Our Lens

When you close your eyes and imagine a skier or a snowboarder, what do you see? If you ask our guest Liz Toft, she'll share a perspective that is rarely represented in mainstream snowsports media. Liz is the CEO of Elevated Locals, and in collaboration with Coalition Snow, just launched a web series called Our Lens that documents the experiences of BIPOC women and non-binary skiers and riders. Have a listen to this very special episode, and as always, share your feedback with us at [e-mail].a

Show Notes

Watch the Our Lens web series here.

What is Juicy Bits?

We created Juicy Bits because we wanted to continue the conversations that we start out on the trail and on the chair lift. Hosted by our CEO Jen Gurecki and Ambassador Jillian Raymond, they talk candidly about everything from dude soup, to sex, to politics, to equity in the outdoors. We occasionally (read: frequently) drop F-bombs, interview some of the most interesting people in the outdoors and beyond, and say things that many of us think but don’t feel comfortable saying out loud. If you are easily offended or looking for something that is G Rated, this is not the podcast for you. But if you love truth-telling and irreverence, get ready to laugh, cry, and maybe pee your pants a little bit. 

Hello and welcome. I'm Jillian Raymond, the cocreator of Juicy Bits and a Coalition Snow ambassador.

And I'm Jen Gurecki, your cohost and the CEO of Coalition Snow. For those of you who are new, get ready to laugh, cry, and maybe pee your pants.

A Little Juicy Bits is about taking the conversations that we start on the chairlift and at the trailhead and bringing them to you to explore alternative narratives that challenge the status quo about what it means to be a modern woman in the outdoors. Grab your helmet, because sometimes it's a bumpy ride. Fyi friends, this podcast is for mature audiences. So you've been warned. Let's get to work and juice the patriarchy.

And now we are recording. Now we are having sips of wine. I kind of feel like that's how we start off. Almost every episode of Juicy Bits is drinking wine. Hi, everyone. I'm Jen Gurecki, the co-host of Juicy Bits drinking wine here with a very special guest, Liz Top. And I feel like my introductions of late have been quite grandiose, but it's because these people deserve it. So who is Liz? Well, Liz is an all-around amazing badass snowboarder. Liz is one of the original Coalition snow ambassadors, has been on the team, I think, since the beginning. And little known fact was awarded the Ambassador of the Year award last year. So that's, I mean, no big deal. Liz also is one of the founders and the CEO of Elevated Locals. And what Liz is here to talk to us about today is a new YouTube series called Our Lens, which essentially shares the stories of BIPOC skiers and snowboarders through their perspectives, their experiences. And Liz is the creative mastermind and editor and director and does all the things for it. So, Liz, welcome to Juicy Bits.

That's good. Thank you. Thank you for that intro. What if I just couldn't talk after that? That'd be great. Well, I feel like people would be like, maybe she's not as great as you say she is if she has nothing to say.

And I left off, you have your podcast Working for that Snow, which I was a guest on your podcast, too. So you have done the podcasting as well?

Yes. I love podcasts. Not really. I don't actually. I just love telling people's stories. And I love all different types of media. And so I love video. I love audio. And actually how this Our Lens Web series came to be was Hana, who used to co-run Mountaintop.

Do you want to explain what Mountain Top is and what the clubhouse is? Yeah, I think we should do that because some people will hear you say mountaintop and clubhouse and totally get it. And other people will be like, what in the hell is Liz talking about? We'll rewind just a teeny bit here. So a little over a year ago, we launched this virtual community, we being Coalition Snow, launched this virtual community called the Coalition Clubhouse. And inside the coalition clubhouse, there are subgroups, and one of them is called mountaintop, and it is a private group only open to people who identify number one as BIPOC. Number two is an underrepresented gender, and it's just a space for people to connect. And then the larger Clubhouse is open to any human who is underrepresented gender. What does that mean? Basically, no CIS men. I don't like to get into things like not them, but that's kind of the easiest way to explain it. So the clubhouse is this virtual community for people who love the snow, and Mountaintop is nestled within it, and it's run BIPOC skiers and snowboarders forBIPOC and snowboarders. So that is sort of the lead into Liz's conversation with Hana. And now back to you, Liz.

