Jared Winkler, Brighton Resort's Director of Marketing, and his daughters

In the 1990s, snowboarding was a novel sport that offered a new way to slide down the mountain slopes. Winkler and his good friend Steve Duke enjoyed the new sport and took it one step further. They used their dads' welding equipment and cobbled metal shapes that they could set into the snow as challenging obstacles to jump onto, slide along the slick metal surface, and then jump off onto the snow.

They tested their inventions on Brighton's ski runs when no one was around. Then they hid them in the woods for next time.

But Brighton noticed the growing variety of metal contraptions and rather than chasing the two away, they invited Winkler and Duke to start manufacturing them for Brighton so others could have fun too,

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Winkler reflects on how fun unexpectedly morphed into real jobs and how the process might guide others. As this school year draws to a close, some graduates might be trying to figure out what comes next. “Don't be rushed to find your perfect job,” he says. Take a job, learn what you can, and stay alert for what needs done and how you can help make it happen.

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In addition to welding metal rails for Brighton's slopes, the two took night jobs so they could snowboard every day and play on the rails they'd just manufactured.

Then one thing led to another. Winkler asked the snow grooming crew to push snow into hills and valleys so it would be like riding a roller coaster. And he checked with ski patrol to be sure they'd approve the evolving slope changes. He instigated competitions for all levels of riders, and he invented Candy Land, a terrain park where beginners could learn the new ways to play in the snow on rails and other shapes. As a hands-on person, he was on the hill daily shoveling snow around to refine the shapes.

In the early 2000s when internet marketing was new, Winkler dabbled with social media as a new way to get Brighton's message out. “I shoveled snow during the day and at night I tried to figure out how to market Brighton on the web,” he said.

Looking back, Winkler sees the steady progression from being a snowboarder who welded shapes and hid them in the woods to tackling internet marketing for the resort. “I just kept absorbing more and more and taking on more responsibility,” he said.

Along the way, he took one step after another and they all added up. “It's exciting to go from having fun to helping everybody else have fun,” he said. Winkler is now Brighton's Director of Marketing. “If you're a go-getter, you can accomplish anything.”

But it doesn't stop there. As the seasons change, Winkler shifts his focus to cleaning up the waterways with a 100% volunteer-run, non-profit community program called Fish for Garbage. “It's dedicated to protecting Utah’s waterways through hands-on cleanups, education, and community-driven stewardship.” This is its 10th year.

“What began in 2015 as a small group of anglers picking up trash from streambanks has grown into a statewide movement that has mobilized thousands of volunteers and removed more than 100,000 pounds of trash from Utah rivers, lakes, and riparian corridors,” its website explains. Winkler is its president and uses his marketing and event management skills to promote the vital project.

 Photos courtesy of Brighton Resort and Fish for Garbage