Jayme Moye: Adventure Journalist

Adventure journalist Jayme Moye lives, breathes and writes about the adventures she lives.  A former tech employee, Jayme found writing about her outdoor adventurous lifestyle was worth taking a leap of faith to explore.  Ready for this new adventure, she jumped in and hasn't looked back.  Listen to learn about the stories Jayme loves to share.

Follow Jayme’s life and work here: http://jaymemoye.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaymemoye/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jayme.moye/
LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/jayme-moye-4373106a 

VeloNews: https://velo.outsideonline.com/
Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/
Sun Microsystems: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Microsystems
Boulder: https://www.bouldercoloradousa.com/   
Triglav: https://julian-alps.com/en/p/triglav-national-park/52319762/
Julian Alps: https://julian-alps.com/en/
Slovenia: https://www.slovenia.info/en
Adventure Journal: http://jaymemoye.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/AJ_2209_Slovenia.pdf
Afghanistan Women’s Biking Team:  https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/afghanistans-two-wheeled-revolution-first-womens-bike-racing-team-hits-the-road
https://www.secsports.com/article/10726599/espnw-afghanistan-women-cycling-team-shows-bravery-resolve
Kooteny Mountain Culture: https://kootenaymountainculture.com/
Podcast:  https://soundcloud.com/kcrnews/february-10th-2023-kootenay-morning-with-jayme-moye-cam-chute
Whitebark Pine: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/in-british-columbia-skiers-and-forest-conservationists-work-in-tandem
Bushwalking in Tasmania: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/in-tasmania-bushwalks-help-conserve-native-flora
Leadville CO: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/visit-historic-colorado-mining-leadville
Race Across the Sky: : http://www.raceacrossthesky.com/
Suzi Ezterhas: https://www.suzieszterhas.com/index
Shorkie Mix: https://hellobark.com/dogs/shorkie-shih-tzu-yorkie-mix/

Thank you for listening!  Please take a moment to rate, review and subscribe to the Media in Minutes podcast here or anywhere you get your podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/media-in-minutes/id1555710662  

Transcript

Angela Tuell: 0:05

Welcome to Media in Minutes. This is your host Angela Tuell. This podcast features in-depth interviews with those reports on the world around us. They share everything from their favorite stories to what happened behind the lens and give us a glimpse into their world. From our studio here at Communications Redefined, this is Media in Minutes. Today we are talking with adventure journalist Jayme Moye. Jayme writes about travel, mountain sports and culture and pushing the limits of human potential. Her career has taken her all over the world from Afghanistan to Zanzibar, and her award winning freelance writing appears in outlets such as National Geographic, Conde Naste Traveler, ESPN, Outside, Travel+ Leisure, Adventure Journal and many others. Jayme has co authored two books, is a podcast reporter and writes content for the industry's top brands. Jayme currently lives in British Columbia. Hi, Jayme.

Jayme Moye: 1:05

Hey, Angela.

Angela Tuell: 1:06

I am so excited to talk with you today and hear about the thrilling things your career has led you to experience.

Jayme Moye: 1:13

Nice. Well, I am honored and excited to be here.

Angela Tuell: 1:17

So I read that you've been professionally writing since 2009. I'd love to know what led you to this career and how you got there.

Jayme Moye: 1:25

I actually got my start in business consulting and computer science. So yeah, I have a non traditional entry into

Angela Tuell: 1:29

Oh wow. writing as a career. I mean, with that said, I was always a recreational writer. I mean, from journaling to serving as editor of the school newspaper or reading literary journal. I think it was 2007 I'd started doing some freelance writing on the side of my tech job, just for fun. No, like I was on a women's road bike racing team. I was living in Boulder, Colorado at the time. And we were the top amateur team in the States. Wow.

Jayme Moye: 2:00

And I was captain.

Angela Tuell: 2:01

Wow, that's impressive.

Jayme Moye: 2:03

Thank you. One of my duties was to write the team race report. And this was things like, you know, each weekend in the summer, we'd have a race. And then I would write up well what the weather conditions were like, how we executed our team strategy, lessons learn, and the team loved them, they would forward them to their families and their boyfriends and their kids. And people were like you should write for VeloNews. Like I should write for VeloNews. It just so happened VeloNews is published in Boulder, Colorado. The top editor was the boyfriend of one of my teammates, and they basically had a team of maybe four guys. And they're like, we need women's voices. You know, this is back like I said in 2007. There just wasn't that many female voices writing in outdoor magazines at that time. And so I went in the office, met them and walked out with three assignments.

