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Josh Lewis
Marketing / Communications Specialist at Malakye
Interview by Jennifer Kalban
Name & Title:
Josh Lewis, Marketing/Communications Specialist at Malakye
Tell us a little bit about yourself
Let’s see, I’ve been skating for nearly 22 years; I shred pow; I knar waves; I love my family, wife and kid; I BBQ in the summer; and I hibernate in the winter.
What type of music do you listen to?
Quite frankly, I listen to a whole lot of everything, and then some. If I’m rockin’ out playing pool in The Man Room (my man cave), I’ll usually roll with classic rock or oldies. If I’m feelin’ spunky, who knows, maybe I’ll whip out Big Poppa, Jeezy, KISS (…Love Gunnnnn!!!), Metallica, Beastie Boys, The Grouch, Beatles, Ghostface, N.W.A., Sublime, Slayer, Run DMC or Grandmaster Flash. It just varies.
At the office, I’m pretty religious about comedy radio on iTunes. It plays the in the background pretty much all day, every day. Starting your day out with the likes of Doug Stanhope, Dane Cook, Chris Rock, Eddie Murphy Crank Yankers, and especially David Cross, you can’t go wrong.
What sports are you actively involved in?
I don’t know about sports, but I’ve been skating since I found my uncle’s Nash board in my grandma’s garage when I was 8 years old. He also had an orange, plastic banana board I used to skate as well. Soon after, my mom bought me my first complete, a New Deal Douglas slick with Gullwing Sidewinder 2 trucks and 56mm Slimeball Hairball wheels, and I was hooked.
Skating eventually led me to getting sponsored by ATM Skateboards, C1RCA flow for five some odd years, and a few shops including JBS in Chino, Doheny Board Center in Dana Point, and others. A HUGE thanks goes out to John and Kevin Falahee, Leah, Bertino, Steelman and Will at JBS. You guys kept me skatin’ throughout the years, and for that I’m truly grateful.
Check out old school video of Josh
What drew you into the action sports industry?
If you’ve ever watched Point Break…you’ll know.
Before you were at Malakye what other companies and projects were you involved in?
Well, I was on the Man-Am program for a while after high school, and after kicking ass skateboarding and ruining my ankles in the process, I realized I needed a backup plan. I went to Long Beach State and got my degree in journalism (PR emphasis) with a minor in marketing.
After that, Animal Chin led me to the path of the one-and-only resource for jobs, news and business-to-business services in the action sports, outdoor and lifestyle industries (aka Malakye.com). Once I heard of this one-and-only resource for jobs, news and business-to-business services in the action sports, outdoor and lifestyle industries, I attended Malakye’s ShmoozaPalooza job fair at ASR San Diego. While at the Shmooz, I met Chad Mihalick, the founder of Malakye. After planting the seed, I applied for a position on Malakye a few months later, and the rest is history.
Tell us what your role is at Malakye?
As with most companies in the industry, you could call it a “bearer of multiple hats,” or in plain terms, my title would read along the lines of Marketing/Communications Specialist.
In a nut shell, I’m responsible for event management, content management and creation, e-mail marketing, web/print advertising, budget management, site traffic/monitoring, social media, graphic design, sales, account management, candidate management, customer service, and everything else in between.
What does your daily routine look like … take us through it
Wake up. Shower. Feed my little boy Jeremy breakfast. Drop him off at day care. Drive 40 minutes to an hour in traffic. Get to work. Update my “To Do” list. Check e-mails. Prioritize e-mails. Reply to urgent e-mails. Bellow out random comments to break the silence and monotony. Make sure current and future interviews, monthly giveaways, upcoming events, et cetera are all in order. Check the site analytics to see what traffic is looking like. Drink insanely strong coffee. Ideate, mock up and review collateral marketing materials for jobs at hand or in the near future. Contact friends in the industry as their names pop up in the news to say hello, congrats, etc. Hang up on telemarketers. Work with Chad on any immediate new endeavors we’ve got goin’ on. Put telemarketers on hold till they hang up. Drive 40 minutes to an hour in traffic. Get home. Hang out with wifey and lil’ buddy. Squeeze in a skate sesh if time permits. Cook dinner. Watch TV. Pass out.
How many people are on the staff and what are their roles?
There’s Chad Mihalick, the owner and founder of Malakye.com, our part-timer Billy Bittner who is awesome and can literally tackle any and every task we shoot his way, and Miss Rachel Manning, our latest and greatest social media intern. We have a handful of contractors that work outside of the office as well.
