Derek Westerlund founded Freeride Entertainment and is known as an award-winning filmmaker who came up in the trailer parks of Kamloops, BC. His tough childhood that taught Derek the hustle that he still has in him and a passion for skiing and biking. He parlayed that passion into brief “pro” mountain bike career and then graduated to becoming the filmmaker who changed the look and feel of the mountain bike industry.
Read MoreAaron Grace’s career in wakeboarding had an auspicious start, working as the janitor for Rusty. One day after cleaning toilets, he was invited on the Rusty boat, they saw him ride and the rest is history. Aaron ended up a sponsored rider and had a 24-month pro career before it was time to manage the athletes and eventually the marketing at Liquid Force. I should also mention that he doesn’t hold back with his opinions on the podcast and the “Inappropriate Questions” are some of the best.
Read MoreDaniel Grant is a prodigy on a wakeboard. He’s a 5 time ‘Cable Park Rider of the Year’ and he’s only 20 years old. He moved to Thailand at a young age and was an 8-year-old kid at the skatepark when he found out about the local cable park. One day on a kneeboard hooked him and he has become the one of the greatest cable park riders of our time. He's been traveling the world on his own since he was 11 and tells the tales on the podcast.
Read MoreJohn Cardiel is a rare breed of skater who is known for a fast, loose, and powerful style that will never get old. He was Thrasher Magazine’s Skater of the Year at 19, had a long skate career, was paralyzed, amazed Dr's by moving again and now bikes like a madman. If you don't know about him, you should. This is a story about a guy who puts everything he has into everything he does. He goes one speed in life and it’s really f##king fast. All Hail Cardiel!!!
Read MoreMimi Knoop’s skateboard career started in Cuba and her career path is a lot different than your traditional skateboarder. She was a collegiate soccer player, did a few post grad years in the wine business, and then migrated west to California where she found skateboarding again. In a few short years, Mimi was a "sponsored " woman in a world of men and became an advocate for change.. We talk about it all on the podcast.
Read MoreDave Paine’s life started as a team sports kid from Philly who got into skateboarding through his brothers. When he got into rollerblading, he sent the equivalent of a “sponsor me” edit to a video magazine, his footage was used and Dave somehow ended up running the video company. He did that until the bottom dropped out and moved to Fuel TV where he launched a network.
Read MoreBased on his appearance, you may not guess that Chris Ortiz is the fixture that he is in the skateboard world. It all started with high school photography class projects that he based around his passion, skateboarding. Having a badass crew to skate and shoot with created opportunities for Chris to work in print when print mattered. As his career grew, he helped revolutionize the media world with 411 video magazine and eventually made his way to the contest scene running things at the Dew Tour. We talk about it all on the podcast.
Read MoreIf you are into the outdoors, you’ve most likely heard of Poler. Their unique take on camping and adventure made the brand instantly successful. All of it was started by Kharma Vella and his former best friend Benji. Kharma is my guest this week and we talk coming up in the world of snowboarding, starting a brand, building it and watching the same brand destroy both his personal and professional life. The podcast is Kharma’s side of a real-life tale that outlines what can happen when you do business with friends.
Read MoreChris Edwards lived more by the age of 20 than most people do in a lifetime. He was a pro athlete at age 14, dropped out of high school a year later and became the face of the fastest growing sport on the planet. Chris was in the movies, on TV, was the first to go big on ramps, first to grind a rail, and, as far as I know, the first to have 6 biological children and 4 wives. Chris and I talk the rise and fall on the podcast
Read MoreAt first look, there is nothing that stands out about Carson Storch. He looks like an All-American kid fresh out of college figuring out what he is going to do with his life. But that’s not the case, in reality, Carson has been on the same career path since he was looked at as a dreamer when he was 16. He’s a pro Mountain Biker who finds himself at home on big mountains or riding slopestyle. He’s known for having a unique style that can be seen whenever he rides his bike. Hear all about Carson, the Redbull Rampage and more on the podcast.
Read MoreLike a lot of kids in California, Taylor Knox wanted to be a pro surfer at an early age. Unlike a lot of kids, Taylor had a back condition would require 7 hours of surgery and 6 months in a full body cast...at age 15. While he lost time, he was still hell bent on becoming a pro surfer and his classmates thought he was crazy. Fast forward to today, Taylor has had a legendary career that spans decades. We talk about life, surfing, the momentum generation and a lot more on the podcast.