Angela Tuell: 3:02

Wow, that's amazing. You know, I always say, it's about who you know, but then obviously, you have to prove yourself and be and be what they're hoping you are. But when you make connections like that, it's always helpful.

Jayme Moye: 3:15

Absolutely. So I had to scramble to or how do you go from writing? recreationally to the standard of journalism with no education and that background. And so it was a steep learning curve. Um, luckily, we had - you remember Meetup? We had like some writers Meetup groups in town. And yeah, I hired an MBA student in creative writing to be like my writing coach. So I really needed to uplevel quickly, when once I got that paycheck, I was like, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. I could, I could people are gonna pay me to do this. So I started moonlighting on the side of my tech job for all of 2008 kind of ran the numbers and was like, wow, there's potential in doing this as a full time career. I'm not going to be - I'm not going to be wealthy, but I'm great, rich, rich in life experiences. I didn't have kids. I downsized. So I owned a home in Boulder, downsized it to a condo. Like, you know, like, made some of those lifestyle changes. I didn't have any debt or student loans. And so yeah, I jumped. I think it was January 2010. That was my last day at my tech job.

Angela Tuell: 4:34

Was it scary as well making the jump? Did you feel pretty prepared?

Jayme Moye: 4:38

Something I realized is that it would have been scarier if it hadn't happened. Like I was ready. I remember it was Christmas break from work. There are big layoffs coming down. It was Sun Microsystems at the time in January and I had gone to see my boss and said, look, it's gonna sound weird, but I am in a position where I would be willing to take a layoff. And he was like, Well, I can't, we weren't going to cut your position. But you know, I can't see myself I have to let go of 20% of our team. And it's really hard to let go of someone who's supporting a family and desperately wants their job if you're basically coming in here and raising your hand. So let me see what I can do. But you'll find out like everybody else, after we come back from Christmas break, during that time on Christmas break, I was like, if I don't get this layoff, I don't know what I'm going to do, because I am like 100% invested and stepping forward into this new career.

Angela Tuell: 5:36

Wow, that is a really cool story. And you started in Adventure journalism, and you've stayed on that beat the whole time, right?

Jayme Moye: 5:45

Pretty much. I mean, when you come into the field of writing without an educational background in writing, or any work experience, the best tip is to write about what you know. In other words, something you have expertise in, otherwise, why is somebody going to hire you, right? In my case, that was road bike racing to start. And

Angela Tuell: 6:00

Right. because I lived in Boulder for so many years, it was easy to then encompass the other Boulder things that were part of my life. So skiing in the Rocky Mountains, hiking Colorado's fourteeners, that's our 14,000 foot tall mountains, trail running, rock climbing, all of those things I loved and did as a resident of Boulder, Colorado. So really, I just started with what I knew. And that was mountain sports and culture. And that kind of put me straight into the sphere of so called adventure journalism. Wow. And then you had to pinch yourself probably for a little while that you were really doing this as a living.

Jayme Moye: 6:43

I must say once I got into it, I never looked back in the tech. I was like, what if I would have known it was gonna be this good. I maybe would have jumped ship even sooner.

Angela Tuell: 6:54

Yes. I'm so glad you did. And the career has taken you all over the world. You know, what have been some of your favorite adventures?

Jayme Moye: 7:02

I feel like that's such a hard question to answer. I mean, it's like asking which kid is your favorite?

Angela Tuell: 7:07

Right.

Jayme Moye: 7:08

I would say, a recent adventure that had really deep meaning for me was traveling to Slovenia. That was a story for Adventure Journal, and I was going to summit Triglav, which is the country's tallest peak.

Angela Tuell: 7:21

Okay.

Jayme Moye: 7:21

And my family, our ancestral heritage on my mom's side is there. All four of her grandparents - yeah, all four immigrated to the US from Slovenia in the early 1900s.

Angela Tuell: 7:34

Wow.

