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For Ejay O’Donnell, success isn’t just about building a $35 million brand. It’s about creating a life where ambition, fatherhood and family can coexist. Molly sits down with her longtime friend and Dad Gang co-founder to talk about letting go of traditional work-life balance, turning ideas into action and why optimism, patience and showing up for the people you love have become Ejay’s real recipe for success.

Kimber Cross spent much of her childhood hiding the hand she was born without. Today, she's a professional adaptive athlete and alpinist with Mountain Hardwear, climbing rock, ice and some of the most consequential terrain in the world. In this episode, Kimber shares how a breakup in her late 20s unexpectedly led her to climbing, the adaptations and people that helped her find her place in the mountains, and how she went from questioning whether she belonged to pursuing a potential first ascent in Alaska. We talk about representation, being underestimated, unconscious bias, the pressure of becoming a sponsored athlete, and her philosophy of "Can't. Will. Did." Kimber's story is ultimately about much more than climbing. It's about learning to embrace the thing that makes you different and discovering just how far it might take you.

What if you stopped waiting for the right time to build the life you actually want? Steven Ciaccio is a flight attendant, world traveler, snowboard instructor, outdoor adventurer, husband, dad, and now children's book author. In this episode, we talk about how he's built a life around adventure, family and curiosity, from buying a one-way ticket to Hawaii while carrying $100K in student debt to creating Cruz the Snowboarding Snail and the Kindness Crew. We get into work-life balance, learning to say no, finding adventure as life gets more complicated, and why your best days might still be ahead of you.

Wolf Technician for the Yellowstone Wolf Project, Taylor Rabe never planned to study wolves. Today, she's one of the leading voices helping people better understand Yellowstone's most misunderstood predator. In this episode, we explore her unlikely journey to the Yellowstone Wolf Project, what years of observing wild wolves have taught her about family, conflict, and coexistence, and why changing hearts often starts with storytelling. Whether you're fascinated by wolves or simply curious about following an unconventional path, this conversation offers a rare look inside Yellowstone through the eyes of someone who knows its wolves by name.

What happens when you leave a successful marketing career behind to chase a passion that most people don't even realize exists? In this episode of the Outliers Project, I sit down with dog trainer, entrepreneur, and outdoor adventurer Molly Avrin, founder of Pete's Adventure Pack and the Adventure Dog Channel. Molly has built a unique business helping people and their dogs safely explore the outdoors together through hiking, mountain biking, skiing, horseback riding, and other adventure sports. What began with fostering rescue dogs and volunteering in shelters evolved into a completely new niche in dog training centered around fulfillment, relationship building, and understanding what dogs were actually bred to do.

In this episode of The Outliers Project, I sit down with Darren Rayner, founder of Vancouver BC based creative agency Magnifire and a filmmaker whose career grew out of the action sports world long before social media content became a marketing industry obsession. What started with Darren picking up a camera after a serious skiing injury eventually evolved into building films, creating a grassroots apparel brand, and later helping shape modern content strategy for some of the biggest brands in outdoor sports and beyond. We talk about how the internet and social media completely changed storytelling, why short-form content became such a powerful tool for brands, and what many companies still misunderstand about creating content that actually connects with people. Darren also shares his perspective on AI in the creative industry, how his team approaches social-first storytelling today, and why audiences are increasingly craving authenticity, emotion, and real human experiences over traditional advertising. This conversation covers creativity, entrepreneurship, filmmaking, marketing, reinvention, and the future of storytelling from someone who has spent the last two decades evolving alongside the media landscape itself.

Most people know Kelly Hanson as the familiar face of KING 5’s New Day Northwest and Local Lens Seattle. What they may not see is how much persistence it took to get there. In this episode, Kelly shares the less polished side of building a career in media ...working behind the scenes, hearing “no” more than once, moving through smaller markets, and realizing no one was going to hand her the exact opportunity she wanted. So she built it herself. We talk about launching Local Lens Seattle, creating opportunities when traditional paths felt limited, staying authentic in a highly visible industry, and learning how to protect your personal life while building a career you love. It’s a conversation about ambition, resilience, and trusting yourself enough to keep going..even when the path looks different than you expected....aaaaannd Kelly’s advice is refreshingly simple.... just start.

In this episode, Molly talks with Martina Brimmer about building Swift Industries into a brand that goes far beyond product. They get into the intersection of creativity and business, what it’s like to lead as a woman in a male-dominated industry, and how Swift carved out a distinct voice in a traditionally technical space. Martina opens up about the highs, the brutal lows, and what it looks like to reimagine both a company and yourself in real time.