So you're having this conversation with Hana. So I joined mountaintop, and I'm extremely excited to ride with other BIPOC riders all around America and eventually the world. And Hana starts unlikely riders. So I go up, and I'm shooting for unlikely riders. I'm sorry. And Hana is like, we should do a documentary. We should do an edit for all of Mountaintop. And so I started thinking about it, and we put together this whole piece, and Hana helped me, and many people of the mountaintop community helped me put this together, and I had a whole SOP and we were like, how can we do this so everyone can participate? And so we decided that it was covered. We wouldn't be shooting with fancy cameras. We'd be shooting with our phones, and we'd be shooting with a traveling GoPro, which we could send around if you couldn't find a GoPro tomorrow. So we tried to do it with no barriers. And I got that idea from RuPaul's Drag Face, because when Kobe happened, everybody had to record from home. And so she would send them kits and be like, this is what you have to use to make everybody's playing level fair.

I started it off as a documentary, and it slowly turned into a total shit show and overwhelming. And I was just like, this is never going to work. This is never going to happen. Okay, wait. What made it a shit show? Because I feel like this is something where people could really like, there's probably a lot of lessons in that. What made this project kind of get to a point where it was unmanageable and you had to shift here, which the good news is, just so everyone knows it completely worked out. It's called Our Lens. That's what we're going to talk about. So it's good.

So you have all these people from mountaintop who are super pumped on getting you videos, and you have all these submissions from phones and GoPro, and you're sitting down to make the documentary, and then you're like, oh, fucking hell, no. What happened?

Okay, well, I also added another element to it. I was like, let me interview you. So I got this from sort of. We had just started our podcast, and I was like, I can interview you on Zoom, and I'll take your audio and I'll put it over your clips. And then we didn't have to worry about, like, music and rides, and people could tell their story while they were doing it. I was like, this will be about ten to 15 minutes. And I had eleven people, and I realized that I couldn't tell anyone's story in two minutes, like, no matter what. And I would cut it up, cut it up. And it was just like a jangled mess. And no one was actually getting the space that they deserved. And so that was when I think we all came to the conclusion that it needed to be a web series and so everyone could tell their actual story and you can see who they are. And so now where it is today, even though all of you aren't going to be listening to this in our future, it's not your future because you're listening to it now, but us recording it. It is the future. So we actually just launched the first episode today of Tanya, and by the time you hear this recording, we will have launched a second one, which I believe is the second one going to be of Heidi. The second one is Mayhem. Okay. Yeah. Mayhem was raised in Jordan, and she's now here in New Jersey, and she loves snowboarding. Lives for snowboarding. And it's a very cool story of how she grew up and hou snowboarding helped her just be brave and stand up and be who she knows that who she is in her heart and who she always has been all along. Can you give us a rundown of each person like that? So that's Mayhem Tanya was released today. What's your take on Tanya's story? So Tanya was raised a gymnast, and I think it was always super hard on herself. She's brilliant, by the way. She's probably one of the most eloquent people I've ever spoken to. And I think that she loved Snowboarding so much, but she never really felt like she belonged. And she talks a lot in her episode about body issues and how we see ourselves and how, I suppose, how to face that and become happy with what you're doing and know that you belong to be there regardless.

And there's Heidi. So Heidi is Chinese, French Canadian, and she is a mother, and she's an incredibly strong woman who never cared about what anybody has to say about what she should be or how she should act. And she tells her no story of learning to love the mountains by herself. Yeah. And Heidi has been on our ambassador team also for many years. So that's Heidi and then Jacinta. Jacinta's story is so beautiful. She's Jamaican Canadian, and she was raised in Canada and basically has been involved with adaptive and being a ski instructor for mostly all of her life. And then she took some time off to go to college and then realized that all she wanted to do is ski. So now she's in Japan, and she's doing full, like, women's ride days in Japan and working very hard to get adaptive skiing more recognized and people and adaptive programs bigger in Japan.

And some people might know Jacinta, because she also writes blogs for Coalition, and she has been facilitating a bunch of our photo shoots. So you'll see her photos on our Instagram and on our website. And she's been writing tons of amazing blogs that are all around diversity in snow sports. So that's just there. Anyone else? Is it four people or there are more people?

Yeah, it's four so far. And then next up is Evan, but I have it. I can't tell you anything about that yet. Well, we will have you back for another episode of Juicy Bits. She talked about Evan, which Evan, again, amazing human, just like Jacinta started off as an ambassador at Coalition and then moved into being the Headmistress of the Coalition Clubhouse. So Evan has been, I think, really integral in this process of creating our lens, too, because Evan is the one who now manages Mountaintop and the Clubhouse and has been working with Liz on it.

Okay. So now we know a little bit about the four people who are going to be featured in their own about what? It's like six to seven minutes per person. Is that how long each episode is? Yes.