Jayme Moye: 7:35

But none of us - no one from the later generations had ever been back. So on a personal level, it was really exciting to kind of like be the first person in my family to go back to Slovenia, since the family left there some, you know, 100 plus years ago. And then the Julian Alps, that's the mountain range there. They're incredibly charismatic and by charismatic I mean, beautiful, like they're craggy and picturesque, and there's a vibrant skiing and mountaineering culture, and they're just really steeped in history. And then Triglav, that's the name of the highest peak. I'm going to call it a delight. What I mean by that is like, it's not a terribly technical peak. So you can hike to the top of it in a single day. And then yeah, I'm once you're up there in the alpine like at the steepest part. The final approach to the summit has a Via Ferrata system, and that's Italian for iron way. So there's metal rungs and ropes that are bolted into the limestone. That helps you get to the top like say you're like a little bit afraid of heights, you're like, Oh, well, there's this, like metal rope I can hold on to, or hey, and you don't have to bring like your own ropes and climbing gear. I guess what I'm saying is, it's one of the few mountains I've climbed where I haven't been totally wrecked by the time I got to the top.

Angela Tuell: 9:00

And how tall is it?

Jayme Moye: 9:01

It's just over 10,000 feet.

Angela Tuell: 9:04

Okay.

Jayme Moye: 9:04

And there's I mean, there's mountain towns in Colorado, like Breckenridge, that are at that altitude. So you're not dealing with ex - I mean, 10,000 feet is high altitude, don't get me wrong, but it's not extreme altitude, where you're having to take like special precautions. And then in standing up there like knowing this mountain is so significant to the people of Slovenia, like you can feel it. It's their national symbol. It's on their flag. It's on the 50 cent Euro coin. Like it's said to be the duty of every Slovenian to climb Triglav at least once in our lifetime.

Angela Tuell: 9:40

Yeah, really?

Jayme Moye: 9:41

Yeah.

Angela Tuell: 9:42

That's really cool.

Jayme Moye: 9:43

Right? And me with my Slovenian ancestry, it just was a really interesting assignment and like a really profound adventure.

Angela Tuell: 9:51

Yeah. What were you surprised to learn about the country?

Jayme Moye: 9:54

I was surprised at for such a small country, like the size of New Jersey, that there's so much variation in its terrain. So yeah, those Julian Alps are in like the northwest corner, kind of like over by the border with Italy. Then if you go out east, it's like, all these thermal hot springs. And then like, in the middle, it's just like all these rolling pastures of farmlands. Like it's a very rich agricultural boundary. They're raising vegetables and crops or food to vineyards and wine country. And all of the farming there has been organic, just like by default since they've been farming it. The food's really good, and it's really low key. It's kind of like all the best things you love about Europe. Without the stuff that drives you crazy, like the crowds or the - like Liliana, the capital, it's just this clean, amazing little gem. I know it's located on a river. There's a castle overlooking it.

Angela Tuell: 11:01

Okay, you have me sold. That's next on the list.

Jayme Moye: 11:05

It's so charming. I don't know. I feel like this place should be. I hate to say over touristed, but it should be. It's, it's just like, exactly. It's a true hidden gem. And now I'm saying this on your podcast. Maybe you need to just delete this whole section.

Angela Tuell: 11:22

And not tell anyone, yes. Don't go there everyone.

Jayme Moye: 11:27

Don't. It's gross and dirty. Oh it smells terrible.

Angela Tuell: 11:32

What outlet did you write that article for?

Jayme Moye: 11:36

That was a story for Adventure Journal.

Angela Tuell: 11:38

Okay.

Jayme Moye: 11:38

And the story is called We are a Mountain Nation. And Adventure Journal is only published in the print. It's one of those retro style magazines. But you can find a link to the PDF on my website JaymeMoye.com.

Angela Tuell: 11:53

Great. We will link to that in our show notes as well, because I'm sure everyone's intrigued to read that if they haven't already. And I know you said it's hard to you know, choose favorites. But what about one of your adventures that pushed your limits the most?

Jayme Moye: 12:08

Hmm, I think the one I'm best known for is traveling to Afghanistan. And this was in the spring of 2013, to bike with the country's first women's road bike racing team and break the story for ESPN.

Angela Tuell: 12:23

Wow. How did that come about?

Jayme Moye: 12:26

You know, I think a lot of it was just my road bike racing routes. I understood how transformative for me the bicycle had been. I don't think it's a coincidence that I was on that women's bike team when this whole career transition thing happened. There's just something about the bike. It's, it's empowering. It's been empowering women, since my gosh, the women's suffrage movement in the US and probably before that. And so when I heard that women were riding bikes in Afghanistan, I was like, Oh my gosh, that's, that's gonna be a game changer for Afghanistan. And there was a woman in Denver, who was throwing all the support of her nonprofit organization behind those women. And she traveled there frequently. And I basically got myself able to tag along with her on one of those trips, which was great, because I had access to her fixer and the women and all the other places, she had already sussed out in terms of being, you know, safe places to go for American journalists. And so a lot of that reconnaissance that would have been really overwhelming to do, she had already taken care of it all. So I felt a much higher degree of safety and stability, being able to embed with her and her team when I traveled.

