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We are so excited to introduce this unique local e-commerce business to our community! There has been a huge demand for their unique artistic prints for skiers and snowboarders, and their business is growing fast, but they have committed to sticking to their core values and to enjoying Utah's amazing outdoor recreation opportunities. They are staunch supporters of females in action adventure sports, in business and beyond.
Meet Amberlee Whitemeyer of Gnarwalls:
I’m Amberlee Whitemeyer, co-founder of Gnarwalls, we’re an online shop that offers Trail Maps of your favorite Ski Resorts, handcrafted and printed beautifully on wood and canvas.
I married a 3rd generation printer, Rich, who grew up in the printing industry from Ohio to California to Utah. We are parents to three very active kids, we all live, work and play in Utah. Two years into our marriage we had twins, five short years after that, our youngest appeared. After the twins, I became a stay-at-home/work-from-home Mom. I worked for a handful of online companies during that time and started to learn a thing or two about entrepreneurship, small businesses, kicking butts, and taking names.
Since we ran a print shop, we had a few neighbors ask us for artistic prints of their favorite resorts, we decided to stretch those on canvas frames. We absolutely loved the end result, and so did our neighbors, this began smelling like an idea. Rich came home one day and challenged me to build a website and I freaking did it. Not like in a single day but over several single days.
Custom Sticker Sheet By Buzz Graphics / Gnarwalls (art by KC Fowls Tattoos)
That was the first iteration of Gnarwalls. After that, we threw around ideas about how to approach this, and we made the website live. After a lot of networking, skiing and snowboarding, we were able to get some awesome connections in the ski industry. We connected with Vail Resorts as our largest partner, and that is when everything coalesced into what is now Gnarwalls. We’ve even recently expanded into a second shop to accommodate our ever-growing customer base.
Rich and I both dropped out of College and are firm believers that success is not defined by degrees, unless you’re referring to fahrenheit, because success does require some heat. We live by the grind, and play as hard as we work. Our support network consists of our family, our friends, our dogs and our coffee selection.
All three kids ages 11, 16 and 16, are old enough now to come and work and kick butts (they have to wait until 18 to take names) at Gnarwalls. We work hard as a team building up this company. We’re constantly working, coming up with new products, new methods, and new ways to grow and to reach out to our community.
We’re so grateful for the community that we’ve found at Gnarwalls, our powder hounds, our slicers, our dicers, even our competitors because it’s all in support of the love of our mountains and our play time. These mountains are our homes, our hearts, our memories and our love, we’re very blessed to have found a business that allows us to get closer to them.
Running a business can be difficult and scary, as a woman, as a mother, as a partner, as a business partner, but it’s worth it to show myself and show my girls, and my boy, what it means to show up and try. I often think about this quote from Dr. Brené Brown: “When I see people stand fully in their truth, or when I see someone fall down, get back up, and say, ‘Damn. That really hurt, but this is important to me and I’m going in again’—my gut reaction is, ‘What a badass.’” I try to stand in my truth and find my footing everyday, because as the world and finances and my own mind are telling me to give it a rest, but I’m going in again, everyday.
- Amberlee Whitmeyer, Founder
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