So through this whole process, what has been most enjoyable for you? We already heard what wasn't enjoyable at the beginning, but then you shifted gears. And now that you have so many of these episodes under your belt reflecting on that, what have you just really been pumped about?

Well, I'm super nosy, so I like to know everything about people, so that's always really fun. But I really love how everyone has become like they're part of my family. And also to say just about being an ambassador and being part of Coalition and the Clubhouse and now Mountain Top. I mean, we all work together. We all ride together. I'd say so many members of the ambassadors, like, I'm texting daily because of little things that remind me of them or I'm upset about something. And it's just this community is my family now. So I think that's probably the most enjoyable is I just keep seeing members of family. Yeah. And what sort of an incredible time to be able to contemplate this growing of your family when so many people feel isolated and we're removed from one another because of COVID and everything that plays into that. And here you've been able to, through this virtual community, actually then connect with people and feel like you're expanding. And not just like a network of humans, but these are people who you're really close to you call them your family. Yeah. And also they're all so fucking brave. Like, I'm not big on I'm trying to get better at it, but I'm not big on. Like, this is how I feel about stuff or like, I have emotions for the beginning. For so long, I just shut up and go away. And also in the beginning of the media company that elevated local that I created, I just pretended I was a boy. So I think that being around all of these individuals, they just tell me things about themselves that I'm like, oh, my God, I would never share that. But it's really inspiring and it's so brave, and I think it's helping me grow. Like, this project is helping me more than it's helping anyone else. But hopefully that won't be the case.

Well, for me, I've watched a few of the episodes and what I really am enjoying, and I'm not going to give it all away because we want people to be able to watch them. And you said this in the blog that Jacinta wrote. So Jacinta interviewed Liz, and I'll link that in the show notes so that you can all reread that. And I'll link all the videos in the show notes, too. But one of the things that you wrote about or that you spoke about was how these are completely different stories that are being told in snow sports. And that while we all like to follow the pros, right, sure. A bunch of us are watching the Olympics right now. And anytime you open up a magazine or you're looking at a website, normally the stories about people who are snowboarding and skiing are about professional athletes. And this web series is not about that at all. And instead it's just about the sort of daily lived experiences of people who are incredibly passionate about the sport but aren't professional athletes. And I think what you get out of these episodes, like you just said, you really get to know this person in a much bigger, Fuller way than what they do on the mountain. And I think that that's really inspirational. And I think when I think about the future of snow sports, I think about how these stories are going to be what resonates with people and what helps to get more people on the mountain, because it's completely relatable. You can actually listen to these people and say, I see myself in this person, whereas pros are certainly inspirational and aspirational. But not many of us think we're going to be like that. And so it's really cool to just have this intimate six minutes with somebody who is as passionate about the sport as I am. But also I'm like, oh, you're a normal person like me. And there's this sort of deeper connection there.

Yes, I agree. I think my friend Marsha Hovi, who runs marketing at Troll Hagen, who just did Take the Rake, which was an all women's event. Even the cat drivers were women. Everything was women. She said that a lot of times she has imposter syndrome. And she gets really nervous when she's going out to snowboard because she feels like because she's so involved, she has to be like this stellar level of snowboarding. And first of all, she is a stellar snowboarder. But I totally get that. I'm going to park camp this weekend. I'm almost 40, and I still have the ugliest 180 you've ever seen. And board sliding I'm terrified of. And I've been snowboarding for like 30 fucking years. And there's just, like some things. But that doesn't mean I don't love snowboarding. That doesn't mean that I don't live and breathe it. There's just all different levels. And I think it's good for people to see all different levels. Yeah, well, I'm the same way. I'm 44. I've been snowboarding since I was 16. So again, I'm a couple of years away from snowboarding for 30 years.

So I tried doing a jump. I was thinking of Charlotte, who's our senior designer, and she's a ripping snowboarder. And I was going through the park at Bachelor on my last run, and I was like, I'm going to go hit a jump for sure. That's what I said to myself. And I 100% just ate shit. And I've been snowboarding for you would think that I should be able to catch, like, five inches of air and land it. Oh, no, I can't. You would also think, oh, because you own a skiing snowboard company that you must be the best snowboarder ever. No, I consider myself to be, like, relatively average. I don't get air. I'm big into trees and powder and, like, steeper stuff. But I'm not maybe what you think I am. And so maybe that's why these stories resonate so much with me. I see myself in them. So, Liz, beyond people maybe being a little bit intimidated of being filmed or feeling like we're not pro status, do you want to talk a little bit about some of the other challenges or, like, some of the other things that go in to filming and creating this?