In this episode of The Outliers Project, Molly sits down with snowboarding pioneer and the first snowboarder to earn an Olympic medal, Shannon Dunn-Downing for a fun conversation. Shannon shares what it was actually like in the early days of snowboarding, when there were no rules, no roadmap, and very few women in the sport. From literally carving out her place in a male-dominated industry to launching the first women’s pro model snowboard, she reflects on the moments that shaped not just her career, but the future of women’s snowboarding. They also dig into the reality behind success, navigating contracts without an agent, advocating for yourself, and what it means to walk away at the height of your career to become a mother....and about her new book that she documents it all in, "Snowboard Girl". Shannon opens up about stepping back into the sport, finding new purpose, launching a wellness brand, and learning how to reinvent yourself.

Scott Losse might describe himself as “from the internet,” but his story is a lot more layered than a few viral videos. In this episode, Molly sits down with the Pacific Northwest-based comedian to talk about what happens when your life unexpectedly changes online. From going viral in his 30s to navigating recognition in everyday life, Scott shares what it actually feels like to be known… while still trying to stay true to himself. He shares how a therapist nudged him toward standup, how he built a following by simply saying sharing his every day observations, and he shares how he "really" feels about Ai. The conversation is not just about his comedy, it dives into the reality that sometimes the thing you’re meant to do shows up later than you expected. If you’ve ever wondered if it’s too late to start, or how to stay yourself while the world is watching, this one’s worth a listen.

In this episode of The Outliers Project, I sit down with Maria Lovely Daggett, a sixth-generation Montanan, skier featured in Warren Miller, hunter, and founder of Lovely Outdoor Co. Maria grew up in a family of hunters and outfitters, where life revolved around horses, wild places, and a deep respect for the land.We talk about the realities behind Montana’s Western culture, the tension between tradition and growth, and why hunters, ranchers, and recreationists have more in common than people think. Maria also shares her personal journey navigating Lyme disease and the unconventional path she’s taken toward healing.While it seems like a conversation about most 14 year old’s dream, its really about legacy, and the kind of life that can only be built by growing up and living in one of America’s most iconic landscapes.

In this episode, Molly catches up with Ben Carson of Seattle band Hot Bodies in Motion for a conversation about creativity, reinvention, and the tension of being both a musician and a tech mover and shaker in Seattle. They talk about how he got into music, the band’s hiatus, return to music, the creative economy and why live music still matters more than ever.

Chris Jerard, Chief Brand Officer at Outside interactive, joins Molly to talk about what it really means to “get outside” in an age of algorithms and polarizing debates about access, ai, the future of public lands and more. From his early days at Freeskier to helping unify 30+ brands under the modern Outside ecosystem, Chris shares how media, events, and storytelling can get people off screens and into the real world making lasting and deep connections. They talk about the evolution of his career, and unpack brand trust, inclusivity in outdoor culture, AI, and why the bigger crisis isn’t overcrowded trails, but people staying indoors.

In this episode, Molly sits down with her longtime friend April Cornell, owner of Hidden Hand Tattoo in Seattle. April has been a staple in the tattoo community for so many and has lived through illness, grief, reinvention, and loss. She’s run businesses through turmoil, lost her husband, raised children, and continued to show up for others as an artist, healer, and teacher. I was excited to discuss how she’s carried all of it with the clarity, steadiness and deep empathy that she seems to always maintain. Our conversation is about intuition as a survival skill, about aging truly does give us wisdom and how experience refines you instead of hardening you if you let it. It’s a reflection on grief, creativity, listening to yourself, and why your 40s might not be a decline at all, but a threshold.

In this episode, Molly dives headfirst into a topic she’s wanted an excuse to explore for a long time: wolves. Sparked by reading American Wolf and going deep on the history of wolf eradication and reintroduction in the U.S., this conversation looks at how we got here and why the debate around wolves feels so charged. Molly sits down with Francisco Santiago-Ávila, Science & Advocacy Director at Washington Wildlife First, to unpack wolves through the lens of science, ethics, and policy. Together they explore what actually happens when wolves return to an ecosystem, where common narratives around ranching, hunting, and conservation fall apart, and how decision-making around public lands often benefits powerful interests while pitting everyday stakeholders against one another. This isn’t a conversation about picking sides or pretending coexistence is easy. Livestock losses are real. People’s livelihoods matter. But we’ve already seen what happens when wolves are erased entirely, and the consequences of that choice still shape our landscapes today. This episode kicks off a broader series focused on asking better questions, talking to people with real stakes in the issue, and slowing the conversation down enough to actually understand what’s at play. Thoughtful, curious, and grounded in lived experience, this is a starting point, not a conclusion.