handy, very resourceful dude and he basically, you know, we spent summers up on a lake house at this small small lake up in the northeast kingdom of Vermont every year, and we would go up there every weekend small small lake up in the Northeast kingdom of Vermont every year, and we would go up there every weekend and there was, you know, uh, a lot of opportunity. There wasn't any. The closest grocery store was like 45 minutes away. There was no restaurants anywhere nearby and I came up with the idea, with the help of my dad, to start an ice cream business selling ice cream off a little dinghy boat and I had this like five horsepower trolling motor that I would just cruise around that lake all day, every day, from like sunup to sundown, with dry ice in this little igloo cooler and I would get ice cream in bulk from we had Sam's Club over there.

Speaker 7: 1:08:31

It wasn't.

Speaker 4: 1:08:32

Costco. But I would go get like the individually wrapped. You know snow cone like all that Totally nude. Yeah, and so I. For two full summers I was out there on that lake.

Speaker 3: 1:08:44

You were in the ice cream boat.

Speaker 4: 1:08:45

I was the ice cream boat.

Speaker 3: 1:08:46

It was called.

Speaker 4: 1:08:47

Looney Licks and I. We spray painted the thing pink and blue and I had this little boom box in the back that I burned like gangster rap ice cream songs on to Like do you know that? Do your chain hang low? Song like that mixed with the ice cream jingle with the ice cream jingle and I was just like bumping that every day and people you know, people like, learned who I was very quickly.

Speaker 4: 1:09:16

Like I said, it was a pretty, pretty small lake relatively, and I spent two full summers every single weekend, all day, every day, just like selling ice cream.

Speaker 3: 1:09:28

I love several things about that, but one is that it took two summers.

Speaker 2: 1:09:31

Oh yeah.

Speaker 3: 1:09:32

Like you know, a lot of people would be like damn, I didn't make it this summer. I guess it wasn't meant to be.

Speaker 4: 1:09:38

Well, I think I was just show. Honestly, I didn't think it was possible, like I didn't know how much money I was going to make. I didn't know, you know. But I ran the numbers Like I was like, okay, for every box of ice cream if I sell it at two bucks?

Speaker 2: 1:09:50

a pop.

Speaker 4: 1:09:51

You know I can make xyz and then I'll have to reinvest that to buy in more inventory and like margins and over.

Speaker 3: 1:09:58

Yeah, you did a pro forma.

Speaker 5: 1:09:59

Yeah, exactly, and I was like you didn't even know it, yeah and.

Speaker 4: 1:10:02

I was like, okay, you know I'm, I'm selling five boxes of ice cream per day per per weekend. If I do this for eight, you know know, eight weekends over the course of the summer, and then it's going to take me two years. So I think I went into it like kind of thinking it would take me longer than that, honestly.

Speaker 4: 1:10:21

But I'd have days where, like you know, the old dads would tip me like 50 bucks on top of their ice cream, and so I was like dude, like I just got so much closer to my goal and so like stuff like that, and honestly, I think my parents started talking about what I was doing and why I was doing it, and so, like you know, word spreads pretty fast, and so there's people like more or less making donations to me too, it was awesome and you know, I think I learned.

Speaker 4: 1:10:49

I learned a lot from that summer, or from those two summers. One, I learned that I could force my best friend into free labor that's what friends are for and that, you know, I it was such a tangible like thing for me that I was like, if I make this money, I get this awesome reward. And this is, like you know, at the at the time, that was like my pinnacle. I was like, if I get to go to High Cascade, that's going to set me up for the rest of my life.

Speaker 4: 1:11:25

You know, that's that was. That was everything I had like hoped for.

Speaker 3: 1:11:29

Had you been to Oregon before when, before you wanted to?

Speaker 4: 1:11:33

I don't think so.

Speaker 3: 1:11:34

How did you learn about High Cascade? I guess at that point, media videos, internet, yeah, and I was just like I said.

Speaker 4: 1:11:41

I was so committed to the snowboard scene and I was starting to compete at that point. And just really I wanted to to compete, compete at that point and just like really like I wanted to be a pro snowboarder and like Gabby Viteri was like my idol and just I was like so down with the snowboard scene and like hanging with the boys and that's what they were all like, all talking about and stuff.

Speaker 4: 1:12:04

And you know, lucas Magoon was going to high cascade and just that whole like era of people and so that's when camp was in Govie still. Yeah, oh, yeah so.

Speaker 3: 1:12:15

I coached at High Cascade.

Speaker 4: 1:12:17

Oh, that's amazing.

Speaker 3: 1:12:18

For three summers, like 2001 to 2004.

Speaker 4: 1:12:23

Okay.

Speaker 3: 1:12:24

And like, yeah, dude, I mean, and all I wanted to do when I was a camper was get back there somehow. Yeah, Because it's especially back then, it was magical.

Speaker 4: 1:12:35

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 1:12:36

You know you're on the glacier all day and then you'd come down and skate all afternoon.

Speaker 2: 1:12:40

Yep, you know, eat cobra dogs Totally Well cobra dogs wasn't there when I was there.

Speaker 3: 1:12:46

I'm dating myself. But, like lava cones were.

Speaker 2: 1:12:50

Okay, l dating myself, but like uh, lava cones were lava cones. Lava cones, I think, is what it was called yeah, those are that's fun.

Speaker 3: 1:12:55

I can I, yeah, I mean, if you get it, you get it yeah I think we all like if you've been driven through govie in the summer, it's just a there's fun energy there because it's so beautiful yeah and like yeah, so did you have fun. Was it everything that?

Speaker 4: 1:13:09

you were hoping it was gonna be. It was amazing yeah, I remember colleen quigley was my coach and I, just like you know seeing all like seeing. It was Joe Sexton and Jeremy Jones, like some of those pro athletes, it was their signature session. And I just remember, like you know, meeting them and being like oh I'm boys with Jeremy Jones now Like this is. You know, I'm making it and kind of it totally. I mean it just it like was such a pivotal moment for me because I had worked so hard to get there.

Speaker 2: 1:13:41

Like I was like I earned this.

Speaker 4: 1:13:43

It tastes even better.

