You recently released the Staff Picked “Finding Fury." How did it all come together?

"Sam Cohen, one of the film’s subjects, his dad and I worked together at POWDER Magazine back in the day. Sam and I had an opportunity to make a film together with his sponsor, Scott Sports, and we were all ready to go. Then the pandemic hit. Our production schedule went from like four months to 22 months.

I did not go on the trip, I directed it remotely, working with Scott Rinckenberger, who shot the film. We did extensive prep in the weeks before, just coming up with how I wanted it shot, how I wanted it to look, how I wanted interviews with Sam and Michelle to be done, contingency plans, all these things that you have to come up with as a director.

During the shoot, they had no cell service. So I did not hear from them for eight days. One morning, I was riding my son to school on my bike and Sam called me. 'We made it. We got it.' I'm really proud of this one because we were all able to work together from remote locations to make it happen, so to get a Staff Pick, which is like an online Oscar, it's really validating of all the efforts everybody put in."

How do you choose the brands you work with?

"It really is all about finding the right clients. Not every brand understands the power of good storytelling and that's okay. It doesn't make them a good brand or a bad brand, but I do think saying ‘no’ to the wrong partners is a really good thing for us.

You should find a balance of brands that want to support your vision. It's having the confidence in yourself that you know how to tell a good story, and you just have to find the right partner for it."

How has your expertise in the video space informed your marketing strategy?

"The irony is that some of the least impressive videos I make, like short form product videos, are some of the most effective when you're relaunching a brand. At the same time that the team was out shooting 'Finding Fury,' I was in my office shooting a 15-second product video about a release of Mountain Gazette hats.

We used Vimeo’s GIF feature to promote those hats in our email blast — and it was the most successful product launch that we've had on our merchandise side. Our click through rate just went way up. We put those videos on our product pages, on our socials, and in email. And in that same email, we also promoted 'Finding Fury.'"

What is it about Vimeo that's kept you on the platform for a decade?

"Without being a Vimeo subscriber, I'm just not sure where we'd host our films for Verb Cabin or for Mountain Gazette. Verb Cabin really became real when we created that Vimeo page. It’s a great place for us to just put our work out there. We had a client in the past that found our work on Vimeo, and we got business from that.

For me, the best thing about Vimeo is the interface. The backend is really easy to use. I've never had to have more than a few minute training session with anyone who’s worked for us about how to use Vimeo. It’s also just a constant place to be inspired. I really believe in the Vimeo Staff Pick. I think the democratization of the internet is a good thing, but I still miss good curation and I think the Vimeo Staff Pick team does a really great job of mixing it up."

What’s next for Verb Cabin and Mountain Gazette?

"Our tagline at Mountain Gazette is 'When in Doubt, Go Higher' and, for me, that means continually upping our game. We're trying to tell cultural stories based in the outdoors that make people feel something. I think that's what we're going to do forever, as long as we can, as long as we can keep the presses on, the cameras on, and the editing bay warm.

We just signed an intellectual property agreement with Stept, a studio in LA, to bring Mountain Gazette stories from the pages of the magazine into the film world. That will be the ultimate realization for this dream I had 10 years ago in Verbier. I want to make sure that every step of the way in our growth we’re focused on making the best content, taking care of creators, and respecting the mediums we work in."

Read more creator stories

If you are a creator yourself, you may want to explore how Vimeo can help you make, share, and manage videos. Learn more about features like live video broadcasting, content hosting, screen capture software, our video prompting tool, analytics tools, and more.

How this skincare startup is bringing their cutting edge product to life

How this teen CEO is growing her social media following with video