As many of you know by now I am a huge fan of Elena Hight and I love snowboarding! With this project, I realized that I have actually done this exact process before when I met Elena Hight! Although I have no idea what I want to do career wise, I know that I want it to be involved with the snowboarding industry. What better way to get involved with the snowboarding industry than to interview a professional snowboarder?
When I went to Mt. Hood this summer to snowboard and meet Elena, I knew I was going to be nervous. Considering my past with being starstruck before, I decided that it would be a good idea to write down some questions. Even just writing down the questions got my nerves to boil up! I thought about all of the different things i could ask her. I could ask her about how she got started with snowboarding, I thought about how I could ask her why she loves snowboarding, I thought about how I could ask her about her sponsors, I thought about how I could ask her about her personal life and possibly become friends with her (in the most non-creepy-way possible), I thought about how if I asked her about her boyfriend, who in a previous interview I watched of her she mentioned that he wasn’t a professional snowboarder as well as her but he was involved in the industry, and I thought about how I could simply ask her about what she thinks I should do to get more involved in the industry.
Getting to meet Elena was the highlight of my summer so i remember this interview vividly. My heart pounding, my stomach growling, and being so anxious that I couldn’t even eat Volcano Cones. Volcano Cones is one of the best ice cream places I’ve ever been to. It’s so good that it’s ridiculous. Waiting for a message on twitter from Elena was the most suspesful thing I’ve ever been through. After hours of waiting, she messaged me. She asked if I was in Government Camp, and as I replied with a yes, lightning fast, she proceeded to tell me that she was at Volcano Cones. My friend and I walked towards Volcano Cones with our nerves bouncing off the walls. We were a block away from meeting our favorite snowboarder. Not only were we a block away from meeting our snowboarder, but we were also going to hangout with her.
When we finally reached Volcano Cones, I spotted her. Not only did I spot Elena Hight, but I also spotted two other professional snowboarders: Olympic gold medalist Kelly Clark and Olympic athlete Spencer O’Brien. Well, that didn’t exactly help my nerves. We proceeded to sit at the table where Kelly was and awaited Elena Hight’s arrival.
When Elena came over, she greeted me with a hug and was just about the nicest person ever. During the interview, I had Kelly and Spencer there to contribute to my answers. I asked them everything from how they got started with snowboarding, to how they manage their sponsors and the business aspects of their profession. They gave me amazing advice on how to find out what I want to do. They told me to start out taking business or Media Arts classes to see what interests me the most. After doing that, if I still had no clue on what to do with my life, they told me that I could always contact them again and ask them on their opinions. Not only had I finally gotten the help I had been looking for career wise, I had also made three business connections that could last a lifetime.