Angela Tuell: 13:45

Wow, that's amazing. What did you learn overall?Or, you know, your thoughts on it in general?

Jayme Moye: 13:51

I definitely had a lot of thoughts about what I was willing to risk. I think, you know, back then Afghanistan was a more stable place to visit. But even then, when we arrived the Taliban launched what they called their spring offensive, and they were targeting foreigners. And people who were Afghanistan, people who were involved with, you know, the governing and military forces there. So I was a direct target. Also, an earthquake happened while I was there, which was, yeah, that was pretty scary, too. And I remember thinking like, I'm not sure if this is something I would do. For me, it really depends on the story. It's not the place. So like, I don't choose a trip based on the place I choose it based on the story. So if there's a story, I'm really compelled to bring the light like that I feel I'm uniquely situated to tell because of that tie with cycling. Afghanistan became a place I really wanted to go to and so I think I was willing to accept maybe a higher level of risk, but it was because of the story not because oh, I'm you know, really stoked to go to Afghanistan.

Angela Tuell: 15:01

Right.

Jayme Moye: 15:03

Something kind of similar to that came up a little more recently. I had a chance to go to the Altai Mountains on the China side for Adventure Journal, which is believed to be one of the potential birthplaces of skiing. And people have skied in the Altai Mountains before. Those mountains exists, right where China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan converge. So it's pretty remote, but no one's really

Angela Tuell: 15:27

Okay. skied it commercially from the China side, because the mountains are located in the Xinjiang province, which is the one with mostly minority populations that China has been accused of human rights violations and discrimination against the inhabitants there. So it's kind of tense, politically speaking. Like it was on the list of do not visit countries. Okay.

Jayme Moye: 15:54

But again, that's the story, I really wanted to tell its story and ultimately, didn't think there was enough of a risk to me personally, to be there. Whilst in Afghanistan, once I arrived there I was, I found out I was a direct target as a foreigner, especially a foreign woman. So that kind of on different scales there.

Angela Tuell: 16:15

You know, along those lines, how much of a bit you said, it depends on the story too, and not not necessarily just put in a possible dangerous situation, you know, with people I guess, but dangerous situations in the type of adventure you're doing, you know, how much risk are you willing to take?

Jayme Moye: 16:33

That's interesting, because I think what I perceive as risk just based on my experience in the mountains, climbing and hiking is really different than what say, mine when I would. My mom who's in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, on Lake Erie in the flatlands would consider risky. You know, they see me like climbing a mountain ridge or rock climbing and they think, oh my gosh, that's so risky. I'm like, no, no, that's not, that's not risky at all. Like you get in a car, and you put your seatbelt on, right? Because if you get in a car accident, without your seatbelt on, you're gonna be in big trouble.

Angela Tuell: 17:12

Right.

Jayme Moye: 17:12

Like you go rock climbing and you put a rock climbing harness on and you buckle your rock climbing harness. Same thing. Like if you go rock climbing, and you forget to buckle your rock climbing harness, and you fall you're gonna die.

Angela Tuell: 17:24

Right, right.

Jayme Moye: 17:25

You get in a car, and you don't put your seatbelt on and you get an accident, you're gonna die. So I guess maybe my perception of risk just based on my experience, and where I live might be a little different.

Angela Tuell: 17:36

Yeah, that's a good point. Definitely. So what advice do you have for people maybe like your mom, or like some others that maybe not not her if she would not like to, but anyone that might, you know, want to take part in more adventure travel type experiences, but they may be nervous, or, you know, what advice do you have for them?

Jayme Moye: 17:57

I think this is where knowing yourself, your authentic self becomes really important. Like, as a teacher of mine puts it, what are your sacred yeses? And what are your sacred nos? If you don't know, those you can't make these kinds of decisions or any decisions really. And then the other part of it is just gathering data and information. I can't see my mom wanting to go on a rock climbing trip.

Angela Tuell: 18:23

Right, right.