Sure. Well, it's so daunting to be like, okay, so just go and film yourself. I think that it made a lot of people not want to be a part of the project, which I totally understand because I film every day, I shoot every day, and I still have to try again and again and again. And I'm also always working with the same people, and we still don't get it right and get furious at each other. I'll be like I said over there until we're like, I meant this. It's like so much of that. So we created and we did Mountain Top Zooms, where we would talk about how to film things and how to be patient with your Filmer and also how not to freak out. So everybody did a really good job, but I know how daunting it is. And then when it comes down to it, which is sort of always makes me mad about the world is all people really want to do is see pictures of you on your face anyway.

Kind of, yeah. I think that one time you said that your posts that were highest rating were pictures of your face. And I think we were in a meeting or something, and I was listening and I went and looked at my Instagram feed and I hadn't shown a picture of my face. And like, ten posts or something. And I was like, fuck, I don't want to do that. But especially with this project, it helps, you know, the person by showing people's faces. Like, people don't want to see a bunch of POV point of view skiing around, even if it is in Hakaida and it's Japan and it's so cool. And I think that's what people want to see. But it's not. No. My personal Instagram. I feel like I take good photos. I love photography. I'm taking photos of amazing places all over the world. Anytime I would post something, people would be like, don't even care. And then here's just a picture of my self picture of my face doing something. And you have hundreds of likes. It is a weird thing, but it is certainly. Yeah. You said at the beginning of our chat that one thing you admire about these people so much is their courage. And it takes a lot to put yourself out there, particularly in an industry that doesn't reward people for showing up as themselves. Think about, like, there's that Instagram Jerry of the day, and there's this culture around making fun of people who don't look or act a certain way or act the way in which the gatekeepers of the industry have said, well, this is what makes you cool. And so anything that deviates from that, you kind of open yourself up to some pretty serious criticism. And I think it does take a lot to say. Like, I don't actually care what the industry has said that I'm supposed to look like or snowboard or ski light. None of that matters to me. I'm out here for me and I'm out here to be with my friends. And here's my story.

And I would hope I think certainly within the community that Coalition has created, I feel really confident and comfortable putting out these videos because I know that our community is going to be super supportive. But I can certainly see how on other platforms, other Instagram accounts, other places where maybe some of these wouldn't be as I think, as well received as they're going to be by the community that we have been a part of creating.

Yeah, I was really worried about that. And I mean, I still don't have a solution other than I will fight each and every one of you. I will show up to your fucking house and put you in the super worried about that. But I think that we all support each other enough that we'll be strong. Yeah. And like I said, I really do think this is the future of the sport is to showcase a more diverse group of people. And by diversity, I don't necessarily just mean race or gender. I mean the way in which we get ourselves down the mountain that that will kind of open it up to a lot of people.

So I'm curious, Liz, any of these videos that you were editing, if you had any AHA moments, those times where somebody says something where you're like, oh, fuck, I've never thought about that. Can you think of any of those?

Yes. Well, the clearest one is like something that I've been saying over and over again. But it's in Tanya's episode where she's talking about not fitting in ski pants.

I just want to say there's all these issues in the world, and sometimes when you're self-conscious about your body, you can be like, this doesn't fucking matter because there's so many giant issues. But in the end, all it still matters. And it's how you look at yourself, and then that matters on how you approach everything in the world. And she was talking about Tanya was talking about being in the dressing room and crying because you couldn't get a pair of snow pants on. And that was it. What were you supposed to do after that? There wasn't a pair that would fit. And that's when we were talking. She was also the first person I interviewed. And I was like, you were raised across the country from me. We are different cultures. We are blah, blah, blah. But this is an issue that all of us immediately I'm crying. And that's where the similarity thing, the thing that I keep saying that came from her, because when it comes down to it, no matter where we are in the world, we've all had those feelings. Like, those feelings like mayhem, were like, we're out of control and we need to be in charge of our lives and things like that. So those are like, wow moments. Ant spitting is such a little bit petty when you think about that. There's people who are starving and people who don't have shelter. And then you also think about it like, well, it's all the same reasons why, like, the reasons why women can't get pants that fit them is the same reason why we can't care for people who are hungry. And it's this systemic racism and sexism and people and essentially the patriarchy deciding that this is the way the world is going to be so that we can maintain our power and our privilege and everything falls underneath that. And speaking of trolls, there's 100% someone who's going to be like, I can't believe she just said that. She's saying ski pants. Also, I'm talking with my hands right now she's saying ski pants are the same? No, what I'm saying is that there are the same things that make someone feel so uncomfortable about their body, or it all goes into that, like our inability to care for one another and to really look at what needs to change so that everybody can be cared for and feel like they fit in this world and that they're accepted.

