2023

Doug Schnitzspahn is the founder of Artemisia Media and the founding editor of Elevation Outdoors Magazine. He served as the editor in chief of publications for Outdoor Retailer, including the award-winning Outdoor Retailer Magazine, The Daily, and The Weekly, which covered news and provides resources with the show canceled during the COVID-19 crisis. He is also currently the editorial director and publisher of Exit 205 magazine, the official publication of the towns of Dillon and Silverthorne, Colorado, focused on building and supporting the mountain town community. As a freelance writer he has contributed to National Geographic, Men’s Journal, Outside, The Chicago Tribune, and more. He holds an MFA in fiction from the University of Washington and taught at the UW Rome Center in Italy. His work has been noted in Best American Essays and he has received a fellowship from the Colorado Council on the Arts.

Kami is the Social Media Strategist for Ruffwear and has been working in the social media space for 10 years now. She has a passion for writing, storytelling and connecting people through shared experiences. She enjoys storyboarding for customers and helping bring their adventures to life. Kami believes that when people see themselves in marketing, it makes a world of difference, so she loves telling stories that people can relate to from the epic to the everyday. When not creating content for social media, you can find Kami mountain biking, snowboarding, camping, Jeeping…or doing anything outside!

Raised in beautiful but rainy England, Andy moved to the sunny climes of Southern California in 1995 and hasn’t looked back since. Nearly three decades working in the outdoor, bike and surf industries has given him a thirst for adventure and living life without a ceiling. When not working on The Adventure Portal, he can be found pursuing his passion for adventure photography in remote mountain or desert areas, or simply embarking upon Vehicle Supported Adventure in the backcountry with one of The Adventure Portal rigs.

Erica Zazo (she/they) is a Chicago-based freelance outdoor writer. From gear reviews and outdoor guides to queer narratives and industry trends, Zazo contributes stories to a wide range of outdoor pubs including Backpacker Magazine, CNN Underscored, REI Uncommon Path, The Outbound Collective and more. She’s an avid hiker, advocate for urban nature, and a big fan of covering lesser-known trails and towns, including hikes you can find within and just outside of city limits. A Michigan native, their favorite stomping ground is the Midwest. Follow Zazo’s adventures on Instagram: @onecurioustrvlr

Kim Fuller is the co-founder of Jaunt Media Collective based in Vail, Colorado. Jaunt’s family of print and digital magazines includes YOGA + Life, Spoke + Blossom, and Covered Bridge. Kim started her career in media as a freelance journalist and has contributed to a number of national and regional publications, including Elevation Outdoors, 5280 Magazine, The Denver Post, Outside, Advnture, Gear Institute, SELF Magazine, Wanderlust Journal, and The Infatuation. Kim is a Colorado native and lives like it, spending most out-of-office hours getting fresh tracks or singletrack, teaching yoga around town, dining with friends, or planning her next adventure. Stay connected through @lifeinfull on Instagram and scope the mags at jauntmediacollective.com.

Emily Pennington is a columnist and longtime contributor to Outside Magazine. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, Condé Nast Traveler, Lonely Planet, Adventure Journal, REI, and Backpacker, among others. She has visited every national park in the U.S., and her book Feral: Losing Myself and Finding My Way in America’s National Parks, came out in February 2023.

Climbing and storytelling are integrated as a way of life for Derek Franz, who learned how to tie a figure-eight knot when he was eleven years old. He was leading his dad up the Diamond of Longs Peak by age fifteen and continues to chase adventure in every discipline of climbing in addition to whitewater kayaking, snowboarding and skiing. He has climbed El Capitan in a day, flashed 5.13a, rope soloed desert towers and led WI5+ ice pillars. He became the editor-in-chief of Alpinist in August 2022 after serving as digital editor since September 2016. A graduate of the University of Colorado’s School of Journalism, he wrote an award-winning column in the Post Independent for seven years while freelancing for Alpinist, Rock and Ice and other media. He is eager to discover what the future holds for alpinism and outdoor journalism.

Cam Vigliotta is an outdoor writer, editor, and producer with over six years of experience. A former copywriter and commerce editor, he currently serves as Gear Editor at Forbes Vetted.

Verna NezBegay Volker is from the Navajo Nation. Her clans are Tódích’íi’nii (Bitterwater) nishlíi, Hashtl’ishnii (Mud People) bashishchiin, Ta’neeszahnii (Tangle) dashicheii, and Tó’ áheedlíinii (Water Flows Together) dashinalí. She grew up in the Dzilnaoodilii area of New Mexico, but currently lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with her husband and four children. In 2009, she started her running journey to lose weight, but it turned into a quest to find out who she is internally. This journey has taken her from a newbie runner to a marathoner and to an ultra-marathoner. Her desire is to use her running to inspire others, heal and bring community together. She is also the founder of Native Women Running, an organization she created four years ago to draw visibility to Native Women Runners. Not only is the group drawing visibility, but it has become a place for native women to seek inspiration, motivation and community in both a virtual and in-person setting. She also creates Native Women Running teams around race events. She is also an ambassador for Hoka and Suunto as well as a devoted mother and wife.

Tayson is the founder and CEO of Outdoor Vitals, a privately owned, self funded, direct to consumer ultralight backpacking brand. Tayson founded OV in 2014 with $500 he felt like he could put into a business idea. From there he quickly self funded the company up to a million dollar brand by 2016! OV’s continued growth required creative funding options such as the use of Kickstarter where in 2018/19 they had a campaign, the LoftTek Jacket, raise 1 million dollars in crowdfunding! Since then, Tayson and the team has continued to innovate and grow. Today OV primarily creates it’s own methods to crowdfund growth that align with it’s brand values and goals.