Speaker 5: 1:13:44

Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 4: 1:13:45

Exactly, and there's so many like not to knock it. You know I am very privileged. There's so many like not to knock it. You know I, I am very privileged. I come from a very, very generous family. Who, you know, we, we, you know we're middle class and that's so. We had a lot of. We were very privileged as kids, uh, but there's a lot of little brats that went to high school like a lot of really wealthy families that would just send them there for like full summers.

Speaker 4: 1:14:10

And I was just like you guys don't get it.

Speaker 3: 1:14:12

Well, yeah, and more often than not those kids were sad.

Speaker 5: 1:14:16

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3: 1:14:17

I got to know several of them, yeah, and some of them for multiple sessions, you know, and there was a fair amount of families and kids that would come back. And you know, high Cascade was just one of several camps that they would go through over the summer before, like life, brought them back to a boarding school.

Speaker 4: 1:14:33

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 1:14:34

And it's just. You know, it's a different existence. Totally but it definitely exists out there. So like, yeah, there and you know when to your point, there's something absolutely real and true about work reward. Yeah, you know like you just can't replicate that yeah true about work reward. You know like, you just can't replicate that. And I think it goes back to what we were talking about before. There's a certain amount of it's uncomfortable to kind of work for stuff, so it derives more meaning and I think that's a good thing.

Speaker 4: 1:15:03

Yeah, that's cool. Like I said, it was a very pivotal time in my life and you know I probably didn't realize it at the time, but it definitely paved the way for for the rest of my life and for the how I thought about like that work and reward type mentality, and you know it, it showed me what was possible and I was like I'm just a you know, I'm just a kid Like and if I just a kid can do this like, what else can I do?

Speaker 3: 1:15:30

Like, and if I, just a kid, can do this, like, what else can I do? Yeah, and it was. It definitely like correlates with that time kind of freedom that then inspired and you saw a problem and you know, it just kind of builds on itself.

Speaker 5: 1:15:58

Yeah, definitely Totally. I have a question Saturday snow. I mean that could be pretty good. Sun to snow, sun to snow, that is pretty good.

Speaker 4: 1:16:08

Yeah, no, I like that that is pretty good.

Speaker 5: 1:16:13

Sun to snow yeah, no, I like that. That is pretty good.

Speaker 3: 1:16:15

We're going to have to talk after this. I feel like we could do some fun stuff. Yeah See, I love that.

Speaker 7: 1:16:18

Absolutely. I love that.

Speaker 3: 1:16:19

Yeah Well, I mean, you've you've kind of shared earlier about your you've had several mentors. I think Robert Block is one of them, but you've also, I think your mom's been pretty instrumental to you in your journey. And I actually tried to get in touch with her, but I wasn't successful. Because those are always the best when you get to play parents. It's like I need to bring some tissue in here.

Speaker 2: 1:16:44

Which I need anyways. Yeah, you should.

Speaker 4: 1:16:48

Oh, that's a bummer.

Speaker 3: 1:16:49

Yeah, it's okay.

Speaker 4: 1:16:50

I should have given her a heads up. She doesn't even know I'm doing this, she doesn't no. I kind of wanted to surprise them.

Speaker 3: 1:16:55

It's never too late.

Speaker 4: 1:16:56

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 1:16:57

I will say that. So let's work on that. Okay, there you go.

Speaker 4: 1:17:02

I can get in touch with her and make her answer her phone. There you go.

Speaker 3: 1:17:05

I love it. Yeah, but I was able to connect with Robert or Bob Depends on. I feel like I can call him.

Speaker 4: 1:17:14

I feel like we can call him Bob.

Speaker 3: 1:17:16

Bobbert, bobbert, he's. He's awesome and, like I said, he he had. I thought it would be fun to kind of hear your story from his perspective. Yeah.

Speaker 7: 1:17:28

Yeah, my name's Robert Block and I had the pleasure of working with Emily while she was a student at Champlain College. While I was there I did a little teaching, but mainly what I did was ran a little entrepreneurship program where I basically provided one-on-one mentoring to students who were interested in entrepreneurship and usually had some project or business that they were working on. Before I met her, I'd heard of her because she was a highly regarded marketing student at the college. In fact I think I knew of her name because she had won this prestigious marketing scholarship the year before and coming into her senior year. But anyway, so someone referred her to me, I suppose, and she came and first thing I got the feeling that she was a very determined young lady. She told me about how she had gone to study abroad in New Zealand in her junior year for a semester and then had enjoyed it so much that she stayed on and did some traveling around the South Pacific and that's kind of, I guess, where she got her business idea, because she was traveling around to Bali and some of the surf towns up on the Australian Gold Coast and like a good marketer, she was hanging out with a bunch of young surfers, a lot of women surfers, and she listened to them. And she listened to them when they would complain about their bathing suits. So she decided to try to fix that and she'd never sewn. She called home or wrote home to her mother and said, hey, mom, you know that old sewing machine in the attic, why don't you send it out here to me? And so she taught herself to sew and started designing these suits, selling them to the girl surfers on the beach and where else, and came back to uh, champlain in the fall with this. Uh, you know, she meanwhile created a website and she was selling them online, selling them custom made, made by hand herself anyway. So she came to me to say, well, what do, what do I do now? And you know she worked at it during senior year and tried a couple of things and found some new fabric. She kind of connected with the whole idea of sustainable products and, you know, and gravitated to her current position. You know where she provides. You know she only uses sustainable fabrics Come the spring.

Speaker 7: 1:20:16

I get this email from somebody and it was about an entrepreneurship pitch competition for women college students and it was at Smith College and I had sort of. You know, champlain isn't Ivy League, it's a great little school, a wonderful school. But you know, I don't know how I got my hands on this thing. But I said, you know, emily, why don't you enter this thing? We'll go down to Northampton, mass or wherever it was Smith College, and went down there.

Speaker 7: 1:20:48

And so she went down there and competed and all these other female entrepreneurs were, you know, some Brown and Cornell and Yale and wherever you know Stanford, and wouldn't you know, emily, she didn't win the thing but she was one of the four finalists and she did a great job and it just kind of affirmed to her that, hey, you know, maybe this could be something and maybe I can really do this. You know, she graduated, she decided she didn't want to crank it up right now and she wanted to travel. So she and her dad fitted up a sprinter van to be a little, you know little sprinter van you could live in but also produce bathing suits in. So she had her sewing table and her machines and whatever, and she did that for a while and I think then she ended up in Bend with you guys out there, and he sounds disappointed, maybe it could be more than this, and so we've had conversations over the last couple of years about, you know, scaling up and, you know, getting beyond Her limited.

