Employee Spotlight- Olivia Hicks
Olivia is a southerner at heart, born and raised in Nashville, TN. She grew up in the rivers and lakes of TN and spent ample time in the outdoors with her family. She moved away to attend Colorado College – drawn to the mountains and opportunity for greater adventure - and has been smitten with the Rockies ever since. Olivia worked as an outdoor guide with a summer adventure program called Moondance Adventures for five years; leading trips in Iceland, AK, WA, OR, and CA. She was also an adaptive ski instructor in CO before moving to UT to manage a nonprofit program offering ski and snowboard opportunities for underserved youth. Olivia has called UT home for almost four years and spends her time hiking, skiing, canyoneering, trying new recipes in the kitchen and generally adventuring with her two dogs (Milly & Merle) and husband TJ.
Name: Olivia Hicks
Time working for Liberty Mountain: 9 months, since September 2019
Job title: Sales Representative – Pacific West
Short description of what you do at Liberty Mountain: Handle sales for retail shops, climbing gyms, and other businesses across CA, OR, WA, MT, NV, ID, AK & HI. Travel to regional trade shows and shops throughout the year to support customers with clinics.
What do you like most about your job? The relationship-building with customers! It’s great to get out for events and shows where I can actually meet folks face-to-face and get to know them better.
Active in the following sports/activities/hobbies: Skiing, hiking, canyoneering, rafting, and cooking.
Favorite activity: Skiing and desert adventuring in canyons!
Favorite outdoor areas: The family lake house in Rock Island, TN where I spent a lot of time growning up OR the mountains and desert of UT, of course.
Piece of outdoor gear you most wish you had: A new pair of ski touring boots (on the list for fall 2020) or a pair of SUPs.
Most interesting place ever lived: 2 months living around Iceland in the summer of 2016.
Top-five favorite movies: Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter series, Love Actually, How to Train Your Dragon, and Despicable Me.
Top-five favorite books: That's a super hard question but I love historical fiction and murder mysteries most. Recent favs of the past few years: The Girl You Left Behind, Under A Scarlett Sky, City of Thieves, and The Rosie Project
First memory spending time outdoors: I remember going on a father-daughter campout when I was in Brownies (like Girls Scouts for younger elementary ages) somewhere in rural Tennessee. We got to roast s’mores, sleep in a tent, and play around outside – and it was awesome! That was probably when I was 7 or 8 years old.
Dream vacation: Several weeks exploring New Zealand.
Favorite food to eat outside: Fried bagels with cream cheese and brown sugar OR smoked salmon.
Cake or pie: A really good sugar cookie with frosting OR brownies.
Dogs or Cats: DOGS. I own two perfect pups: Milly, a Lab/English setter mix with the brown spots, and Merle, an English setter with the black spots.
Anything else that the world should know? I got to raft through the Grand Canyon for 16 days last summer (July 2019) with a small group of dear friends. Undoubtedly the coolest backcountry experience I’ve had so far! The photo below was taken downstream from Havasu Falls.
