Today we’d like to introduce you to Conner Borkowski.
Hi Conner, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
North Carolina is my home as much as any place I have lived. I grew up in a military family and moved every two years for my entire childhood. It was great. I got to live places across the world and it made community essential to me. Still my time in NC has made it my home.
Going to NC State University was the first time I lived in one place for more than 2 years consecutively. While I was there I studied engineering, and started rock climbing, quickly becoming a trip leader for the university’s outdoor program. In my last year, with the help of incredible mentors, I realized that engineering as well as guiding climbing were not going to be sustainable careers for me. This lead me to pursue something in the middle, something that balanced connection to the outdoors, working on highly complex problems, and supporting community.
This was what lead me to work in the outdoor economy, community economic development, and supporting organizations that are dedicated to their communities and positive impact. For the time, that meant heading west to pursue graduate school at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Masters of the Environment program. There, I was able to see how much the outdoor industry cares about it’s impact. I worked with businesses pursuing B-Corp certification, connected community organizations with marketing and program assistance, and provided technical assistance to communities looking to embrace the outdoor economy as an alternative to extractive industry. That brought me into working with Pikes Peak Outdoor Recreation Alliance, to continue building outdoor economies that can support their communities, this time for a region around America’s Mountain. This work was incredible and taught me so much more about the connection of local business and public lands as well as the deep innovation that the outdoor industry has.
This work all brought me back to NC when the opportunity to work with the Outdoor Business Alliance (OBA) of Western NC came across my inbox. While it was difficult to leave the community in the Pikes Peak Region, it was time to return home and help be a part of the Outdoor Industry Hub of the East here in WNC.
The OBA now is also at a big time of transition. We are developing chapters to more evenly host events and programs across WNC, we are building out new programs, and all-around doing everything we can to build a resilient, innovative outdoor economy in the North Carolina.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I am super grateful for the mentorship I have had at every part of my journey. Having mentors that I can learn from and lean on in difficult situations has helped so much. And at the same time, everyone is following their own line. There are always things to improve, things I wish I had done differently, and even some things that are just difficult even if you know that you are doing the best you can.
These last few years have not been easy ones for anyone in the outdoor economy. The duality of COVID where we were more isolated than ever and yet there was more outdoor participation and excitement; post-COVID dip in business; Hurricane Helene and the recovery from not just a local natural disaster but as continued impacts on the outdoors; and the continued federal reductions in public lands protections and personnel cuts. And yet, when you get to work with people and in communities that care so much, you are reminded that there is never a bad day to care about the outdoors. We get to collaborate every day to solve some of these wicked problems and hopefully give people better opportunities to connect to the outdoors.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
The Outdoor Business Alliance is an incredible organization. The first of its kind, the OBA coalesces the incredible outdoor community of Western North Carolina and cultivates, connects, and supports the outdoor economy of the region.
Not many people know that WNC is the Outdoor Industry Hub of the East. The economy that the OBA supports hosts the largest cluster of outdoor gear makers and headquarters east of the Rocky Mountains, some of the densest concentrations of guides on our public lands, and a deep history of design, craft, and building that influences our continued dedication to making gear, community, and experiences. The OBA convenes that in a place with some of the most incredible, year-round recreation in the country.
At the same time, the Outdoor Business Alliance is growing. We are building chapters to distribute programming more evenly across Western North Carolina, exploring connecting with the outdoor industry in other parts of NC, and supporting similar efforts in neighboring states. We have so much we are excited about and constantly looking for how we can be a better partner, provide more benefit to our members, and support the meaningful expansion of the outdoor economy in NC.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
I love reading and listening to books and podcasts. Younger me would have probably been surprised that I listen to more podcasts on my commutes than music. In my day to day there are a few things that I always come back to.
Generally, Radiolab is my favorite podcasts. It marries science and people, data and stories in ways that I think we all can benefit from remembering. People want to have the support of data, but connect and remember the stories that are told around it. I also often think about lessons I learned in Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam. In a time when we have low civic and community engagement, at least as we have defined it, Bowling Alone gave me hope and ideas about how to connect with people and build community.
When it comes to the outdoor economy, there are a huge range of resources that have helped me. Some of these are a little nerdy and technical so pick and choose what works for you. I often find myself reading the newsletters of the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable, Outdoor Industry Association, America Outdoors Association, Confluence of States, and Brumidi Group’s Outdoor Recreation Report for keeping up with national trends and news, and the Exploration Local podcast for stories that are close to home.
I will say that I often am trying new sources of learning. It is super important to me to understand all the sides of any story and I often read multiple articles about any issue.
Pricing:
- OBA Membership is on a sliding scale from $100 – $550 per year.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://outdoorbusinessalliance.org/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/conner-borkowski/
