Sarah Wood and Amy Allison Pivot to Produce, Source and Donate PPE, Follow up to OIA and SIA Webinar, Part I

In the crisis, innovation and deep meaning continue to emerge. And I’m honored to be able to facilitate conversations that are fueling collaboration and forward progress in our communities. I led a panel for the Outdoor Industry Association and the Snowsports Industries of America focusing on manufacturers pivoting to Personal Protective Equipment, to meet the insanely huge demand for front-line health-care professionals. 

We had a huge amount of interest. Here’s the replay of the panel webinar that took place on April 13th. Leaders from brands including Chaco, DPS Skis, Outdoor Research, the Office of Outdoor Recreation for the State of North Carolina, participated. 

There will be three new Channel Mastery episodes with the panelists. Let’s be honest - it’s impossible to learn all that’s possible from the five all-star panelists in a 45-minute panel or through 15 minutes of questions. 

The first episode, #131 features Amy Allison, Director of the Office of Outdoor Recreation for the State of North Carolina, and Sarah Wood, the founder of The Good Talk business consultancy and of the very dynamic SupplyConnector. In this episode, you’ll learn about growing from local to national, the best way to start collaborating to shift to manufacturing PPE, and how to tap into a long-standing network, while concurrently building in-roads to a much bigger national network. 

We will be offering two more podcasts in these COVID-19-oriented shows; the second will featuring Chaco and DPS Skis, and the third featuring Outdoor Research. Additional resources have been created by the team at Verde Brand Communications and can be found on the Verde Blog.

Sarah Wood is the owner and lead business guide at Good Talk, a business management firm based in Brevard, NC, and Grand Junction, CO. Sarah has 16 years of professional experience working across the country in roles such as VP of Operations at Industry Nine, creative services business owner in Nashville's music industry, executive director of 5Point Adventure Film Festival, and development officer for the American Alpine Club. Sarah brings a varied perspective to her leadership and a philanthropic lean to her work and travel. Sarah is the current Board Chairwoman for the North Carolina Outdoor Recreation Coalition, advisor for the Waypoint Accelerator Program and Venture Asheville, and co-founder of Supply Connector.

Amy Allison is the Director of the North Carolina Outdoor Recreation Industry Office.  Amy’s background and passion lies in the Outdoor Industry where she worked as the Director of Marketing for ENO, while also spearheading their initiatives for giving back to the global community, and was a founding member of the Outdoor Gear Builders organization in Western North Carolina.  For over 20 years, Amy has dedicated her energy and skills to connecting others to the outdoors. From directing pioneering experiential education programs with youth across the Southeast to living on the road all over the lower 48 as a national Traveling Trainer for the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics, the strategy of integrating sustainability, conservation, education, and business has been the context of her career.