Speaker 7: 1:21:56

You know she and her sister and some other friends were sort of sewing them, you know, getting to finding a commercial sewing operation that could produce them for her doing some more social media. She's very good at that and you know just sort of building the business sort of organically to suit her needs and as far as I'm concerned, she's done an excellent job of that and has really remained true to herself during this whole process. One of the nice things about Facebook is, back when Facebook started I didn't really know anything about social media, but I started an account, a school account, you know I figured maybe to learn something about social media, and I ended up friending a lot of these students I worked with and now it's so great because you know they're all moving on, getting on with their careers, starting families, having kids, and I'm sort of still connected to their lives and it's very, very rewarding as I, you know, ride off into the sunset to be able to have these relationships, you know, with kids like Emily and others around the country that you know, at a point in time, you know we worked together and talked about things and worked on some things, and so I find that very gratifying. And, emily, quite frankly, without embarrassing her, I'd always say well, you know, you have to decide that because you're the entrepreneur, I just get to give you free advice.

Speaker 7: 1:23:46

But your point, though, is that one of the most important things I found that I was doing was just giving them encouragement. Just being a cheerleader, you know, when they'd come in and they'd try something and nobody wanted it whatever they were doing, just to give them some encouragement, I found was probably some of the most valuable advice I ever gave them. I'd be interested in what Emily would think about that, but I think you're really right People need encouragement. So, emily, if you ever are listening to this podcast, which I'm sure you will, I just wish you all the best. I think, as I told Adam, you were one of my rock stars and one of the people I really appreciated working with, and I just love what you're doing out there in Oregon, and I love the way not only your business, but just the way you are going about living your life, and with purpose, and with your purpose, it's just a real. It's an inspiration to me. I sometimes try to learn from you.

Speaker 4: 1:25:08

So I wish you all the best, and it's been a lot of fun to participate in this little podcast. So that's all I got. But he, you know he picks up on pieces that I think I you know they're very important in my story, but that I don't tend to include sometimes. And it's always. It's humbling and it's always cool to hear it from somebody else's perspective.

Speaker 3: 1:25:33

Yeah, that's what I was hoping. It would be fun, because I don't think enough of us kind of hear our story from someone else's perspective yeah. It's really interesting. It gives you a different insight into what you're up to, absolutely. You know, which is super fun.

Speaker 7: 1:25:48

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 1:25:49

Yeah, that's cool. Yeah, he was a pleasure to talk to yeah. I can see why he was good at that.

Speaker 4: 1:26:46

And then also, you know he's just salt of a problem for sure, but like I think you know you are thinking it is a business for you and college kid or just like you know, not really knowing what's possible in the entrepreneur space, but also like I had such a such a plan in my head, you know, whether it was work for Burton or work in marketing elsewhere, the events industry, and so this thing kind of just like started bubbling up on the side and he was the one that really like helped open my eyes to the fact that this, this could be a real thing. And then he, you know, we started working on the pitches for the entrepreneurship competitions and you know that that one down in Massachusetts it was, it was funny, I was so, I felt so out of my league. There was these women down there that were pitching tech, and tech is just such a different space.

Speaker 3: 1:27:28

You're either tech or you're not. There's no fake in it.

Speaker 4: 1:27:31

Exactly and so I was competing with these women who were you know, or these like college kids that were designing devices to track your you know, for diabetes and stuff. And I was like I make bathing suits. Like I just I felt so out of my league and to like be recognized as like being a finalist in that was a really like an aha moment for me, that like, holy shit, like I might just be making bathing suits but like I'm, I'm doing it well and I'm at least like presenting it well and pitching it well. And I did an elevator pitch competition. Honestly, I did the elevator pitch competition because my professor at the time said it would help us get like half a grade up in our class. And I was like, well, now I have this product and it's like easier to pitch a product.

Speaker 4: 1:28:20

So previously, my freshman year of college, it was the same deal. You got like extra credit if you did this elevator pitch competition. And it's like a big competition at our school and there's multiple categories. It's like internship, so you're pitching yourself. There's entrepreneurship, that you're pitching a product or a business, and then there's also like the not-for-profit space, so you're pitching an idea or like a not-for-profit organization idea, and you go into this like hypothetical elevator and you literally like have to click the button and like step into elevator, and I remember doing it my freshman year and it was the scariest thing I had ever done.

Speaker 2: 1:28:59

Like.

Speaker 4: 1:29:00

I think I froze because I was at the time I was pitching myself for an internship at Fuse Marketing, which is a youth marketing agency that like works on the do tour and works with some really cool like youth brands, and I remember just being like I am never doing that again.

Speaker 2: 1:29:18

Like that was traumatizing.

Speaker 4: 1:29:20

You know, I left and just felt I was mortified and I remember the class coming up my senior year that said, you know, you get extra credit if you participate in the elevator pitch. And I just remember thinking like I got that like gut feeling back from that freshman year experience and I was like no way, like way, like there's no way I can do that. And then I started thinking about it again and I was like, okay, like I actually have a product now and I have a product I know how to talk about and something that I feel confident in. I'm going to try it and I'm going to like really prepare for this and like, really, you know, give it my all. And I ended up placing third in the elevator pitch competition and it was just like so validating because I was just, you know, thinking back on that freshman year experience and just like that it just felt full circle because I, you know, it was my freshman year. I was just like a young, scared, like freshman, and then senior year coming around, being like not only did I just like place in this competition, but now I have this product and I have this confidence and I have this like ability to tell this story now, um, and that I ended up getting my first retail account from that elevator pitch competition and that first retail, uh, client was another like just little shop in town who was locally owned woman owned and they sat me down or I remember like reaching out to them prior to and just being like, hey, full transparency, I don't know how to do this, like I've never sold my products wholesale, I don't know how, like what I'm supposed to give to you or bring to you, you know, and like I said about what you're doing, emily, is like you are creating such a strong foundation for it, whereas I was just like, like grabbing at right, you know, just trying to figure it out as I went, and so I didn't.