Jayme Moye: 18:25

But if she had more information, she might understand, you know, if she joined a local rock climbing gym, if she started to learn about the techniques and the gear and how it works, then that changes the picture. So I think with more information, and also knowing your own sort of internal gauges are sort of the two things you need to have for when you're making those kinds of decisions.

Angela Tuell: 18:51

Yeah that's good advice. What are some of your favorite activities? I know you mentioned a lot, and all of them have to do with outdoors but what are some of your favorites?

Jayme Moye: 19:01

I love being outside. And I think that's another thing. Like it's, it's not so much the activity, it's just the way that gets me in the outdoors experiencing the forest or the rock cliff or the mountain peak. And so I would also say my interest in outdoor sports usually, it depends directly on which Mountain Sports I'm currently working on stories about.

Angela Tuell: 19:26

Okay.

Jayme Moye: 19:26

So like, right now I'm really deep into rock climbing because I'm writing a profile on a rock climber. Ski season is coming up. So like I just bought my ski pass. And I'm recently in the last couple years I've gotten you know, I went through like a resort skiing phase. I went through a backcountry skiing phase. And now I'm in a really strong Nordic skiing phase. Particularly escaped skiing because it's very much akin to like running instead of running through the forest because I do love trail running your skate skiing through the forest. And I think that it's just really fun to be generating that much body heat while you're in the snow all around you and like there's, lichen dripping off the cedar tree boughs and there's snow covered and the stream that you're crossing over is frozen. I mean, there's a little trickle of water running through it. It's just all fields are magical.

Angela Tuell: 20:20

I don't know that I've heard of that actually. I mean, I live in flatland Midwest. Well, is it so similar to snowshoeing, but you're running it so it's flat normally or uphill or...?

Jayme Moye: 20:32

So skate skiing is one of the disciplines of Nordic skiing. So when most people think of Nordic skiing, they think of like your, what we call traditional cross country skiing, where you have thin skis on your feet, and you just kind of shuffle them in a little track. skate skiing is a more dynamic movement, where you're using a very similar movement to what you would use when you're ice skating. But you're on you know, you're wearing ski boots and longer skis and an ice skating blade, but it's it's much more about speed.

Angela Tuell: 21:08

Wow, that is really cool.

Jayme Moye: 21:10

It's such a great workout.

Angela Tuell: 21:12

Yeah, that's that sounds awesome. Do you do much in the water? Or do you do much with sports that way, or mostly just mountains?

Jayme Moye: 21:20

I do sports in the water mostly as they pertain to mountains. So I got really into stand up paddleboarding on mountain rivers, while I was still living in Colorado, which was really fun. Now granted, I'm not talking like class four rapids, or even in class two rapids. I'm talking about sections of river that would be kind of boring to raft on. If you'd get on them on a stand up paddleboard, even little riffles are really exciting. And if you happen to be in like class one or two rapids, it's really spicy. So that was really fun. And then since moving here to British Columbia, actually located on our town is located on a lake. Okay, and so I got into sailing, which I loved in theory, but in practice find makes me a bit nauseous. So I asked to be careful how much sailing I do.

Angela Tuell: 22:22

But how did you decide to move to British Columbia?

Jayme Moye: 22:24

My husband is Canadian.

Angela Tuell: 22:26

Okay.

Jayme Moye: 22:27

So we met in Boulder. We both lived in Boulder for almost 20 years before moving, and he always kind of had a hankering to end up in British Columbia. Wow. And we just kind of bidded our time a little bit. We have two kids from his first marriage, and we wanted to get them to an appropriate age. And also, Boulder is a midsize town. There's over 100,000 people there. And we were interested in trying life in a smaller mountain town.

Angela Tuell: 23:00

Yeah. And it has all of the mountains and activities that you love.

Jayme Moye: 23:04

Yeah, exactly. We're at 17 minutes door to door to our local ski resort, which is I when I say local ski resort that may be underestimates it I mean, it's world class powder up there. We're on a lake. We have endless miles of mountain biking and hiking trails right out our door. And just, it's really fun being part of a community of 10,000 people. It seems like a lot of creatives have navigated here. We have a great magazine Kootenay Mountain Culture published out of here.

Angela Tuell: 23:37

Right. Which you write for.

Jayme Moye: 23:37

Really I do. Yep. And we have a great podcast published out of here that I'm I dipped my toe in the podcast reporting, which has been really fun. It was just the right place at the right time for where I was in life.

