Pocket Outdoor Media hires former POWDER leadership to bolster snowsports category

December 15, 2020

Boulder, Colorado, USA — December 15, 2020 —Pocket Outdoor Media (POM), the world’s leading creator of active lifestyle content, today announced two new leadership additions that will further solidify the company’s place in the snowsports category.

On January 4th, Micah Abrams and Sierra Shafer will join the POM team. Micah joins as VP of Content, Snowsports, with oversight of editorial strategy of Warren Miller Entertainment and SKI, and Sierra Shafer will assume the role of Editor in Chief of SKI.For the past four years, Abrams has been driving content strategy for the Adventure Sports Network, with oversight of Men’s Journal, Surfer, Powder, Snowboarder and TransWorld SKATEboarding, prior to his role at ASN, Abrams scripted 11 consecutive screenplays for Warren Miller Entertainment. Shafer has led Powder as Editor in Chief for the past two years, holding previous positions at the brand prior.

This past October, staff members at Powder—as well as those at sister publications Bike, Snowboarder and Surfer—were indefinitely furloughed without pay as the titles’ parent company, A360 Media, announced a pause on publication.In November, POM announced it had hired five editors, all formerly of Bike magazine, to join the company and launch a new mountain bike brand, which is slated to go live in early 2021.

“The success of our business depends on producing great content,” said Robin Thurston, CEO of Pocket Outdoor Media. “We hired the former Bike editorial staff for this reason, and hiring Micah and Sierra furthers our commitment to artful storytelling as our north star.”

“The playing field for enthusiast media is an entirely different game than it was even five years ago,” said Abrams. “POM is moving in all the right directions by putting audiences at the center of both its growth and it’s revenue strategies, and I couldn’t be more excited to join their team. It’s an incredible privilege to come back to Warren Miller Entertainment and to help reimagine SKI, one of outdoor media’s most venerable titles

Pocket Outdoor Media is already a leader in the snowsports industry with SKI, Warren Miller Entertainment, and NASTAR, and is looking to expand that portfolio into categories like snowboarding. These leadership roles lay the groundwork for that strategy; they’ll also drive digital and membership growth and help the team engage the 100+ million outdoor enthusiasts who visit POM’s network year-round. In January, SKI’s website (skimag.com) will relaunch on POM’s proprietary platform and will offer a premium membership called Active Pass.

In 2020, POM launched Active Pass, a premium membership program that now spans its endurance, fitness, and nutrition brands, with benefits that include exclusive access to premium content across their network, VeloPress books, magazine subscriptions, Roll Massif and Warren Miller event access, hundreds of meal plans, thousands of recipes, training plans, FinisherPix photos, and more. The membership program has seen strong adoption from consumers and will roll out across the remaining POM network of brands in 2021. The company has committed significant resources across its entire network to provide a user experience that inspires and enables enthusiasts of every skill level to eat healthier and run, bike, hike, ski, workout, and practice yoga more often.

About Pocket Outdoor Media

Pocket Outdoor Media (POM) is the world’s leading creator of active lifestyle content. Across web, print, podcast, social and video, our brands engage with over 15 million of the most active and influential consumers in the world every month. Our brands include: Yoga Journal, SKI, BACKPACKER, VeloNews, Climbing, Rock & Ice, Gym Climber, Trail Runner, Women’s Running, Triathlete, Better Nutrition, Bicycle Retailer & Industry News, Clean Eating,Fly Fishing Film Tour, IDEA Health and Fitness Association, Muscle & Performance, NASTAR, National Park Trips, NatuRx, Oxygen, PodiumRunner, Roll Massif, SNEWS,The Voice, Vegetarian Times, VeloPress, VeloSwap, Paleo Mag, FinisherPix, and Warren Miller Entertainment. Pocket Outdoor Media is headquartered in Boulder, with offices in San Diego, Toronto, and Frankfurt.

Learn more at PocketOutdoorMedia.com

Press inquiries please contact:
Robin Thurston – CEO of Pocket Outdoor Media
ceo@pocketoutdoormedia.com

PJ Rabice – VP, Marketing of Pocket Outdoor Media
press@pocketoutdoormedia.com
(303) 440-0601