Outliers Project

Ross Reid has spent his life following curiosity, from producing ski films and launching an apparel company to running for political office and building Nerdy About Nature, an independent media channel that makes ecology, conservation and environmental policy accessible to a massive audience. In this deeply thoughtful conversation, Ross shares the personal evolution behind his work and what he has...

For Ejay O’Donnell, success isn’t just about building a $35 million brand. It’s about creating a life where ambition, fatherhood and family can coexist. Molly sits down with her longtime friend and Dad Gang co-founder to talk about letting go of traditional work-life balance, turning ideas into action and why optimism, patience and showing up for the people you love have become Ejay’s real recipe...

Kimber Cross spent much of her childhood hiding the hand she was born without. Today, she's a professional adaptive athlete and alpinist with Mountain Hardwear, climbing rock, ice and some of the most consequential terrain in the world. In this episode, Kimber shares how a breakup in her late 20s unexpectedly led her to climbing, the adaptations and people that helped her find her place in the mou...

What if you stopped waiting for the right time to build the life you actually want? Steven Ciaccio is a flight attendant, world traveler, snowboard instructor, outdoor adventurer, husband, dad, and now children's book author. In this episode, we talk about how he's built a life around adventure, family and curiosity, from buying a one-way ticket to Hawaii while carrying $100K in student de...

Wolf Technician for the Yellowstone Wolf Project, Taylor Rabe never planned to study wolves. Today, she's one of the leading voices helping people better understand Yellowstone's most misunderstood predator. In this episode, we explore her unlikely journey to the Yellowstone Wolf Project , what years of observing wild wolves have taught her about family, conflict, and coexistence, and why...

What happens when you leave a successful marketing career behind to chase a passion that most people don't even realize exists? In this episode of the Outliers Project, I sit down with dog trainer, entrepreneur, and outdoor adventurer Molly Avrin, founder of Pete's Adventure Pack and the Adventure Dog Channel . Molly has built a unique business helping people and their dogs safely explore...

In this episode of The Outliers Project, I sit down with Darren Rayner, founder of Vancouver BC based creative agency Magnifire and a filmmaker whose career grew out of the action sports world long before social media content became a marketing industry obsession. What started with Darren picking up a camera after a serious skiing injury eventually evolved into building films, creating a grassroot...

Most people know Kelly Hanson as the familiar face of KING 5’s New Day Northwest and Local Lens Seattle . What they may not see is how much persistence it took to get there. In this episode, Kelly shares the less polished side of building a career in media ...working behind the scenes, hearing “no” more than once, moving through smaller markets, and realizing no one was going to hand her the exact...

In this episode, Molly talks with Martina Brimmer about building Swift Industries into a brand that goes far beyond product. They get into the intersection of creativity and business, what it’s like to lead as a woman in a male-dominated industry, and how Swift carved out a distinct voice in a traditionally technical space. Martina opens up about the highs, the brutal lows, and what it looks like...

In this episode of The Outliers Project , Molly sits down with snowboarding pioneer and the first snowboarder to earn an Olympic medal, Shannon Dunn-Downing for a fun conversation. Shannon shares what it was actually like in the early days of snowboarding, when there were no rules, no roadmap, and very few women in the sport. From literally carving out her place in a male-dominated industry to lau...

Scott Losse might describe himself as “from the internet,” but his story is a lot more layered than a few viral videos. In this episode, Molly sits down with the Pacific Northwest-based comedian to talk about what happens when your life unexpectedly changes online. From going viral in his 30s to navigating recognition in everyday life, Scott shares what it actually feels like to be known… while st...

In this episode of The Outliers Project, I sit down with Maria Lovely Daggett, a sixth-generation Montanan, skier featured in Warren Miller, hunter, and founder of Lovely Outdoor Co. Maria grew up in a family of hunters and outfitters, where life revolved around horses, wild places, and a deep respect for the land. We talk about the realities behind Montana’s Western culture, the tension between t...