Speaker 4: 1:31:17

I didn't know how to wholesale. I, you know, just trying to figure it out as I went, and so I didn't know how to wholesale, I didn't know how to create a line sheet, like I didn't even know what a line sheet was at that point, and so, looking back, you know, it's really funny to think about, but it's all of those different steps that ultimately helped me build that foundation, that ultimately helped me build that foundation, and it was that first wholesale account that like said to me, like oh, here's examples of what other brands send us, and that just blew my mind because I was like they're just willingly like giving up this information. Like it felt like a trade secret, you know, and they were just willing to like share it with me and they were willing to like help me and teach me and like you know, and I think there's, you know, I think there's a different stigma around, like helping kids do it or like helping young adults do it, because you know.

Speaker 3: 1:32:11

They're young adults, we're young adults.

Speaker 4: 1:32:13

Exactly, and so it's funny like being a little bit older and like also still just like fumbling through this, you know, totally Most of the time I'm like I have no idea what I'm doing.

Speaker 5: 1:32:23

Absolutely. I don't think anybody does.

Speaker 4: 1:32:27

That's like my life motto is like fake it till you make it, because literally everybody else is Absolutely, and so that has just been kind of like a learning experience to be like you don't know how to do it, figure it out, yeah, pretend like you know how to do it, because nobody like if you say anything confidently enough, people will believe it.

Speaker 3: 1:32:45

Absolutely. And then you'll get these little boosts like that, that pitch contest, where you your confidence level levels up a little bit. Totally, you know enough to give you the momentum that you need to keep the process going?

Speaker 5: 1:32:58

Yeah, definitely, it's crazy to think like I think sometimes having other people believe in you makes you believe in you so much more it's it's really cool that the power of that. Yeah, can I ask what your pitch like? How long was it, like minute wise? And then number two, like what was your main story, or? Focus of the pitch. I'm so curious.

Speaker 3: 1:33:22

You got a big one coming up. Yeah, I do.

Speaker 4: 1:33:24

Yeah, it was 90 seconds. It was basically Wow, they figured out the math of like the average elevator, like from the ground floor to like the 16th floor. I don't know, remember what it was. It was like the average height of a sky rise in New York city, like how many floors is it, and then how long does it take to get from the first floor to the 16th floor or something like that, and you, you like have 90 seconds to like give your pitch. Honestly, I don't remember Well there's.

Speaker 3: 1:33:57

There's a lot of like common structure, like the hook, the problem the solution, the market the growth the team, the ask you know like those things are, but then you can get creative in how to do that. Yeah, yeah, that's when I did my cause. I did my first pitch last October at that Bind Innovation Fest for Story Booth.

Speaker 5: 1:34:18

You did. Oh yeah, I'll have to look that up.

Speaker 3: 1:34:21

Meg helped me a lot. I would videotape myself and then text her and she'd critique it and we had five minutes. But no, there was no visual aids, it was just all like speaking and, ironically enough, I do pretty good like cut, like people, but in front of an audience I get much more anxious. So that was really good for me to kind of like get more comfortable with that. Um. But it was like when it's like anything like if you you know proper preparation prevents poor performance, right, and then you get into it and you're like actually that was pretty damn fun yeah like so high that you get after it.

Speaker 3: 1:35:03

It's like what do they call that type two fun where it's kind of like shitty in the moment because you're terrified, but after the fact you're kind of riding the dopamine hit?

Speaker 5: 1:35:12

for a minute or two. You know percent yeah that's gonna be fun.

Speaker 2: 1:35:16

I can't wait to come watch. Oh my, oh my gosh.

Speaker 3: 1:35:18

I'll share what I learned with my pitch.

Speaker 5: 1:35:21

I've been listening to all these TED talks and like all these, like storytelling Simon Sinek has made. Yeah, oh, yeah, yeah Meg turned me on to him.

Speaker 2: 1:35:29

He's amazing. I still get a lot from him, yeah.

Speaker 3: 1:35:32

Yeah, that's cool, that's really cool. When I was looking at what you do, the things that made you different from kind of other things, it seemed like not only based on feedback on your website, but also like talking to Kelly upstairs and people who use your product is like the comfort and like that balance between you know this feminine appearance, but also highly functional, and like it's like one swimsuit, like you said. Yeah, but then also the materials that you use.

Speaker 4: 1:36:00

Yeah, yeah. So that was honestly like a later addition to the company. So I graduated college and basically kind of hit that fork where I was like, okay, I can either pursue this full on, kind of like Bob said, or I can shut it down and get back to like what inspired it in the first place, which was traveling. So I ultimately did that and backpacked around the world for a year after I graduated and ultimately ended up in Australia and I was in Byron Bay for six months, which is just like this super hippie crunchy surf town, and very quickly I realized that, like you know, at the time, this was that. Like you know, at the time, this was, this is 2017, late 2017 and I there weren't too many sustainable swimsuit brands in the US like I, you know, I did some market research and like realized that there was like two in the entire US, but in Australia it was so commonplace and in Byron specifically, if you didn't have some sustainability aspect to your brand or to your business, you had no business being in Byron and it was just. You know, over the course of that six months, I saw brands come and go and it was so crazy seeing the ones that did well and that were received well by the community because they cared and because they had some aspect of sustainability, and it just totally blew my mind and totally shift the way I thought about consumerism and about the power that consumers have, and for me it just like, like reignited something in me and I just because I you know I had shut down the company because I was starting to burn out and you know, I was like just graduating college but I was working an internship, I was a full time student, I had a part time, an additional part time job, and then I was also running this business and I was working like 80 hour weeks and I was just like this is when I'm supposed to be having fun and, like you know, being carefree and traveling, and so that's ultimately why I decided to do it and I like didn't know if I was going to come back to it.

