Q&A with Coalition Snow’s Jen Gurecki
Jen Gurecki
“It’s always interesting when you see yourself in a magazine with Elon Musk on the cover,” Jen Gurecki says with a laugh.
Specifically, Gurecki — the founder of Reno-based Coalition Snow — recently found herself on the same list as the Tesla CEO in Entrepreneur magazine’s “50 Most Daring Entrepreneurs of 2018” issue in November.
Gurecki was recognized for her bold move of running a company while, as Entrepreneur magazine said, “working very, very remotely” in 2018. They’re not kidding.
For 70 days this past spring, Gurecki bicycled with a friend across South Africa — from Nairobi to Cape Town — trekking roughly 80 miles a day. All the while, she continued to steer Coalition Snow, a women’s outdoor equipment and apparel company that makes award-winning skis and snowboards.
“Just knowing that I was going to put myself through a 70-day, very physically and emotionally demanding experience, while also recognizing that every single day I needed to work, that was a huge risk,” Gurecki told the NNBV.
So why did Gurecki, who spent about five months this year in South Africa, take the trip? In a nutshell: to live life.
“I just look at my parents and look at older generations who are waiting until they’re 65 to enjoy life,” Gurecki told the NNBV. “And quite honestly, I could get run over by a bus tomorrow. So why am I going to wait? Why are you going to wait to have the experiences in life that you want to have.”
In 2018, Gurecki also found time to help lead the launch of a quarterly magazine called “Sisu,” which she co-created with Coalition Snow Creative Director Lauren Bello Okerman. Gurecki said the magazine features untold stories of the outdoors around women, people of color, LGBTQIA+, and other underrepresented voices.
With her eventful year winding down, the NNBV caught up with Gurecki over Skype and covered a lot of ground. She gave her thoughts on the Reno-Sparks economy, the importance of human and social capital, the affordable housing crisis, challenges facing female entrepreneurs, and much more.
Read the Q&A at nnbusinessview.com.