In this episode, Molly catches up with Ben Carson of Seattle band Hot Bodies in Motion for a conversation about creativity, reinvention, and the tension of being both a musician and a tech mover and shaker in Seattle. They talk about how he got into music, the band’s hiatus, return to music, the creative economy and why live music still matters more than ever.

Chris Jerard, Chief Brand Officer at Outside interactive, joins Molly to talk about what it really means to “get outside” in an age of algorithms and polarizing debates about access, ai, the future of public lands and more. From his early days at Freeskier to helping unify 30+ brands under the modern Outside ecosystem, Chris shares how media, events, and storytelling can get people off screens and...

In this episode, Molly sits down with her longtime friend April Cornell, owner of Hidden Hand Tattoo in Seattle. April has been a staple in the tattoo community for so many and has lived through illness, grief, reinvention, and loss. She’s run businesses through turmoil, lost her husband, raised children, and continued to show up for others as an artist, healer, and teacher. I was excited to discu...

In this episode, Molly dives headfirst into a topic she’s wanted an excuse to explore for a long time: wolves. Sparked by reading American Wolf and going deep on the history of wolf eradication and reintroduction in the U.S., this conversation looks at how we got here and why the debate around wolves feels so charged. Molly sits down with Francisco Santiago-Ávila , Science & Advocacy Director...

There are ages that pass. And there are ages that stay lodged inside of you. Everyone has them. In this episode of The Outliers Project, Molly sits with Leslie Johansen Nack, author of Fourteen and Nineteen, to talk about what happens on how writing helped heal her. Leslie's life was shaped early by instability, secrecy, and survival. Raised largely without a mother and under the authority of...

Dropping in three. In this episode of The Outliers Project, Molly sits down with Priscilla Cannon (formerly Levac), a pioneering professional snowboarder from the golden era of the sport who’s gone on to live multiple creative lives: founder of a women’s apparel brand, vegan chef, photographer, mother, and now a "hatter" behind Maven Hat Co, making custom, handmade hats. She talks about...

In this episode, Molly sits down with Rachel — someone she’s known for over twenty years — to explore what actually drives people like her. The wiring. The risk tolerance. The audacity. The weirdo energy that most of us tried to bury when we were young. They talk about why outliers do what they do even when it doesn’t make sense on paper, why belonging often only appears after years of searching,...

In this episode of The Outliers Project , Molly Hawkins sits down with entrepreneur and systems thinker Johannes Ariens, whose career spans military contracting, hospitality, and now zero-emissions transportation. From transforming forgotten motels into outdoor community hubs with Loge Camps, to reimagining the RV industry through Routeline, to leading Range Zero Emissions mission toward electrifi...

Role model to all women, mentor and CEO of Burton Snowboards, i have always admired Donna Carpenter and finally got a chance to sit down with her for a conversation to dissect the industry and discuss how we get more women into action sports.

In this episode of The Outliers Project, Molly Hawkins talks with Kim Woozy, founder of MAHFIA, about reshaping the action sports industry through visibility, equity, and storytelling. From early skate videos to leading diversity initiatives, Kim has championed women’s voices in spaces that long excluded them. She shares how representation isn’t just about inclusion—it’s about rewriting the narrat...

Quitting your job at 26, buying a house, and starting a snowboard company all within a couple months might be a recipe for disaster for most people, but Blue Montgomery has managed to make it work. As the founder and owner of Capita Snowboards, Blue has grown the company from a garage in West Seattle to where it is today. Now on the verge of releasing their newest team movie, Defenders of Awesome...

As much as controversy can kill a company, it can also shine a positive spotlight on it. That’s what happened to Shaney Jo Darden’s Keep A Breast Foundation™, thanks to their “I Heart Boobies” bracelets. Since 2000, Keep A Breast has worked raise breast cancer awareness for a group who stereotypically tends to not think about those kinds of things: teenagers. Partnering with some of the biggest na...

In a world full of professional athletes in all sports, it can be hard to stand out from the rest. Athletes have been constantly moving towards self-promotion on social media as a way to update their fans on their lives, interact with them on a more personal level, as well as reach out to potential new fans. Pro skier and pro mountain biker, KC Deane, was part of a group to use social media early...