Speaker 4: 1:38:07

To be fully honest, like I, I was like maybe I'll figure something else out, like maybe I'll find something that gives me, like fills, that passion but doesn't burn me out, you know, and I know that it wasn't just that that was causing, like the root of the burnout, but I like spent six months in Byron and was just like mind blown at how, how much consumer, how much power consumers have and how much say they have in the businesses that thrive, in the businesses that die in their community. And so I spent six months there. And then I spent six months up in the northwest corner in this little town, and it was on the Ningaloo Reef, which is just the most biodiverse reef in the world, because you hear all these stories about the Great Barrier Reef it's dying, it's being bleached out, and that's the truth because there's so many tourists that go there and there's just so much pollution and global warming and so many things that are just killing these like life forces of our oceans, and it's just it, just it's shocking really and then you go to this like and I probably shouldn't have even said the town that I was in, because it's one of those things that was like best kept secret, but I just like just seeing how the community rallies around businesses and brands that care about the environment, the people like the earth. It was just super inspiring. And I remember one day I was just in this like little combo coffee shop retail store and I like grabbed a swimsuit off the shelf and just flipped it around and saw this tag that you know gave this whole story about this material and I was like holy shit, there's a recycled swimsuit material out there, and that was the first time I had like ever heard of it. And so I started just researching like crazy, and I just remember being like I could shift the entire focus of Saturday Swimwear towards sustainability.

Speaker 4: 1:40:08

Relaunch this thing, rebrand, you know like just totally do it right and like come back to the US and like bring in this, you know this thing that at the time, I didn't feel like was accessible or existed even, and so it just like totally lit me up and I flew back to the US and just like found a supplier for that material, started importing it, like redesigned all my old styles and just like relaunched with this whole new, like foundation of sustainability. And so that's kind of been at the core of Saturday Swimwear since 2019. And that's been like the goal of the business is to not only create a high quality swimsuit that's going to be your go to, that's functional, comfortable, cute, that you don't need to buy every year, but also that utilizes materials that are helping minimize waste and clean up the oceans. And then also everything from, you know, packaging to liners, to hang tags. Like you know, everything within Saturday Swimwear is so thoughtfully done because it was like a top priority for me. And then, even as I expanded the business, as I stopped making the swimsuits, you know, I kind of hit my capacity with what I could produce.

Speaker 4: 1:41:27

The main focus of growing the business was to do so in a way that still aligned with those values. So for me it was finding a manufacturer that was based in the US, that paid their employees a livable wage, that utilized some sustainability initiatives of their own, like recycling programs, things like that. And I was connected with this little sew studio up in Portland and that's where all the suits are made now. So it's been really cool to be able to grow the business in a way that is not only sustainable for Saturday swimwear but is also keeping those like environmentally friendly. You know like what am I trying to say? Yeah, no, the pillows are your business, like the values the values, the values.

Speaker 4: 1:42:16

Yeah, yeah, I got you.

Speaker 3: 1:42:16

Yeah, yeah, I totally got it, yeah, good.

Speaker 4: 1:42:19

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 1:42:20

I mean you should be proud of yourself, because the easy thing to do would not be that. Totally, you know so were you able to kind of fund this your entire, like from the beginning, on your own?

Speaker 4: 1:42:41

strapped and literally just like you know, I was buying really small quantities of materials and like literally just I bought a sewing machine off of Craigslist and just was able to like fund it all for myself and then reinvest that money. That I was making off of those suits into more material, better material, like you know, more designs, things like that. Um, when I went to production last, what was it? 2023 was my first production year, so it was in the fall of 2022. I took out credit cards.

Speaker 4: 1:43:07

And that was like because that was the first time that I had to like lump some, invest in the company Because you know, with a PO, like the higher quantities that you order, the lower the prices you get, and with a made in the US product it's expensive, oh yeah. And so, thankfully, like the factory that I found was willing to like work with me on those MOQs and work with me on those prices and the whole timeline and stuff. But it was the first time that I was like I have to order 2,500 pieces stuff. But it was the first time that I was like I have to order 2,500 pieces and this was like the first time I had to like big time gamble on this business, and so that was a very scary step for me.

Speaker 4: 1:43:51

And it's still. You know, I'm still figuring it out. I'm still figuring out what styles are selling best and like, how to order accordingly, and navigating the wholesale and retail market. And you know, because I'll think that you know a certain style is going to sell really well, and then I end up with a dozen like extra smalls or like larger, like random sizes. So just navigating that has been a really stressful but exciting challenge and I definitely just like learning at every step of the way because there's just like new things to figure out.

Speaker 3: 1:44:30

Do you have a pretty good community of people that have experience in kind of the in like soft goods, like clothing, kind of trends and how to kind of think about that and structure it?

Speaker 4: 1:44:42

I didn't, or I know. The answer is no. Do you now?

Speaker 3: 1:44:45

I don't know, I bet there's gotta be people.

Speaker 4: 1:44:48

Yeah, yeah, definitely, well, and that's, and that's kind of like I think I have, and this is gonna not not going to sound great, but I think I've been like kind of scrambling or like figuring it out every step of the way and like haven't really known, because there's a lot of gatekeeping and especially in the fashion space and especially in, like, the higher level of the fashion space, because there's yeah, you know, I had to hire somebody to help me find a factory, because people aren't willing to share that information, and so like navigating, yeah it's crazy, it is crazy and like

Speaker 4: 1:45:26

navigating that and even you know I'm navigating it from the flip side. Now, like people ask me who, where I get my products manufactured, and I'm like you're like, yeah, I'm like it's this weird balance of like okay, I don't want to gatekeep, but at the same time, I invested a lot of money, a lot of time and a lot of resources into finding that information. So I'm like why don't I have the right to like gatekeep?

Speaker 3: 1:45:47

well, it's quickly. You get up into that. You get to the rub of capitalism, right totally there's so much upside and so much downside and like, like how human nature engages with those. Both of those is interesting, definitely.

Speaker 5: 1:46:00

So yeah, Do you have employees?

Speaker 3: 1:46:03

No, or like it's just you, it's just me.

Speaker 4: 1:46:05

Wow, yeah, and that was.

Speaker 3: 1:46:07

You had employees, didn't it, didn't it? I felt like I read somewhere that you had a team of people. So Fake it till you make it. Fake it till you make it there we go.

Speaker 4: 1:46:15

Wording is everything.

Speaker 3: 1:46:17

That's true. The impression you gave.

Speaker 4: 1:46:19

Yeah, no, when I kind of hit my capacity of, like my manufacturing capacity, of what I could produce, I flew my sister out here and taught her how to make bottoms. Awesome, I like literally just taught her how to make a bottom and that was it. And I flew her back to the East Coast with a sewing machine and a bunch of material Amazing. And she was just mass producing bottoms for me.

