Meet Kimberly Beekman, the former (and first ever female!) editor in chief of Skiing Magazine.
I kept seeing Kimberly's name pop up on the website the whole time I was interning at SKI Magazine, so eventually I started searching for her articles, and in about three days I had read every single one. I immediately loved her vivid descriptions and quirky metaphors, but it was her refreshingly informal tone that got me hooked. She seemed like the kind of person I wanted to have in my inner circle of friends. Not only that, but she created a life out of doing the two things she loved, and I wanted to know how. Here are nine hopefully not too intrusive questions about her life, plus her advice to people wanting to be as badass as her (probably everyone).
In real life, Kimberly Beekman is a much more colorful person.
CA (me): Did you always know that ski journalism was something you wanted to do?
KB: No, I always knew I loved writing and words, and skiing was my biggest passion other than books and writing, but I didn’t really know that I was going to put them together. I worked at the Jackson Hole Guide as my first newspaper job, but at the time I was just kind of trying to keep my mom off my back after telling her I was moving to Jackson Hole with my boyfriend. I actually loved working there though, it was so cool to be there with a bunch of smart journalists, and I learned a ton, doing all kinds of different jobs because it was such a small staff.
I actually almost got fired the first week, there was some kind of breaking news about the public bus strike, and it was an A1 story, and it was late so I ran the story through spell check and then went to bed. I came in the next morning and found the story on my desk with the headline circled in huge red ink-- it said “Pubic bus strike,” on the front page. I was like, ‘I am so fired, oh well, it’s been a nice week.' But they didn’t fire me, I don’t know why. So I published a correction where all of the words that could possibly be spelled wrong were wrong, like you was spelled ewe, and it was funny, it kinda turned the situation around with some humor.
CA: What was it like being the first female editor of skiing?
KB: I felt like it was such an honor for me to have that title. I felt like it was about time, really. I worked there for a guy for 16 years or something, and it was the same story everywhere; everybody up at the top had kinda the old boys club kind of feeling, in journalism and the ski industry. Both industries were super male heavy at the top, but then female heavy on the bottom, like at the magazine, all the people who actually did anything were women. So it felt good to be finally at the top, although it didn’t last very long because the magazine went under.
In the ski industry in general I always felt respected, I always kinda put in my time like everyone else, I didn’t ever really think of myself as being a woman necessarily among all guys. I just tried to be myself, and made it work, so the ski industry was great.
In the publishing industry, though, it was like I wouldn’t get invited to the meetings I should’ve been invited to, and when I spoke up about the brand, I was treated very differently than I think a man would’ve been treated in that position. Like, I got a pretty scathing email from the vice president of the company who accused me of having too much “hutzpah,” which is not really a word you’d ever use to tell a male editor chief that advocating for his brand was out of line. The worst sexism I ever faced was from that VP, who was a woman actually. It was horrible, I felt totally betrayed. I just had to let it go, the things that I was pushing for, fighting for, cuz I didn’t really know what else to do…I don’t think necessarily that I was always right, but I think that I always had the right to be heard.
That being said, there were a couple people who really always backed me, and they were part of the old boys club too, but I always felt respected by them, and they definitely had my back, so it was a mixture. I wanted to be really careful about not pulling the sexism card or what have you, because...I don’t know, this is another tricky part of dealing with this issue, is that, you don’t wanna be put in that category of women who say they were discriminated against. I think there’s a stigma against that and it sucks that there’s a stigma against that, because I think it’s real and it happens, so it was weird, it was a tricky place to be in. But I loved my job and I did have enough support there to where I felt like I could do it, and I just really aligned with the people who I felt were supportive of us and our magazine and our brand and kind of let the rest of it go.
CA: Did you ever feel imposter syndrome while you were there, being one of the only higher up women?
KB: I definitely have imposter syndrome, I still do. I’ll feel like I’m just faking it and not qualified for this and what am I doing here?? I think it got better over time, but I mean, even sitting here, I’m like, “I don’t know why you’re interviewing me.” We as women are so hard on ourselves! I think it’s so crazy what we put ourselves through, but literally that stupid cliché is so true: fake it till you make it. I remember being in a budget meeting and I had no idea what they were talking about-- I was googling all the three letter acronyms, and I would make fun of myself about it, and that made it a little easier, to have a sense of humor about it. But yeah just fake it if you ever feel like you’re not qualified, cuz you will, but…do it anyway. Just chuck yourself in there and figure it out.
Kim in action at Revelstoke. Photo by Crystal Sagan.
They did this study and found that men will apply for jobs where they have maybe 10% of the skills that the job requires but they’ll apply anyway, whereas women won’t apply unless they have 100% of the skills. We’re so much more hesitant to be like, ‘Oh I’ll just figure that out, no problem,’ like we will not apply for the job unless we can do everything that it states. And the dudes will just be like, ‘Whatever, I’m smart, I can figure this out.’
CA: People always say “Show, don’t tell,” which is really hard to do, but I feel like you do it really well. How’d you learn to do that?
KB: I still struggle, I have to edit myself so heavily. I’m in the middle of a freelance project right now, and I’m in the stage of, ‘Oh I suck, I’ve lost it, I hate this,’ but I go through this whole process every single time. Thank god I have enough practice and experience now to just trust it and know that it’s gonna come out ok, and to just get over it and keep pushing through.