Angela Tuell: 23:52

That's great. That's great. And I love seeing your social posts posted about it. It It does look gorgeous. I have not been up there but definitely want to visit.

Jayme Moye: 24:01

It's so different from Colorado. I'll just interject this like Colorado is a very arid environment. And here I'm in an inland temperate rainforest. And that's just been so interesting to explore. Yeah, like a different a totally different ecosystem. So that's been really interesting.

Angela Tuell: 24:18

That's awesome. So one of the things I have to ask, you know, obviously about PR professionals, what is your suggestion when, you know, we have ideas for you?

Jayme Moye: 24:29

So email me your idea. I actually read every email I get from a PR professional or I at least look at the subject.

Angela Tuell: 24:36

Okay.

Jayme Moye: 24:36

Yeah, well, but a lot of what I get doesn't apply to me. I know that's kind of the nature of the PR job like you send out like a press release. So but I do you know, I look I can tell pretty quickly, like does this apply to me or not? The type of writing I do is pretty specific. And you can get a feel for that by looking at the stories I have on my website in the story sections. For me, it has to have a tight angle beyond just this is a great place to vacation. Like I always have to answer the question of why write about this destination right now. And that usually means it's an emerging destination or there's something interesting and unusual going on there that's piques my interest and I think will pique my editor's interests. Like there's this whitebark pine story I did. Well, it's actually a ski resort story, I guess. It's about this was one of my latest for Conde Naste Traveler. So it's about a ski resort in British Columbia called Panorama. And it's an amazing ski resort in its own right, you know, like it's, it's a drop dead gorgeous. It's one of the top 10 vertical drops in North America. But that's not why I wrote about it. I wrote about it because it's high country is home to Western Canada's first and only endangered tree, which is the whitebark pine. And it's dying off due to a non native fungal disease. And when you think of ski resorts, you think of a place that cuts down trees, right? They develop the mountain, they put in ski runs, they, they put in ski lifts, and of course, Panorama does that but they're also working directly with the Whitebark Pine Ecosystem Foundation of Canada, bringing scientists in studying the trees, finding ones that are naturally resistant to that fungus, cultivating the seeds, raising them as saplings, replanting them within the resort and other places like it's a really fascinating heartwarming story.

Angela Tuell: 26:35

I love that. We will definitely make sure to link to all these stories that you're mentioning as well so our listeners can can read them. But that one sounds fascinating. I have not seen that one yet.

Jayme Moye: 26:45

That's a good example. And I think there's some other ones too, like another good one for Conde Nast Traveler is the one about bushwalking in Tasmania. So again, like Tasmania is an awesome destination. And this idea of bushwalking which is a very Aussie pastime, right? Where they just go and walk about with their the things they need for the day in their pack. And they kind of stay like an Eco Lodges along the way. So both of these those things are great, but there needed to be, again that really concentrated angle, unique angle, which is there's an outfitter there that's now doing seed collecting, having participants on their bushwalks doing seed collecting for the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Garden seed bank to help conserve native flora.

Angela Tuell: 27:33

Wow.

Jayme Moye: 27:33

Wow - what on earth is a seed bank? Like I was instantly intrigued.

Angela Tuell: 27:38

Yeah.

Jayme Moye: 27:38

And one other good example. So my latest for National Geographic is about the highest elevation town in North America, which is Leadville, Colorado. Okay, that's interesting right there, right. But then, also, it was like the 40th anniversary of this crazy event called Race Across the Sky, which is like an insane 100 mile trail run across all these different mountain peaks, which is also interesting. But the tight angle was well, Leadville is this tiny town of like 2000 people, they have this great historic section to it. They've got really old buildings, and they have old mines, and it was the site of the biggest silver boom in Colorado.

Angela Tuell: 28:21

Okay.

Jayme Moye: 28:22

That story, my editor told me it was actually next year as best online performing travel story for all of August.

Angela Tuell: 28:29

Wow, that is so cool. I love that. You know, those tight angles like that, that's the hook that really brings the readers and you know, we're so used to all of these round ups and listicles and, you know, quick little reads that don't really give you that much information or pull you in. And so I love, I love how you write stories that way. It's really fantastic. And that's really good advice for PR pros to find those tight angles to send your way when they're related to mountains.