Speaker 3: 1:46:41

So legit yeah.

Speaker 4: 1:46:42

And then I've had, you know, a handful of like social media support, like interns and things like that. I also had this woman who reached out to me. Her name's Lauren and she was like I have a lot of random experience. She's like nothing specific she's like but I am so passionate about, like sustainable swimwear in particular. She's like I want to support you in any way that I can and she just like dove headfirst into writing blogs for me and starting researching, like different retailers.

Speaker 4: 1:47:16

She was just so amazing, yeah, and I was like I don't know what I did to deserve you, and so she was like crucial. So to say that I don't have a team would be a lie. Right, I don't have employees, but I have so many, and even outside of that, photographers models like creatives. Just so many people that have believed in you.

Speaker 4: 1:47:42

Yeah, believe in me, but also have given their time and their expertise and, just like, have made this possible, because it's it takes a village for sure, and I like absolutely would. None of this would have been possible without that team.

Speaker 5: 1:47:58

Yeah, I feel the same actually for Ahoya. There's been so many amazing people willing just to help for free. I don't. I feel like it's kind of like if you build it, they will come kind of thing. Like once you start putting things out into the universe and if you've probably helped people along your path doing something or other, it always kind of comes back around. But I feel like I want to help other people now, because so many people have helped me, I want to like pay it forward. Yeah, but it's a cool. It's a cool thing. I don't think people starting a business, they think it's just all on them and there's nothing. No, reach out to people and don't be afraid to ask for help either. Totally, people are so gracious, it's amazing to ask for help either.

Speaker 4: 1:48:42

Totally, people are so gracious. It's amazing, yeah, and I think it's. It's that energy you put out too, because I think, if you're, I think there needs to be a level of confidence in asking for help, but also a level of like, humility and being like you don't owe me anything.

Speaker 2: 1:48:57

And.

Speaker 4: 1:48:58

I someday want to like be able to come back and help you or be able to help somebody else, and I think that having that mentality around it has helped me lean into that help a little bit more, because it's you know I struggle with like I have. You know, my sister-in-law is a photographer and she has been so, so generous, generous in helping, you know, take photos for the brand, and I have not paid her a dime and she I'm like someday I'm going to take care of you Like someday this is going to come full circle.

Speaker 4: 1:49:31

And like I got you and she's like I don't need that. Like I appreciate and love you and like all that. But she's like I'm doing this because I want to see you succeed. And she's like, and I know that by helping you do this little piece, like you succeeding will will bring me that validation and that's like I've gotten that from so many people and that is just so.

Speaker 4: 1:49:53

That's like what humanity needs to be built on, because it's just absolutely it's so cool to like see people just really step up and be there for you and they believe in what you're doing too, and that's such an important part of it 100 yeah, bob.

Speaker 3: 1:50:08

I mean bob mint it closed his piece talking about that yeah, you know I I want to hear um about the two of you and your opinion on like kind of the role of kind of marketing and strategy in 2024, with, with outdoor brands or just brands in general, when it comes to like where's your, where do you, or what have you where, what have you experienced to be kind of the highest return on your investment?

Speaker 5: 1:50:37

um yeah, I meanoya, I think is still a little young in the phases of marketing I've just barely put out an.

Speaker 5: 1:50:44

Instagram, like maybe a couple months ago, and I was so nervous to do the Instagram because I knew it was going to open up a whole can of worms, like now I got to keep on it and keep the hype up and it just it's just so exhausting to me and I've been on TikTok like all the trends. Oh, you got to do this before. You spend 15 minutes looking on Instagram before you post something and then after, and then like there's all these little tricks and then the algorithm and thinking about all these things through social media.

Speaker 3: 1:51:12

It's kind of exhausting dude.

Speaker 5: 1:51:13

It's really exhausting. But here's the thing, adam, because we are similar age, I'm like you know what? How did people make it before social media? I want to go back to grassroots style. Baby, I'm making flyers, stickers and I'm going to paint the town with Ahoya, physically and tangibly, and get back to that, because I'm like this digital space. It just makes my head spin, it creates anxiety.

Speaker 3: 1:51:39

Oh my gosh.

Speaker 5: 1:51:42

I know we need it, my gosh. I know we need it though.

Speaker 3: 1:51:43

I know we need it, but so I love balance. Yeah, I respect that a balance yeah, I, I would agree.

Speaker 4: 1:51:50

I feel like it definitely is a balance, and I am a little bit younger than you guys but, I get the same anxiety from it.

Speaker 4: 1:51:59

I don't find joy in the posting and the content creation and any of that. I think it's obviously harder to like invest prematurely but like to find somebody who can help you with that, who's really good at doing it, is for me a little bit invaluable. You know, I also think, kind of going back to what you were talking about earlier like really establishing your brand's voice early on and like just continuing that across platforms, like you know, from flyers to Instagram, Facebook to the website, to all of that, just like establishing your brand voice can help.

Speaker 4: 1:52:47

It helps everything. It helps you utilize all the different forms of media. But marketing is such a funny one because sometimes you don't see the immediate return. I have recently opened up a retail store and the return on that has been awesome.

Speaker 2: 1:53:05

That's amazing.

Speaker 4: 1:53:06

There's so much of that consumer-facing side of it that I didn't receive for a long time. I've done a ton of artisan markets and pop-up events and stuff like that, but one swimsuits are a hard thing to buy at one of those events because, especially for women, swimsuit buying is a very intimate experience and while I have dressing rooms, getting naked on a pavement public space is just not an ideal buying experience.

Speaker 4: 1:53:37

For sure an ideal buying experience for sure. So to have a controlled retail space where people can come and shop and, you know, can take their time and there's air conditioning and clothing hangers like people it's.

Speaker 4: 1:53:51

It's a way better buying experience in that, at least for the past year, has been so crucial for me and I've also I've honestly seen my website sales go down since I've opened the retail store because I get so many people that are like, hey, where can I buy these? In Bend, and prior to, they would maybe like not be able. You know, they would go to one of my retail stores or one of the retail stores that carry them, but they'd have limited inventory or whatever, so then they'd end up buying them on the website or not buying at all, whereas now that I have a physical space that has every style, every color, every size and you can come on, like come in and try on everything you want, like that has been so cool, and I know that's not possible for everybody. I know that's a very privileged thing to be able to have a retail space and be able to have, you know, be able to work it and stuff like that, but that's where my energy is at currently and it feels like it's really been paying off.

