Recreational Equipment, Inc.

I play casual and relief.

And the store I could spend all day in is REI or Recreational Equipment Incorporated.

uh co-op what i've never even heard of this it's uh it's a camping store so it has all bunch of different stuff it's almost as good as bass pro it is almost as good as bass pro but what they do have and i've actually so i joined a climbing gym recently just oh hell yeah yeah so they have a bunch of climbing equipment is there there as well um so yeah you know spent a lot of time there um what about you kylie

Hi, I'm Kylie.

to find a couple of smokers.

The broader point is, and persuading REI to close their stores the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday.

Whoa, opt outside, have people go hike.

That's an action.

You can see the science and the wonder and the magic and the bio-enchantment of clouds.

This isn't just about people like me who have REI backpacks.

It's about everyone.

And nature is all around us and beneath us.

Yeah.

I would say REI Co-op.

So they are an online retailer.

They might have physical stores.

And I came to this really cool article and it was really well written and it really was very clear and it broke down exactly, you know, what, why this is important and this, and it was so good.

And then I read the whole article and I was like, oh, that was great.

And I looked up and I was on REI.com. And I didn't even know they had just written these articles as, you know, just these informal things.

And that's how all blogs should be written.

There was so much joy, and it was really fun to explore a neighborhood that I had been to before but had not spent a lot of time in.

I also went to an event at REI on Friday and spoke on a panel about connection in nature.

And that was really fun.

My parents came and I roped my mom into helping table.

I did not realize we were going to have a table.

So I had not prepared for that.

But fortunately, Bree, our program manager, came with me because we are going to host an event in the same space at REI in April.

So we were touring the space and she had all the event stuff in her car.

Graduated high school with an associate's degree at 17 and didn't know what I wanted to do yet, but I loved the outdoors.

And so Just kind of, you know, jumping from, you know, as you kind of mentioned, working in marketing, outdoor programs, risk management for REI to then starting Flickr and really running everything from zero to one of figuring out how to scale something from a tiny garage manufacturing, making things for friends and family to massive global sales.

Yeah.

And then, you know, kind of transitioning that into consulting across various industries and realizing that the skills and experience I had could be applied in various different contexts, which led me to the AI company, like you were saying and mentioning.

Yes.

If you know me personally, you ever worked with me, I always knew at the end of the day, I'd have my own firm again, have my own something.

Even within, I think I've always been extremely fortunate to where even in the one kind of more corporate job that I ever had working for REI, just outside of university, I really ran my own business unit and had a lot of autonomy.

And so I think that has always been in my DNA and I operate best when I really feel that sense of ownership and responsibility.

Some are trying to be the high-priced leader and cater to that customer.

Some, like REI, are trying to give real value for outdoor adventures.

So take your data and put it into that context.

decisions get made all the way from the CEO to the executive team, to the analysts, to the stores, to the people running e-commerce.

Like...

No, I think a lot of Katniss's like District 12 stuff is very like REI chic.

Oh, yeah.

She's rocking it.

Like it's an outdoor outfitter store because we carry those brands.

We have Osprey backpacks and Marmot and Marmot rain jackets and the kind of things that you find at REI.

The reason we carry those things, those brands, is because they're very functional.

And they're