After 2 years, I've graduated from Vanderbilt's MBA program.  I've completed the graduate education stage of my life and am excited to embark on my marketing career at Hanesbrands in August.  August you might say?  Yes, I negotiated time off to take one last prolonged vacation to where I'll be attempting to climb the 3,000 foot El Capitan in Yosemite.   

Climbing this iconic wall has been a goal of mine since I was young.  Therefore, I've decided to dedicate this summer to attempting to scale it.  I'm going to attempt to free climb it which DOESN'T mean that I won't use a rope.  Only that I'll be climbing light and fast.  I.E. NOT lugging up a portaledge.

I'll be climbing with one other person and trying to climb it solely using my hands and feet and therefore move quickly.  This will look like this.  

I'm very excited.  Stay tuned for photos and updates

Injured At Last

Rock climbing is such a balance between trying hard and staying health.  It seems everytime I start to improve I get injured.  In this pattern, I climbed really well on Thursday and subsequently pulled a tendon in my finger.  Here is a pic of me climbing in the sunshine at Little Rock City before the injury.

On a positive note I was able to hangout with some good friends the Laesers.  Luke, Mel, Layton and Kestrel live in Chattanooga and spending time with them always seems to put me in a good mood.

I'm now trying to refocus my energies on staying fit, crushing my classes this quarter and just enjoying life.

Holiday Season

Happy Holidays

I'm cheerful and feel fortunate as I have accepted a position at Hanesbrands in Winston Salem, NC where I'll be working on their marketing team.  This should serve as a good introduction to client side brand management and will locate me near my family in Asheville and a plethora of climbing and mountain biking areas along with a strong cycling community.  I'm scheduled to start work August 6, which means that I will have time to make a trip to Colorado this summer. 

A quick trip to Asheville for the Christmas will be followed to a trip to Hueco Tanks State Park outside of El Paso Texas.  This bizarre series of volcanic mountains rising out of the desert looks like another planet but hosts some of the best bouldering on this planet.

75% of the park is guided access only due to the sensitive desert habitat and largest collection of native american mask petroglyphs in the world.

We'll be mainly climbing on the North Mountain which hosts a selection of excellent rock climbs which should be paired with perfect 50 degree temperatures.  

I hope that you all have a wonderful holiday season.  

Winter and Walmart

Fall is finally here and its brought my second year at Vanderbilt.  It's amazing to experience how much one can grow during one year.  The pace of life and work load now seem easier and my stress level is easily half of what it was last year.

This is primarily due to a job offer from Hanesbrands in Winston Salem that I'm VERY excited about. Michael and I crushed it this summer working to determine if Hanes could drive growth by focusing on the US Hispanic market.  I identified a $108MM opportunity and pieced together a proposed strategy which offered three tiers of investment with suggestions spanning from packaging to product placement and a diverse communication plan.

Yet, I'm still looking at other opportunities.  I visited the National Black MBA Association conference in Atlanta where 200+ companies recruit MBA employees.  Here is a quick pic of the show floor. 

I interviewed with Walmart at this event and will actually be flying to Bentonville on Thursday 11/4 to interview.  As many of you know, I'm a huge fan of Wally World and its industry leading sustainability goals:

• To be supplied 100 percent by renewable energy;
• To create zero waste;
• To sell products that sustain people and the environment.

I firmly believe that if all Americans were aware of their efforts many would consider returning and might just see the Walmart experience from a different perspective.  I'll provide more on my Walmart visit next week but I want to first share some images from Halloween weekend in Ashville Alabama .  This area is called Horsepens 40 and is certainly one of my favorite areas to climb in the nation.  This area values style and balance over brute strength. Enjoy the photos and look forward to getting the down low on Walmart headquarters.

Back in CO

Just finished my first year of Vanderbilt's MBA program.  I have 3-weeks off before I begin my internship at Hanesbrands.  There's no place I'd rather spend this time than CO.  I spent the weekend biking with my brother Taylor.  Here is a quick video of a boulder problem outside of Boulder that I recently did.

http://www.dpmclimbing.com/climbing-videos/watch/new-v7-30-min-boulder

Chattanooga Weekend

My trip to Chattanooga on 3/19 to meet my Mom, Doc and Sonja provided a good reason to make a long anticipated visit to the Chattanooga Aquarium.  It lived up to the hype.  I really enjoyed the fact that they had an ocean exhibit along with one dedicated to fresh waters.

Yes that's a sea horse in full camo.

Sting Rays

Mom and a crab from the deep

Sonja and I decided to visit a classic climbing area on the way back to Nashville.  Foster Falls didn't disappoint and I'm excited to see 0% chance of precip and 60 degree temps in the forecast for next weekend.  Until then I'll be focusing my class schedule which is FULL of marketing classes while attempting to get fit for a summer of activities.

Sonja enjoying the water fall at Foster Falls

Winston-Salem Bound

I'm thrilled to have accepted a summer internship at Hanesbrands (HBI) in Winston Salem. HBI will enable me to gain CPG & apparel experience at the same time.   I’m impressed with HBI’s dedication to environmental sustainability. In 2009, approximately 25 percent of the energy they used came from clean, renewable sources.  I'm honestly really excited to spend the summer in NC close to my parents. My big question now is which brand I'll be working on. Hanes, Champion, C9 or of course Playtex is an option. We'll see how the dice land.