Speaker 4: 1:54:53

Yeah, tell people where your space is relocated to the mezzanine level in Bronwyn Jewelry.

Speaker 3: 1:55:00

Okay.

Speaker 4: 1:55:01

So 124 Northwest Minnesota Ave, right downtown. Bend yeah so inside Bronwyn upstairs.

Speaker 3: 1:55:08

And you're running it solo.

Speaker 4: 1:55:11

Yeah, I'm running it. Solo there's hopes.

Speaker 3: 1:55:15

I love your level of hustle, Emily.

Speaker 3: 1:55:19

Yeah, it's tough sometimes, but I you know what I like about you that I was thinking about that is unique is you're a good example of someone who, I think, went to college but didn't come out of it. Didn't come out of school looking for a job where you were going to be working for someone who would benefit from kind of this newly acquired skill set that you have, and you kind of used what you learned in college and then kind of observed a problem and kind of came up with a solution for it. And you've never and like that's a really that's a cool way to kind of start out you know like it's cool to kind of start out.

Speaker 4: 1:56:03

You know like it's cool. Yeah, I also want to give major kudos to the college I went to. They were very very career oriented and very like life skills oriented. We had specific classes on like certain ethics and things like that that applied to like real life situations, and internships were required and study abroad was highly encouraged.

Speaker 4: 1:56:21

So there was like I I chose that school because of the focus on the integration of real life, like I think a lot of people go to universities and they sit in lecture halls and that's a really hard space to like become a contributing member of society. And I think, think for me you know my largest class size was like 22 students and I had these really cool opportunities. And you know it's all about application. I will say, like you need to want it, you need to do it, you need to apply yourself but at the same time, like having the resources to do so and having the space and encouragement to like pursue that was super important and definitely crucial to like how I then applied it out of college.

Speaker 3: 1:57:18

I love it.

Speaker 4: 1:57:20

Champlain College.

Speaker 5: 1:57:22

Every time I hear that it almost sounds like someone drank too much champagne and they're trying to say champagne.

Speaker 3: 1:57:29

Champlain Thank you for what I've been experiencing, but haven't been able to communicate Champlain. I think you two need to do a collab at the very least. I think we need to talk.

Speaker 4: 1:57:40

Yeah, champlain, I think you two need to do a collab at the very least. Oh man.

Speaker 5: 1:57:42

I think we need to talk Something. Yeah Something.

Speaker 3: 1:57:46

This is funny guys. Is there anything that we didn't talk about that we should?

Speaker 4: 1:57:52

I actually that just pinged something. So a big part of my most recent marketing strategy has been collaborating with female designers.

Speaker 3: 1:58:03

Oh rad.

Speaker 4: 1:58:04

So I do. It's called my artist series and once a year I collaborate with a female identifying artist who designs a unique print and basically the prompt that I give them is like how does your, what is your work's relationship to nature and the environment? And then they basically run with that in whatever direction they will. So the first year I collaborated with Charlie November, who is a bend-based designer, and she utilized a lot of like ferns and like saw that high desert colors and yeah, it was a really, really awesome experience.

Speaker 4: 1:58:39

And then the next year I collaborated with Kelly Swanson, who's based in Bozeman, and she utilized a lot of like local botanicals and stuff and she uses this photography print process called cyanotype printing that basically imprints the outline of whatever like botanicals and things like that.

Speaker 4: 1:59:01

And so I've utilized collaborating with other female artists to help continue spread, to spread the word about Saturday swimwear and that's been really, really crucial to the growth but also a really inspiring way for me and for other people to connect to the product that they're buying, because now they're not only getting this really high quality, sustainable piece, but they're getting this piece of art and they're getting to connect with the designer who inspired it and who created it. And I, you know, a big part of that, like a big part of the launch, is telling that story and telling the process behind it and the story about that designer and where they come from and what inspires their work. So that's been really fun to like have that creative outlet and also to have that like extension of the brand. That's like, oh yeah, now it's, it's not just me, it's also this designer and this designer and this designer and they're sharing their work and they're sharing my work, and it's been a really fun way to collaborate with other female artists, but also to create unique products.

Speaker 3: 2:00:16

Well, when you're ready, to come record that story with whoever you're collaborating with then you can like add it into the experience.

Speaker 4: 2:00:23

Yeah, that would be awesome yeah.

Speaker 5: 2:00:25

Storytelling.

Speaker 4: 2:00:26

Maybe it's Emily Hoy, oh my gosh. Well, we already have the first one. Sign me up, mother.

Speaker 5: 2:00:32

Nature is my favorite artist. That's why I say she has inspired my art in so many ways, like she paints a new picture in the sky every day yeah, different clouds, sunset, like I just yeah. And so I think it's kind of cool that you are kind of more nature focused and like what's that filter and how humans can convey that through their story as well.

Speaker 7: 2:00:55

Yeah.

Speaker 5: 2:00:56

I think that's just so beautiful.

Speaker 4: 2:00:57

Thank you I love it yeah.

Speaker 3: 2:01:00

How about you?

Speaker 5: 2:01:01

What about you? What?

Speaker 3: 2:01:01

about me, ahoya.

Speaker 5: 2:01:03

What about Ahoya? What?

Speaker 3: 2:01:04

can people be looking out for for you?

Speaker 5: 2:01:06

Oh my gosh.

Speaker 3: 2:01:07

I mean so you're in this. Unique like this is like we're building it up.

Speaker 5: 2:01:11

Oh, yes, and I got to keep that going for sure yeah, this is going to be fun. I mean, just wait till I actually have tubes, because I've been on fire already, like when I actually have product.

Speaker 3: 2:01:22

this town is going to know my name tubes but I've seen photos of the prototypes. Yes, and they're prototypes.

Speaker 7: 2:01:28

Yeah.

Speaker 5: 2:01:29

And they're actually really good prototypes. We just had to switch a material, so, but yeah, I mean it's going to be amazing. I'm so excited.

