If you know my family, you know that we really love podcasts and audio books. For as long as I can remember we always listen to one or the other during car rides.
To be honest, when I was younger, I was always much more excited about listening to a good book than a podcast. But this began to change when my mom started to play the podcast How I Built This. In this NPR show, Guy Raz interviews founders to take listeners on a journey of how a company was built (pretty self explanatory). Full disclaimer, this is not my favorite podcast anymore, but I do remember absolutely loving this show when I was younger. I was totally enthralled with how these people came up with their crazy ideas, and even more amazed by how they started and grew their companies.
There are a few How I Built This episodes that stuck out to me at a young age. Patagonia’s story because I was transfixed by the founder, Yvon Chouinard’s incredibly calm demeanor and thought his mission was both simple and beautiful. The story of how Spanx was founded because even though I scoffed at the product at that age I was so impressed by Sara Blakely’s steadfast determination.
**Looking back now, a huge common theme in all the founder’s stories was constant belief in the product (confidence really is important in all aspects of life :)). **
And finally, the story of Clif Bar, where Gary Erickson frustratingly decided on a multiple hour bike ride that the current energy/granola bars were just too terrible to be stomached and he had to do something about it. I loved this one in particular because I thought it was so awesome that the problem was experienced by so many, but Gary was the one to finally say “I’m going to change this.” He then went on to create a hugely successful company, Clif Bar, that not only makes delicious products but also has an incredibly admirable mission that they truly believe in and follow through on.
It turns out that Gary actually has many redeeming qualities! One of particular note is that he is a big supporter of sports and happens to be interested in ski racing. Clif bar used to sponsor the US Ski Team, but after they decided to end that relationship, they continued to support the sport through individual sponsorships. I remember hearing stories from these sponsored athletes of how amazing and kind Gary and his wife Kit were. So, this fall, as I was desperately scrambling to come up with the funds to support my Olympic campaign this season, I reached out to Gary to tell him how much I admired him and his story and to tell him a little bit about me and my story. He responded immediately even though he was on a multi day bike trip with his best friend Jay who, as it turned out, happened to also be with Gary in 1990 when he had the epiphany to make a better tasting energy bar. How cool is that?
After a couple email exchanges Gary agreed to have Clif Bar be my head gear sponsor this season even though I was asking much out of the usual cycle for their sponsorships. This was definitely the biggest moment in my ski career to date from a brand sponsorship, and I was ecstatic. I was so proud to represent Clif bar at every race this season as my headgear sponsorship, and Gary’s support truly helped me to continue to believe in myself.
I am still learning a ton about the marketing world of being a professional athlete. But what my partnership with Clif bar showed me was the potential to grow my brand in conjunction with the companies I represent. Having Clif Bar as my headgear sponsor meant that I was also representing their mission to create a healthier and more sustainable world. In this way, our partnership helped me grow my brand while also helping them spread their mission. I am very excited to continue to build my brand in a similar way this coming season.