Ever wonder who works behind the scenes at Blue Ridge Outdoors? Who are the lucky bastards who get to write stories, take photos, shoot video, sell and design ads, and attend outdoor events across the region? It’s a good gig, and our team is a fun mix of folks who work hard and play harder.
Some of us are fun-loving festival-goers; others are gonzo adventurers. Our staff includes moms and millennials, amateurs and aces, hippie vegetarians and paleo-carnivores.
But who are we, really? We asked our staff to take the Outdoor Personality Quiz in this month’s issue, so you could get to know how we roll.
Our digital publisher Dusty Allison is an URBANITE who knows every bike shop, outfitter, and brewery in town—but he is also a true Appalachian native and mountain man who has explored the region’s most rugged and remote wilderness areas.
Print publisher Leah Woody is also an URBANITE—but this supermom and woman warrior could easily be a PAPOOSER, too.
Graphic designer Lauren Worth and sales executives Katie Hartwell and Hannah Cooper are all YOGIS. Lauren is probably the most grounded member of the BRO team, while Hannah and Katie are our most energetic.
Jess Daddio is a RIVER SPIRIT—and she’s also a badass mountain biker who just completed a thru-ride of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route.
Our IT guru Craig Snodgrass is a DRIFTER …. in another life. Craiggers is also a dad, a runner, an artist, and the illustrator of our outdoor personality sketches.
Our senior sales executive Martha Evans is a hip URBANITE who regularly crushes OrangeTheory classes before work, but she’s not afraid to get dirty, either. She’s hiked the 500-Mile Camino de Santiago Trail through Spain.
When doomsday arrives, we’ll rely on our circulation manager Kaity Vance, the only SURVIVALIST on staff.
Our newest employee, digital content specialist Justin Forrest, is the classic DUDE. He skateboards, mountain bikes, fishes, and drinks craft beer—he’s essentially the poster child of the Asheville hipster.
Our business manager Melissa Gessler is THE NATURAL—not surprising since she lives on a farm in western Virginia keeping bees, growing vegetables, and raising crops as well as kids.
I took the quiz and also ended up as THE NATURAL, but admittedly, I fit the profile of ENDURANCE GEEK, too. Even Craig’s illo isn’t far off.
And what about our bossman, Blake DeMaso, the long-time leader, president, and owner of Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine? Some staffers wagered that he was a DUDE. After all, he’s a hard-drinking, festival-loving, outdoor gear junkie and cool dad who loves his jam bands. Others pegged him as a GRATEFUL GENTLEMAN with his encyclopedic knowledge of liquor and his many globe-trotting adventures. He has some URBANITE tendencies, though he is a country boy at heart. He’s not a GREEK GONE WILD frat boy, but he can hang with the wildest of them. And he’s not a SURVIVALIST either, though he’s an accomplished angler and a skilled marksman.
No, folks, our boss is a DIRTBAG.
Take the quiz for yourself HERE and find out whom you most resemble.
