Lay the groundwork well enough that what comes from there goes beyond the plan.
This is my approach to every system, project, trail, and trip.
After college I planned a two month trip covering 18 countries and 23 cities. Every plane, every train, every hostel booked, paid, and color-coded in a spreadsheet, with a running list of things to do in each city. I planned all of it, not because I wanted a rigid trip, but because I wanted to show up with nothing left to figure out, so I could say yes to anything, whether it was on my list or not. The stories I still tell from that trip are almost entirely the ones that weren't on any list. They happened because the foundation gave them room to.
I've approached everything the same way since. The structure is what makes the spontaneity possible. Build it solid, then watch what grows from it.
It's the same approach I bring to every project, every system, and every role I've taken on.
From the Rockies to the Cascades.
My first full-time role out of college was Marketing Coordinator at Hotel Boulderado, a historic landmark hotel in downtown Boulder with three F&B outlets. I ran marketing across all of it: digital, social, email, and events. Small team, real responsibility from day one, and where I first learned how much a strong local brand can anchor a community.
From there I went to ski resorts, which turned out to be a masterclass in making creative work move inside a complex, large-scale organization. I spent four years at Vail Resorts, moving up twice across three different mountains in Colorado and Washington, from Content Specialist to Senior Specialist to Manager. I built brand voice, managed multi-year campaigns, led the company's first enterprise-wide digital asset management rollout across 39+ resorts, and learned how to make good creative work hold up at real scale.
Next came Oru Kayak as their Marketing and E-Commerce Manager. Smaller team, faster pace, and everything on my plate. I doubled on-site conversion, launched 20+ products end to end, and built the systems that let strategy and execution actually talk to each other.
Now I'm Head of Marketing, Events and Partnerships at The Line Bike Experience in North Bend, Washington, where I built the marketing function from the ground up. Separately, Hello Alex Garcia LLC has been running since 2017, my independent consultancy most recently focused on PR for the Freeride World Tour through two seasons heading into freeride's Olympic debut. The work has taken a lot of shapes. The approach hasn't changed much.
The rest of the picture.
Growing up in Colorado, being outside was never something you planned around. It was just the default. Skiing, hiking, camping, time on the water, time in the mountains, always with good people. That habit never left.
I visited Hood River as a kid and never quite got the PNW out of my head, so when a promotion at Stevens Pass came along, the move made sense on every level. I've been all around Washington since, and have landed just outside Seattle with my partner and four rescue animals.
Most of my non-work hours look something like this: on a bike, on a snowboard, on a lake, or on a trail with three crazy and cuddly dogs, or out on the back patio with an iced coffee and the cat on a leash sunbathing next to me. Camera nearby for most of it, and of course a spreadsheet for the trips that require more planning than just a day pack.
