Things I've Learned: How Josh Malczyk climbed the ranks to global brand director of Line and Full Tilt

Things I’ve Learned is a regular freeskier.com column that gives ski industry veterans the spotlight to share personal experiences and insight gained while working in the sport. We pick the brains of athletes, brand reps and executives, cinematographers, photographers, mountain guides, product gurus, local legends and more.

These days, LINE Skis and the sport of freeskiing are synonymous. Josh Malczyk—pronounced MALL-CHECK as he’d like to point out—has been with LINE for over a decade. You could call him a key player in the sport, no doubt. The now global brand director for LINE Skis and Full Tilt Boots grew up skiing the hills of Connecticut as well as the slopes of Okemo Resort in Vermont. Today, at 30-years-young, he travels the globe waving the LINE Skis flag while maintaining home base in Seattle, WA. Get schooled with one of the leaders of LINE Skis, below.

Malczyk says:

Connecticut skiing is the soul of the ski world. Really though, any place where you’ve got small hills and have to find the passion to go skiing every day after school or shovel your own jumps and ski until they turn the lights off is the soul of the ski world. Feeder hills are the gateway drug to a lifelong addiction that can bring you to some amazing places with friends.

Skiing and the University of Vermont was a pretty tight community—everyone knew each other, when I was there. We’d set up rail competitions, make movies and just have a good time. I haven’t been back in a while but it looks like it is thriving there and I hope everyone is still doing it for the fun and it hasn’t just become a scene.

Working the shop floor was brutal. I was never cut out for retail and my managers definitely knew it.

I was 22 years old, just wanting to read the latest ski magazine behind the counter. Someone would come in and I’d have to feign interest with them, thinking I’m going to give them the key to make a wise purchase. “Any ski on the damn wall will be better than those ‘SaloAtomic RaceCheetah’ skis you’ve had since 1995, so just buy this LINE ski, you kook!”

I was booted off the floor within about a month or so. I’ve been in marketing and brand management ever since. I like being behind the scenes and loyal to one brand, pulling the strings, working with a team and applying my knowledge to send a consistent message. But working retail certainly made me respect the hard work that our retailers and shop kids put into the ski industry.

Moving up the company ranks happened a lot quicker than I imagined. It feels like just yesterday—it was a decade ago—that I was helping out at a local demo, hitting urban in Vermont and making some crappy edit to send to LINE in hopes it would be seen. I’m not sure how I convinced Jason Levinthal to hire me but I’m pretty sure it had to do with just showing up, being passionate, thinking outside the box and making things happen on my own.

My parents were teachers and I am the youngest of four so we didn’t have the means to just go skiing all the time. The way I made it happen was to get on the business end, or at least fake it ’til I made it. For six years Jason and I worked together from across the country, which gave me the opportunity to get my hands into everything I wanted and not be coached or pointed down a certain direction in my job. Time went on, a lot has changed and the right opportunities presented themselves. Here I am, running two of the best brands in skiing, working with the best people in the world and couldn’t be happier.

Working with Jason Levinthal taught me a lot about success and failures. J has been through it all in the past 20 years and has given me amazing perspective on life, the ski industry and what really matters. Pushing for change is difficult when you’re the only one pushing for it at the time. When change does happen it’s super gratifying knowing that you had a part in it. Jason has always inspired me to do the opposite of what everyone else is doing because the world doesn’t need another “me too” of anything.

Building skis is a labor of love. I currently work with, and in the past have worked, with some of the most talented people I’ve ever known. To most people it’s just a big sandwich of mass produced “stuff” that’s shoved out to the world but the heart, vision and mind boggling science that goes into actually making a great ski is crazy. If you change one thing the whole feeling is different. It’s an amazing feeling when you’re on a new prototype for the first time and take a run with the people who helped design it. You just come to the bottom with a smile on your face or are laughing hysterically saying, “Holy shit, this is going to be amazing.”