Speaker 3: 2:01:38

And one thing I want to make sure and do and I feel horrible and maybe we said this, but I don't think we did is like you know, and I apologize. I should have brought this up earlier, but what makes Ahoya tubes better than, like, what's out there?

Speaker 5: 2:01:54

Well, there's a lot of different what's out there, but the main what's?

Speaker 5: 2:02:01

out there are the $20 tubes that you get at the grocery stores or Costco. The problem with those they pop really easy or you lose the rope around it. They're just. Nobody takes the time to patch them because they're so cheap. They're like, oh, I'll just go buy another one, and we do have a lot of tourists in this town and they'll just buy the tube for just the one day that they float. So ours are. It's kind of like a standup paddleboard quality in a river tube.

Speaker 3: 2:02:26

Oh, wow.

Speaker 5: 2:02:27

Yeah, so it's like so the rentals, the NRS tubes? It's going to be as durable as those NRS tubes. But what? The NRS tubes in the Rocky Mountain River tubes are just an octagon or a circle. Ours has a backrest for storage, it's got hand paddles, it's got a daisy chain and it's way more fun. Colors it's not like red orange red or orange or blue or something you know.

Speaker 5: 2:02:54

It's way more fun. So it has the durability of the rental tubes and way more durable than the Intex tubes. So it's kind of the in-between, it's a white space. Nobody's really doing it's cool?

Speaker 3: 2:03:05

Yeah, and it isn't. Don't you have a zipper in the backrest or something? Yes, storage, yeah, that's huge Waterproof Stuff in there. Yeah Well as much as you, or water resistant.

Speaker 5: 2:03:14

Water resistant.

Speaker 4: 2:03:22

Yeah, make sure it's all the way zipped, but yes, all right, so I'll be honest, when so we did the shoot for ben magazine and your tubes were included in it, and hearing about it, I hadn't. I had not heard of ahoya prior to this. Uh, hearing about it, I was like kind of like, what's the big deal, you know? And like, did a little research, honestly, couldn't find much which I think is you know. And like, did a little research, honestly, couldn't find much, which I think is you know just where you're at. And it's probably a little intentional.

Speaker 4: 2:03:44

But, seeing them in person, I was like, damn, these things are sweet, they're super cool, they're very, they're like works of art in them, in and of themselves, but they're also yeah, they're also very functional, like you know. There's, like you were saying, there's all the different ads, add-ons and all the different bits and pieces, but they're so thoughtfully made that I was like I would, you know, I would have never thought about that. Or like that's so brilliant, like not having to use your shoes as paddles and having that storage and just having a durable tube and being able to link up to your friend without that rope. And you know, just after the shoot I was like, damn, that was smart, like that was a I wish I thought of that kind of thing, but they're, they're awesome.

Speaker 5: 2:04:26

And I'm excited to own one someday. I appreciate it, girl.

Speaker 4: 2:04:29

Oh that means a lot. Yeah, yeah, and they look good with my suits, yeah.

Speaker 5: 2:04:33

Even better, heck, yes.

Speaker 3: 2:04:36

Well, I'm excited to follow you this summer and into the fall, and I'm going to come support you at Bao and it's going to be fun.

Speaker 5: 2:04:45

Yeah, thank you, cannot wait.

Speaker 3: 2:04:47

Yeah, all right, I think we did it, dudes.

Speaker 5: 2:04:50

Awesome. Yeah, thank you, adam for having us. Yeah, this was super fun, yeah.

Speaker 3: 2:04:55

I hope that you guys are going to both do really cool stuff. I can tell Absolutely.

Speaker 2: 2:05:02

You already are.

Speaker 3: 2:05:04

So, yeah, awesome Thanks.

Speaker 5: 2:05:08

Thank you, this was fun. Thank you Sweet.

Speaker 3: 2:05:10

Yeah, yeah, yeah, we'll go from there.

Speaker 5: 2:05:13

Yeah, yeah, all right, cool, see you around the bend.

Speaker 2: 2:05:25

I'll remember after work, mom would call in all of us on the bend.

Speaker 3: 2:05:35

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Speaker 3: 2:06:46

I'd like to say a special thank you to all of those who participated in the making of this episode. It wouldn't be the same without your contribution and I appreciate your trust. Support Ahoya by following them on Instagram at Ahoya Life and sign up for their newsletter. Visit Saturday Swimwear online at SaturdaySwimwearcom or, if you're in Bend, visit their new store downtown. Don't forget to stay tuned after the show credits for this episode's contribution to the Circling Podcast's community art project exploring subliminal story art embedded with meaning. Lastly, if you know someone who you think would enjoy today's episode, please share it with them today. Hey, thanks for your time. Central Oregon, get outside. We'll see you out there. And remember the health of our community relies on us.

Speaker 5: 2:07:44

I used this in some random Volcom graphics that I did. I'm going to tell my thing right now. Sonic Sunset's Enchanting Horizons.

Speaker 4: 2:07:56

Ooh, I like that.

Speaker 5: 2:07:57

There it is, so I'll write that up there. That's just the first thing that came to mind.

Speaker 4: 2:08:04

No, that like that. There it is, so I'll write that up there.

Speaker 3: 2:08:05

That's just the first thing that came to mind. No, that's awesome. Okay, let's.

Speaker 5: 2:08:09

Do I write it up there.

Speaker 3: 2:08:10

Yeah, do you want to talk more about it? No, perfect, I.

Speaker 4: 2:08:20

And this is, I think, maybe my brain not being able to step outside of the fact that we just had this great conversation, but like coming back to the idea of just like everyone's everyone's just doing their best, like everyone's faking it till we make it, there you go, that's it, absolutely.

Speaker 3: 2:08:37

Fake it till you. Make it. Yeah, I love that. All right, cool, thanks you two. I think that make it there you go. That's it Absolutely. Make it till you make it.

Speaker 4: 2:08:41

Yeah, I love that, all right.

Speaker 3: 2:08:43

Cool. Thanks you two, I think that's it.

Speaker 4: 2:08:44

I like you guys, thank you, we like you too. This has been fun.

Speaker 5: 2:08:48

Adam, you need to do a, you need to have you. Do you a podcast.

Speaker 4: 2:08:52

You need to interview you, yeah.