With your current position, do you travel much? If so where?
We (Malakye) went to Office Booyz Canada this year, thanks to Karl Fuhre of IS Design and Perry Pugh from KNOW?SHOW who put on the event. I got to ride Mount Seymour, and better yet, Whistler.
We attend SIA each year, so I’ve been to both Vegas and Denver; we held our Malakye ShmoozaPalooza job fair at SIA Denver this past January, and it was a big success. While in Colorado, we also went to the On Snow Demo at Winter Park, and thanks to the awesome guys at Rome Snowboards, Chad and I got to ride their new boards; honestly, Rome snowboards are the biz!
Where else? We also attend ASR in San Diego every year, where we put on our ShmoozaPalooza Job Fair and Office Booyz skate contest for all the old dogs who think they still got it. Keep an eye out for info on this year’s ShmoozaPalooza job fair and Office Booyz Skate Contest at ASR this August.
Tell us about some of the companies and brands you work with at Malakye?
Naming only a few of the companies we work with wouldn’t do the collective justice. Honestly, we work with about 99 percent of the companies in the action sports industry, as well as brands from the outdoor and lifestyle-driven industries. Whether it’s the big guns like Vans (VF), Sole Tech, Volcom, Quik’, K2, Easton, Zumiez, CCS or Black Box Dist, or the mom-and-pop shops looking for buyers, retail employees, et cetera, we work with ‘em all and all are welcome. We are the primary resource for finding talent in the industry, so if you know a company in need, send ‘em our way.
What are some of the perks of your job?
Awesome people, events, atmosphere, surf meetings, skating Woodward at IASC’s Skate Summit, travel, and the fact that “Casual Fridays” is a joke! I almost forgot half-day Fridays.
Tell us a bit about Malakye and how it got started.
Chad Mihalick, the founder of Malakye, worked in the career center at his college and realized there was a void in the industry that needed to be filled. After graduating, he networked and attended every trade show he could to get the word out about Malakye.com. Long story short, Chad’s will and momentum finally got Malakye off the ground, and we’ve now been runnin’ strong since 2002.
Where do you see Malakye within the next 2-5 years?
Stars ships and hover crafts…big ideas are in the works. Malakye is growing, so you’ll have to wait and see.
What projects do you have coming up in the near future?
We’re co-sponsoring a hole with ASR at the SIMA golf tourney/Waterman’s Weekend Thursday, July 8th. We’ll also be putting on another ShmoozaPalooza job fair at ASR in August, as well as “Round 2” of our industry skate contest Office Booyz. It’s gonna be a blast, so stay tuned for more to come.
How has Malakye been using social media?
Social media is simply another way of interacting with our audience in a less formal atmosphere. People can be quite religious about Facebook and Twitter, so we obliged them by providing an open forum to communicate with Malakye and their peers in the community online. It’s also a way for people to share our jobs, news, interviews and giveaways with their friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter, respectively. We also have a group on LinkedIn as well.
The more people that know about Malakye, the better we all will be in the long run. We build the snowball and watch it grow with the help of each and every one of you. In short, social media is our valedictorian cheerleader, letting people know that CareerBlunder and Moudster are not the only resources out there for finding jobs and hiring talent.
Join us at the following links:
http://www.facebook.com/malakye.jobs
http://www.twitter.com/MalakyeNews
http://www.flickr.com/photos/malakye/
How has the economy affected your part of the industry?
Well, times were tough for everyone, but we held on, rode it out, and the outlook is looking really good – no joke. Companies are getting back into the groove of hiring, which is good for everyone. Times were down, so we buckled down on sales and made sure we put 200 percent into our customer service, instead of the usual 110 percent.
What’s the best advice you have been given?
Gram’s said, “Love your wife and keep her close.”
What do you like and not like about working within the action sports industry?
What’s not to like? Great perks, down-to-earth people, product love here and there, and quite frankly, it’s been a blast.
What do you think about group Y and its events?
They’re awesome! group Y has the best-of-the-best speakers at its events, and the discussions are always beneficial, insightful and definitely worth your time. I look forward to the Action Sports Conference to come!
Any parting words?
Stay classy? For real though, tell your friends, family, uncles, nieces and cousins about Malakye.com. There’s opportunity out there, and the more job seekers and employers who know about our resource, the better it’ll be for the industry as a whole in the long run.
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