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Steven Astephen
Steven Astephen
Principal of Action Sports Management - Wasserman Media Group
Founder - THE FAMILIE
Originally from Boston, Massachusetts, Steve Astephen began his professional career in 1988 when he joined Vail Associates as Director and Manager of On-Mountain Retail in Vail, CO. While in Vail, he was instrumental in the retail business of the Mountain resort and began to recognize the growth potential of the snowboarding and skateboarding industry.
Expanding on his knowledge of the industry, in October 1989, Astephen partnered with Jimmy DeLong to open The Other Side, the first snow and skate retail store in Beaver Creek, CO. The Other Side quickly became one of the most influential shops among the top snowboarders in the region.
In 1994, Astephen moved to San Diego, California and became Team Manager of Lamar Snowboards. Less than one year later he was promoted to Marketing Director. In his two years at Lamar, he developed a licensing deal with Nintendo for the first-ever snowboarding video game. During this time, Astephen assembled one of the top snowboarding teams in the industry, producing champions of the X Games and several major events.
While at Lamar Snowboards, Astephen was approached to help build a Canadian sunglass company in the US. He began a short career at Mantra Sunglasses where he was Director of Sales and Marketing and in charge of building the North American Sales Team and marketing for the company.
Astephen resigned from Mantra along with the president of the company in early 1998. They began consulting independently for several companies, including Sungold Eyewear and other industry brands. During his time as a consultant, Astephen began helping friends, such as professional snowboarder, Kevin Jones, with career advice.
In 1998, Astephen founded THE FAMILIE an athlete management and marketing agency based in Carlsbad, CA. He began by representing a handful of snowboarders and his success quickly grew to a roster of over 30 of the world’s top action sports athletes in BMX, Motocross, Snowboarding, Skateboarding, Surfing, and Wakeboarding. By 1999 THE FAMILIE was established as the premiere action sports marketing and athlete management agency with services that included marketing, public relations, creative, licensing, trend research and consulting. Clients included ESPN X Games, Disney, Stat Card, Powerade, Nike ACG, Jakks Pacific, Nestle, and DonJoy among others.
In early 2003, The Familie acquired Arizona based, Action Sports Management. The result of this merge was the creation of one of the largest action sports firms in the world, with over 50 athletes competing in seven sports.
Shortly following, in April 2003, Astephen partnered with Wasserman Media Group. Currently Steve Astephen serves as Principal of Action Sports Management for Wasserman Media Group and resides in North County (San Diego, CA)-the mecca of action sports. Adding to his list of accomplishments, in 2008 Astephen was selected by Sports Business Journal as one of its coveted “Forty Under 40” in sports. Since partnering with Wasserman Media Group, Steve Astephen’s success in the action sport industry has only continued to grow and is truly unmatched by anyone in the action sports genre.
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