Austin Parker

Contributing editor for outdoors sports and adventure travel. Developed multiple sport and travel specific campaigns and buyers’ guides. Trusted to explore both new brands and test new products independently of home office oversight. • Outdoor category page views +25% from 2014-2017 • Worked closely with outdoors, cycling, tactical, and fashion brands to represent their campaign and vision to The Manual’s viewers in engaging and novel ways • Cultivated a relationship with Digital Trends, The Manual’s parent site, to leverage larger audiences for relevant stories. • Led efforts to establish The Manual and Digital Trends’ outdoors awards, including cultivating relationships with brands, tradeshows, and internal editorial principals.

Built a stream of media outlet contacts ranging from small niche blogs to larger online and print channels to tell compelling travel and gear stories. • Built Gear Patrol’s outdoor tradeshow coverage, including setting a trend in attending Outdoor Retailer, SIA, and Interbike, as well as positioning both Gear Patrol’s and The Manual’s awards at tradeshows as industry and category defining accolades • Solely responsible for category buyer’s guides (sleeping bags, backpacking packs, climbing shoes, down apparel, cycling gear and ski outerwear) at Gear Patrol, MOTUS, and The Manual • Matured relationships with different brands and PR agencies while working in a freelance capacity to maintain relevance season to season across every outlet and to different audiences, including the general outdoors market, style conscious millennial, overlanding, and the tactical/hook & bullet communities.