But it’s hard, it hasn’t become easy for me. The first round I just barf it all up and it’s awful, it’s not organized at all, and often times I’m not showing at all, I’m just telling. Then I go back through it and take stuff out, and it sorta starts to take a little bit of shape. The way I really like to write isn’t very productive; I like to obsess about shit for far too long, re-reading and re-tinkering, but I don’t always have time to do that so sometimes I just bang it out and submit it and then hate it later. It’s a lot of re-reading, cutting, re-reading, cutting, massaging-- it feels almost like manual labor in some ways, when you have to force yourself to go back and get in there. I save all my cuts in a new document though, cuz I just can’t let them go yet.
CA: Do you have any interviewing tips? Do you have a technique to ask the right questions that uncover the really interesting gold mines of stuff?
KB: I think I’m nosy, but I’m genuinely interested too. I don’t necessarily have a strategy per say, but I think being good with people is huge in terms of being able to interview and make them feel comfortable enough to tell you things they wouldn’t ordinarily say. And face to face is great, cuz then you always get a sense for, like, you get to take down those little weird habits that make a person a person and help bring the reader into what’s happening and who the reader is. Like I could say, 'As you pushed up your glasses with your finger—' as long as you get the sense of somebody and what they do, breaking up dialogue with little mannerisms helps people feel like they’re there.
CA: How did you cultivate your informal tone? Reading your stuff, it sounds like ‘Ah, a friend is telling me this over tea.’
KB: I don’t really know. I think it was not something I was trying to do. Probably with practice, over time. Reading stories early on in the magazine I remember being really impressed with comedic character writers like P.J. O’Rourke and somebody Freidman, they were writers we hired for the magazine who I would add in; they were always so funny and self-deprecating and mocking of themselves and their families. I don’t know that I tried to emulate them by any means, but I think I definitely wanted to practice writing in first person without having too much of me in it, if that makes sense, like kinda more making fun of myself. I think it takes time, to kinda get comfortable with your own voice. I remember totally struggling with that, and I think I never used first person until I got more comfortable with it. I think what was actually helpful for me was when I wrote a really bad column in first person, like it was sooo bad, but it helped me kind of figure out the kind of humorous tone of voice that I liked.
CA: Do you have any writing heroes who you look up to?
KB: Yes, pretty much anybody who writes for the New Yorker I admire so much, I feel like reading the New Yorker helped me a lot. They stack up though and stress me out cuz I’m like, “I spent $75 on those and haven’t read any of them!” It’s a weird relationship, but I learn a lot from those, even about endings; they have these little snippet stories, and the way they end them is so cool, it helped me break out of my rut of cyclical endings. And I wasn’t trying to learn stuff like this from the New Yorker, it just kinda happened cuz I like to read it.
CA: Do you ever write stuff about people and they read it and get mad? How do you deal with that?
KB: I’m currently in the middle of a terrible situation, actually. I wrote a story about a kid, Tony Seibert, who died skiing the East Vail chutes. I didn’t write anything that wasn’t true and it was very complimentary of him, it was more a cautionary tale, but his mom is like crazed with grief. I never wanted to stir anything up for her, but apparently she’s just reacting to it in a very strange way. I didn’t interview her for it, I consciously did not, I called the ski patrol just to get in touch with her and let her know that I was doing the story, but they didn't put me in touch with her and I didn’t wanna stir things up, so I was like, 'You know what, I’m just gonna let it be,' and that was a decision I made out of respect for her.
But in hindsight, maybe it wasn’t the right decision, maybe it would’ve been better if I’d gotten ahold of her and told her I was writing the piece. So it’s been an ongoing issue. There’s no ground for her to stand on, but there are some things she took issue with in the story and she was threatening to sue for defamation. I have empathy for her and I basically have said, 'Look, I understand you’re hurting, but I stand behind my story. If there were something in there that was false or slanderous or defamatory by any means, I’d certainly be apologetic.' I haven’t had to do a lot of stories like that, but I feel like for the most part you just gotta be like, 'I don’t pretend to be completely objective cuz I’m not a news writer, so you know, it’s through my eyes.'
CA: If you had any advice for someone unexperienced wanting to do the same sort of thing you do, tying together your two biggest passions, what would it be?
KB: I would say do it and start early. Don’t come back to it later, do whatever it takes to get it going from the beginning. If that’s what you want to do, figure it out. Maybe don’t be so worried if it’s not like the perfect thing right away, just kinda get experience and get to know people. I worked for a design magazine once, which is so not me-- I almost didn’t take the job cuz I was like, 'That’s not what I wanna do at all.' But yeah just listen to yourself and trust yourself and the process, and don’t be too afraid to try things.
Who says jorts aren't high fashion?? Maybe only when they're paired with ski boots, or worn at the top of Independence Pass, CO. Photo credits: Leslie Hittmeier.
Here are my 3 key takeaways from the interview:
1. Do stuff for the fun of it. Reading the New Yorker is fun for Kimberly, and in the process, she happened to learn some cool writing techniques from it.
If your heart's really into something, there'll be some kind of benefit for you there.
2. If you're a woman, you will probably have to advocate a little harder for yourself to get where you want. People might not immediately recognize what you're capable of, so it's important that you know what you're about.
3. Have a sense of humor! Know your worth, but don't take yourself too seriously.