The everyday skier is someone that I’ve always wanted to be. I love skiing and it’s fueled my desire to make it my career. But, I’ve never actually been the guy who has lived in a ski town and skied everyday, which I regret. To me those skiers are the core of skiing. We need to pay more attention to those skiers, that mountain town culture and how to keep it alive.

I get so damn excited when I see someone on a pair of LINE skis, stoked on the great time they’re having in the mountains. It’s what gets me to work everyday, focused on spreading the fun of skiing and developing the best possible gear for people to do that.

LINE is More Funner was a tagline that came about from brainstorming for our marketing campaign. It’s taken on a bigger meaning when it comes to LINE. We went in circles looking for something easy that represented the whole brand, including our vibe, our products, athletes and essentially where we want to be in the skiing world. It’s been really gratifying to hear people say it when they see something we make or are just talking about skiing in general. Plus, since funner isn’t a real word, when you Google it, a whole bunch of funny LINE stuff comes up. That’s what we’re all about and that’s what skiing should be all about because there’s far too much serious stuff in the world right now.

The LINE Team is a collection of unique individuals united by creativity and passion for skiing. There isn’t one “too cool” ego on the team and that inspires me. We just had our annual team shoot at Park City and it was full of personalities that make me stoked to go skiing. From Eric Pollard’s vision to Andrew Whiteford’s humble and talented approach to the mountains; Max Hill’s style to Rob Heule’s pure talent to Colter Hinchliffe’s unstoppable passion to explore; Sami Ortlieb’s general disregard for what is conventional to Tom Wallisch, Will Wesson, LJ Strenio and Andy Parry inspiring kids around the world. I could go on and on about all of them and it’s the most well rounded team of skiers I could ever ask for. I’m glad I’ve been lucky enough to call most of those people my friends.

Adding Tom Wallisch to the LINE team was a no brainer when the opportunity came up. I’ve known Tom, his influence and what he could add to the brand for a long time and it just fit. A lot of fans were blown away by it. But, if you look a little deeper and take Tom for who he is—a passionate skier from the East that made due with what he had and rose from nowhere—his story aligned perfectly with LINE. The LINE brand and Tom have both done things differently to get to where we are and it’s that connection that makes a great partnership.

The three piece boot should be the de facto design for all ski boots. Having a smooth flex derived from the tongue and cables that keeps you snug eliminates so much unnecessary pain and suffering. Therefore, it keeps you on the hill longer. Plus you can slip your foot in the damn boot like a slipper. And who can say they love prying their cold boots apart and breaking their foot when they’re just trying to go skiing?

Paperwork is my enemy but very necessary to keep the cogs rolling in the background. Our A/P lady gets gifts and smiles from me all the time because of the extra attention she has to pay to us.

The trade show circuit is a double edged sword and a necessary evil. You’re there to do work, make an impression and hopefully increase sales while partying your face off, meeting with old friends and making new ones everyday. The planning, production and execution of a good tradeshow is painful but once it’s rolling and over with you can look back and say, “damn that was a good time. Now get me back on the mountain.”

Managing website content has always had a soft spot in my heart. I think posting new edits, blogs or a product that I’ve been working on for the last three years to the world fires some satisfaction synapses in my head. It’s something you can point to and be stoked that you had a hand in making. It can hopefully have a positive impact on skiing or just brighten someone’s day a little bit. I’ve taken a step back from it and Dan Brown our marketing manager has been kicking ass at it.

The LINE Traveling Circus has been a part of my life since its inception on the porch of J Lev’s house in ‘08. Andy and Will didn’t want to get real jobs and were looking to us to help them achieve that goal. I’m happy we were able to support it, help to show the world how fun any type of skiing can be while taking the viewer all over the place and introducing them to such passionate skiers from all walks of life.

LINE Traveling Circus season 7 episode 3.