Certainly, yes. Liz, now, I know you said that you don't really like to share your feelings and talk about yourself, but I feel like I would be remiss if I didn't try to get some stuff out of you. Since you're here. What is it about telling these stories, being a part of telling these stories, putting it together. Like, what is it that you said that you feel like you're changing a little bit by going through what does that change look like for you?

Well, I think that everyone is always trying to figure out who they are, no matter how old they are. I think that every day you wake up and you're like, yeah, that's me. And so I think that the changes are somehow I'm feeling more like myself. I don't know. I did this yoga practice today that it was like, in order to whatever, do whatever, you have to release everything. This has been said a million times. Also, I'm butchering this, but I think in editing and meeting these individuals and learning about their lives, I've been able to let go of so much of my life that doesn't fucking matter. And just like, yes, this is what I'm proud of. This is what I care about, and that's fine. Yeah. So I think I'm growing stronger.

What are some of the things you're letting go of? Also, you can tell me to shut the fuck up, and you don't have to answer this…

Okay. I don't know that much about my culture. I'm Samoan and my mom, I came out of her uterus, but my birth father is out of the picture. He's terrible. And I have the most wonderful father now who adopted me when I was six. And I like, walk down the aisle, he gave me a ring. I have his last name, and he's like, amazing. But I think that I've always been sort of guilty about not knowing that much about my culture. So I've been trying to let that go. And then just like I read a lot. When I first moved to New York, I joined Hula troupe, even though I didn't know how to hula. So I'm 18, right? I was like, I was wearing a coconut bra and a leaf skirt and dancing all over the city. To me, it was so amazing because I was learning about my culture. And then eventually I realized that I felt like a stripper because it would be cool. We would be in the Brooklyn Museum and performing, and that was wonderful. And we'd be performing like for Asian Heritage Pacific Islander Month, and that would be cool. And then we would do like a corporate party, and I'd have 50 year old man around me and I would go home and cry. So I think what I'm kind of letting go is the way that if I'm true enough to my culture, I haven't been to Mola, I spend all my money on snow. So I haven't been. But I will go. Yeah. So I think that that's been a big thing for me for this project.

Yeah, that's a lot. I can only imagine how difficult that push and pull is. Yeah. I mean, I think Jacinta and I talked about this. We're island people, but the snow is water. So there you go. There you are. Yeah. It's just another way of being. So one of the last questions I have for you is what is the ultimate goal for this Web series? Either what do you hope other people get out of it or when you think years into the future, how do you want to look back on it? But what do you really want to get out of helping these individuals tell their story and share their experiences on snow?

I think when I see it, like big picture wise in my mind, it's like a quilt and everybody is a different piece creating a giant scene. So within saying that I want to make a ton of these, maybe it does eventually become that documentary or I'm not quite sure what it looks like in format, but I just see the link of the quilt that it makes and that being a blanket. So it's just one piece. Yeah, I think so. Well, many pieces. They're all different pieces that come together over time. Yeah, I love it. Liz, is there anything else that you want to tell us about Arlen? Like I said, I'm going to put in the show notes, the links to everything, so people will be able to find it there. But is there anything else that you wanted to chat about today? Well, if you would like to be part of our lens, please do not be afraid. And they can reach out in the clubhouse in Mountain Top. You can reach out directly. There's, like, links everywhere to talk to me or to talk to a Coalition ambassador who will help you. So, yeah, we'd really love to have you, and we'd really love to hear your story. Well, and I love the idea that we can just I mean, we being you, but I'm behind you to keep creating these, like what an incredible contribution to the community snow sports be able to share this. So this is certainly something that I know that Coalition will be supporting and would love to see more people get involved.

So, Liz, thank you so much. You are radical in all the good ways of that word and maybe some of the bad ways, but that makes it good too. So in all the ways and we just so appreciate everything that you do for coalition and being an ambassador and I'm so excited about this web series and I can't wait to see the rest of them come out and just to get other people as pompom them as we all are. So thank you, Liz. Cool. Thank you. Thank you, everyone. Okay. All right. So check out those show notes. Make sure to watch the web series and we will catch you next time. Thanks, everyone.