Jayme Moye: 29:02

Yeah, it's almost like it's not enough anymore just to have like, a really cool destination with a news peg. It's almost like you need something else. And that just shows we have so much information available to us to read. It's it's got to tick a lot of boxes for for an editor or magazine to publish it.

Angela Tuell: 29:22

Yeah, yeah, exactly. I wanted to mention that you're also an author. I'd love to hear more about your most recent book.

Jayme Moye: 29:28

Yeah, I you know, those have been some really fun side projects for me. My latest one came up during the pandemic actually and it was kind of a saving project because everything I had going on my assignments and trips canceled for 2020 and then Suzi Ezterhas who is a amazing wildlife photographer based in California. She came to me and said I want to do a basically a compilation coffee table book of all of my work with baby animals in the wild. She's that person like the country of Namibia calls because a baby rhinos being born on like XYZ conservancy like she's a really dialed into that. That's her specialty. She is able to habituate herself into a pack of animals and get this really amazing access to photograph their babies, these like I need help writing. We're gonna have like 200 photographs in this book and deep captions for each one. And I need help writing those captions. And I was like, Yes, please, I would love to do this. So I basically was a ghostwriter for her captions. So that was an absolute blast.

Angela Tuell: 30:41

Oh, that's awesome. So before we go, I do have to ask for anyone that follows you on social media. They may already know this, but about your dog. Am I saying the name right - Pozzi? I have to ask. So adorable, adventurer loving dog who trail runs, hikes, camp, skis, sails, stand up paddleboards and is your spotter for climbing. How did you find this perfect adventure loving dog?

Jayme Moye: 31:09

Oh my god. Pozzi bear. Yep. So for those who don't know, she is seven pounds of fierceness.

Angela Tuell: 31:15

I shoul've said that, right?

Jayme Moye: 31:17

She is my first dog of the small variety. I've only ever had yellow labs actually, in my life. And I never expected this thing to happen. But the pandemic right, like, well, if I can't travel or write about it, I'm getting a dog.

Angela Tuell: 31:34

Because a dog makes me not travel. You know, that's sort of the reasons that you don't travel as much but -

Jayme Moye: 31:41

Well, exactly. Like I just didn't think I could have a dog in my life because I travel so much. But if I'm not gonna be able to travel for who knows how long I'm getting a dog. And I just have neighbors who had one. She's not even a breed. She's a mix. I call her like my designer mutt. So she's a mix of a jitsu and a Yorkshire Terrier. Okay, so people call them Shorkie's for Shitzu Yorkie.

Angela Tuell: 32:04

Okay.

Jayme Moye: 32:05

And she's completely changed my view of little dogs. I am completely smitten. I bring her everywhere. One of the reasons for getting a small dog is that we could bring her we have a small sailboat. Also because I wanted to take her stand up paddleboarding, and she's great for that stuff. But I also didn't realize how great she would be trail running, how great she is backcountry skiing. Like she she can just trot along the skin track and then when it's time to ski, she just throw her up on my shoulders. And she sort of like sits across the backpack with a thon. Oh, I mean, I've started I trained her on that from the time she was tiny. So it's not like it's a surprise. You know, she knows how to sit up there. And just yes, she fits right into the sleeping bag. She's hypoallergenic and she doesn't shed.

Angela Tuell: 32:55

Wow. That's amazing.

Jayme Moye: 32:58

I'm, I'm obsessed. I'm like, everybody needs one of these.

Angela Tuell: 33:01

And she is living her best life. Best dog life ever.

Jayme Moye: 33:08

And she's easy to find. You know, when I need pups adores for when I do travel, she's easy to find dog sitters for.

Angela Tuell: 33:16

Yeah.

Jayme Moye: 33:16

So it works out really well.

Angela Tuell: 33:19

Awesome. Well, everyone will have to go and check out the photos on your social. And speaking of that, how can our listeners connect with you online? You mentioned your website. How else can they connect with you?

Jayme Moye: 33:29

I would say definitely Instagram and/or Facebook. And if you're in the industry, LinkedIn also.

Angela Tuell: 33:35

Wonderful and we'll link to all those. Thank you so much, Jayme.

Jayme Moye: 33:39

You're so welcome.

Angela Tuell: 33:42

That's all for this episode of Media in Minutes, a podcast by Communications Redefined. Please take a moment to rate, review and subscribe to our show. We'd love to hear what you think. You can find more at CommunicationsRedefined.com/podcast. I'm your host, Angela Tuell. Talk to you next time.