Will Wesson is to Andy Parry as Penn is to Teller. They’re both super talented but one talks a bunch while the other lets his skiing do the talking. They’ve been friends forever but are totally different people who share the same passion for a life of funemployment and new adventures no matter how weird they may be. The best thing about them is the complete lack of ego and an unwavering mindset of spreading the positivity of skiing, friends and life.

The mind of Eric Pollard is so damn multi-faceted I still can’t figure it out. Whether it be art, ski design or just life itself, he’s always coming up with ways to inspire me. His work ethic and positive outlook on life is infectious and inspires everyone around him to be a better person.

Failed backflips are tough to swallow as I’ve prided myself on doing a nice smooth backflip ‘til the day I die. Sometimes that just isn’t in the cards though and you lose your train of thought. A word of advice is don’t perform a failed backflip around Eric Pollard because that jackass will never let you hear the end of it. EP is one of the kindest human beings I know but has a sadistic pleasure of messing with people and an uncanny ability to never miss when punting a soccer ball at your ass when you lose in Duff. It’s ridiculous. Oh, and if he was pointing a camera at you when you royally screwed up the entire skiing world will know in the blink of an Instagram post. Watch out.

It’s seriously the worst when I find myself complaining about something in my life. I have good health, great friends and a sweet job that gives me the vehicle to see the world and meet more like-minded individuals. So I get bummed out, when I get bummed out.

The coolest place my job has sent me was Zermatt, Switzerland in 2009. I was 24 and found out last minute that I was going to go over to Europe for the first time. After 24 hours of travel I found myself staring at the Matterhorn taking shots of Fernet with Seth Morrison. It was a six day touring trip around Switzerland promoting Full Tilt Boots with Seth, whom I’d never met before, along with two others in a truck. We drove through the whole country and every stop we made we met more people halfway around the world who were just as passionate about skiing as I was. It was humbling and empowering to have the opportunity to be with such awesome people and to representing a brand I love.

My all-time favorite place to ski is Okemo Resort in Vermont. My family has had a funky ’70s ski cottage there since 1988. I grew up skiing there on the weekends with my two brothers and sister. It was a funny little area and has grown so much throughout the years but still has the down home East Coast skiing feeling. Maching over the rollers on World Cup; sneaking into the “snowboarders only” pipe and park; going in and out of the trees on Sachem and skiing through the woods on a self cut trail my dad made was awesome. Now my brother’s two kids are growing up skiing the same stuff and experiencing the same things which makes me happy.

The Malczyk’s take on Okemo.

The Pacific Northwest has been my home for over seven years and I’ve still only scratched the surface of its potential. Sure it’s gray and rainy sometimes but when it’s nice, it is the utopia of living. There’s ocean, mountains and city life that keeps you entertained everyday. Everyone should at least experience life in the upper left.

I hope skiing personally stays a top priority in my life that I can teach my future kids and enjoy the rest of my life. It keeps me grounded and gives me a sense of freedom that I haven’t found anywhere else. Skiing with friends is all time but I actually enjoy skiing by myself just as much. It gives me time to go my own speed, not wait for anyone, be on my own program and think. I like to just put everything else on the back burner and enjoy the day for what it is.

Professionally I hope skiing stays as positive for me as it’s always been. A wise man once said “It’s just skiing!” It should not be a source of frustration or pain. I just hope everyone around me stays safe and grounded. There’s too much one-upsmanship and G.N.A.R points going on these days. Everybody just chill out, no one cares you’re killing it more than the other guy.

The best professional advice I’ve ever gotten was from my favorite college professor, Dave Kaufman at the University of Vermont. He said “don’t burn bridges,” because you never know when you’re going to need a favor from that jackass teacher or boss or magazine editor, just kidding on the last one. If you let negativity get the best of you then you’ve lost. Also I’ve learned to never use the word “I” too much because everything is a team effort and you’re only as strong as the people around you.

The best personal advice is that my mom taught me to just be nice to people and that’s a pretty good way to get ahead in life.

Related: Things I’ve Learned: Mike Gutt bleeds K2 and has for almost 16 years