Read MoreScot Chrisman grew up with the dream of a pro skier and it never happened. He was close as a racer, then competed for a few years and nothing really materialized. Along the way there was drugs, alcohol, legal issues but things worked themselves out and today, Scot is an aspiring entrepreneur with his hands in just about everything. He’s of interest to me for one reason in particular, he has a podcast that went from zero to number 1 on itunes and I wanted to find out who he is and how he did it.
Read MoreMike Wilson is an athlete with elite ability and you can say he "made it" in the world of action sports. You can also say that Mike didn’t achieve his full potential. Mike has always marched to the beat of his own drummer and while some athletes choose to be team players, Mike was more of a lone wolf. People thought he was a loose cannon and maybe he is. On the podcast Mike tells his story and he has no filter.
Read MoreJosh Brown’s life has been an open book to the public from the time he moved to Foyil, OK (Pop 236) when he was a tween. The publicity used to be a good thing that brought women, fortune and fame to a small-town kid who achieved a dream that alludes 99.5 percent of all kids, playing in an NFL Game. Eventually, the publicity turned bad, domestic violence, divorce, and a virtual blackball by NFL teams. Hear what Josh has to say about his meteoric rise, crash and burn and putting the pieces back together
Read MoreMatt Gerdes is not your typical adrenaline junkie. This BASE Jumper founded Squirrel Wingsuits, an innovative and disruptive brand in the world of human flight and has jumped all over the world. Like most professionals I speak with, Matt cut corners on his way to BASE Jumping and has not paid the price. Hear the whole story on the podcast.
Read MoreMatthias Giraud aka Super Frenchie, is one of those passionate people who has way too much energy. He’s also pro skier/BASE jumper who travels the world creating insane videos for a living. We talk getting into BASE jumping without proper experience, a lifetime of gnarly things, how his perspective on risk has changed over time and how he’s still alive after hitting a cliff at 70 MPH. Hear the whole, crazy story on the podcast.
Read MoreMikey LeBlanc is a legend in snowboarding . He’s known for teeth breaking ollies, high consequence rails and riding just about everything during his 25+ year snowboard career. His story starts in Maine and takes him on a tour of mountain towns as he navigates his way through the snowboard industry coming to find himself at the helm of one of the most stylish outerwear brands in the game. Mikey’s story is one of heart, he worked his ass off to create some lucky breaks and then took full advantage of the opportunities he was provided. He’s a cool dude and it’s a great story!
Read MoreMurray Wais was a punk rock kid who left Seattle for a community college that put him in the mountains. He fell in love with that life, became an instructor and then graduated to studying journalism at the University of Oregon. Fast forward to being laid off by Microsoft, he decided to work for free and follow his ski bum dreams. He ended up kitting gold with a lot of hard work, some amazing skiers and what was to become matchstick productions. Listen to Murray tell it how it is on the podcast.
Read MoreOlympic Judge Steele Spence has a storied history in the ski industry. He was part of the second wave of new school skiers and one who had a knack for greasing the burliest of rails. His urban game was top notch before most people knew that urban skiing was a thing. When pro skiing wasn’t an option anymore, Steele moved in-house and designed skis and products for 4FRNT. The life of a desk jockey was not for Steele and he quickly found himself in a new role, as a judge. Countless events later, Steele is an Olympic judge and with judging comes criticism. Listen to the podcast to hear Steel address everything around the scoring at the Olympic Games.
Read MoreDevin Logan is the youngest of 5 kids and was treated like a little brother by her two closest siblings, Sean and Chris. Chasing her brothers around in between runs at contests and their general influence on her has given her the relaxed confidence that she uses to reach the podium at places like the Olympics….which she is about to do so tune in to watch Devin go for Gold in Slopestyle and Halfpipe in South Korea.
Read MoreWELCOME TO THE POWELL MOVEMENT! Every week I take a deep dive into the careers, history and psyche of the greatest athletes and behind the scenes players from the world of action sports. From humble beginnings to becoming supernovas, these talents have shaped the sports that we love and continue to PUSH IT- which is to say - if they PUSH IT they’re on THE POWELL MOVEMENT.
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