Blower Media is snowboarding for “Grown Ups.”
Blower is a community-driven snowboarding media source, covering mountain life with an East Coast edge. We gladly accept contributions and submissions. Email us at editor@blower.media
Creative Director/Editor: Brooke Geery
Brooke has been snowboarding since ’93/’94 and covering snowboarding professionally since 1997. You may remember her as the publisher of Yobeat.com, which she ran for 21 years until its demise 2018. In addition to her own outlets, Brooke has contributed to various publications over the years, including, but not limited to: Transworld Snowboarding, Snowboarder Magazine, OnBoard Magazine, King Snow, Lat34, Board the World, Alliance Wakeboard, SG, Surfing Girl, Bluetorch TV, Willamette Week and the Mountain Times. She has also worked for Nike Snowboarding, Nikita, Grenade, ESPN’S Winter and Summer X Games and currently resides in Rutland, Vermont and is the official marketing copywriter for Killington Resort.
Assistant Editor/Grounded perspective: Jim O’Leary
Jim started snowboarding in PA before working in a snow shop down in Miami. No, not that kind of snow. Eventually he moved back north where he belongs and after working with Yobeat.com he went on to handle brand partnerships for Tailgate Alaska and The Snowboard Project. He also works as social media editor for the Philly Soccer Page, and as a contributor at Trail4Runner.com as well as Mountain Weekly News. When not writing, editing, or dealing with the logistical chaos of working as a freelance writer he enjoys cycling, climbing, and being just okay at bass guitar. He and his wife live in Troy, NY with their rather large cat.
Creative Swiss Army Knife: Charlotte Harris
Charlotte (who is more fondly known as Gnarlotte) is a certified snow enthusiast who has been standing sideways since 1999, instructing since 2004 and leading staff training since 2016. In the winter, you’ll find her working seven days a week, splitting her time between on-snow duties and riding a desk [read: couch] as Senior Designer for Coalition Snow. After yelling about women in snowboarding for close to 11 years, she finally has landed her dream job within the industry. A creative aficionado, she’ll try her hand at anything that requires using the right side of her brain, including witty one-liners, writing, digital design, print design, content creation, photography, and art direction.
Senior Contributor/Podcasts: Cody Liska
Cody grew up in the ‘90s and early 2000s Alaska snow and skate scene, a Golden Era defined by crews like Boarderline and JB Deuce. He is the founder and editor of Crude Magazine and the host of Crude Conversations, a podcast that takes a contemporary look at what it means to be an Alaskan. He is also the producer and host of Chatter Marks, a podcast of the Anchorage Museum. Since 2017, he has worked as a youth mentor at the Alaska Teen Media Institute, where he’s responsible for engaging and recruiting youth and teaching the fundamentals of journalism. Cody is a freelance journalist and has worked with publications such as YoBeat, Snowboarder Magazine, TransWorld SNOWboarding, The Snowboarder’s Journal, Anchorage Press, VICE, Noisey, BBC and Southern Poverty Law Center.
Super Senior Contributor/History: Mike Estes
In 1985, Mike Estes was working as a nighttime janitor at Timberline Lodge, when he had a chance encounter with Tom Sims, Dave Weaver, Chris Roach, Tucker Fransen, Craig Kelly and Kelly Jo Legaz one fateful day. Tom was testing out his new pro model and he let Mike take one for a ride. It was the now iconic 1700 swallowtail. That was the beginning of his attraction to and subsequent career in snowboarding, which would eventually include three pro models with Barfoot Snowboards (’91 to ’93) and two with Luxury Snowboards (’96 and ’97) and more recently a pro model from L2R Snowboards. He also reunited with his artist from Barfoot and did a graphic for B4BC. He has also been published in Transworld, Snowboarder Mag and Concrete Powder.
California Department: The Oates Family
The Oates Family has been snowboarding since ‘95 and began working in the industry in ‘96 for Heckler Magazine. A multi generational shred family these days, Carter (10)
used to shoot product review videos for Yobeat and his little brother Greyson (7) got his start snowboarding at age 2 by mainlining it into a shed in South Lake Tahoe. Rad Dad (Brad) has written for Thrasher, Big Brother, Yobeat, LA Weekly and Heckler and is heavily involved within the skateboard industry as a longtime sales guru at NHS/Santa Cruz Skateboards. The Oates Family lives in Santa Cruz, California and Boreal is their home mountain.