Northern Nevada Business Weekly: Tell us about Squaw Valley.
Savannah Cowley: Squaw Valley opened for skiing on Thanksgiving Day, 1949, with a lodge, a rope tow, and a chairlift that was billed the "World's Largest Double Chairlift." In spite of a slew of setbacks met in the first decade, resort Founder Alex Cushing surprised millions by securing Squaw Valley as the site for the 1960 VIII Olympic Winter Games. In February of 1960, over 800 athletes and 30 national teams competed in the VIII Olympic Winter Games at Squaw Valley.
One of the great moments in our region's history, the 1960 Games brought international acclaim to the Lake Tahoe region and sparked interest in winter sports and skiing in California. Today Squaw Valley is one of North America's top-ranked ski resorts (ranked No. 8 by SKI Magazine). With 33 chairlifts, borrowing a European model that put emphasizes a state-of-the-art lift network, the resort moves more people up the mountain per hour than any other mountain in North America (49,000 people per hour). In the winter season, Squaw Valley employs some 1200 employees (100 of us work year round).
In 2009-2010, Squaw Valley is embarking on a season-long celebration to commemorate two milestone anniversaries: the 60th Anniversary of the resort's founding and the 50th Anniversary of the 1960 Olympics.
NNBW: What role do you play in the company?
Cowley: I am the liaison between the resort and the media. Communicating Squaw Valley's brand via film, photo, and editorial, along with environmental initiatives are at the core of what I do.
NNBW: How did you get into this profession?
Cowley: I was working at California Chris Craft and waiting tables at Sunnyside on the West Shore. I wanted to get into broadcast journalism, but my passion was/is the snow sport industry and writing (pretty narrow scope in terms of careers). This profession incorporated everything I was ecstatic.
NNBW: What is something no one knows about your job?
Cowley: It never stops.
NNBW: If you could have had any other profession what would it have been? Why wasn't it your first choice?
Cowley: Travel writer, pro surfer. The ski business is pretty sweet!
NNBW: How do you spend your time away from the office?
Cowley: Skiing, playing tennis, running.
NNBW: Do you have a favorite vacation memory?
Cowley: Lately, they have all involved catching waves in Costa Rica.
NNBW: Of all the things you learned from your parents, which do you feel was the most valuable?
Cowley: They are both writers who are incredibly intelligent and creative. They could have been anything but they taught me: "Do what you love."
NNBW: What is the quirkiest or oddest job you've ever had?
Cowley: My first job: It was summer after 7th grade. I got a job at an ice cream shop that also made fudge. My second day I almost botched the week's fudge supply by adding too much water to the mixture, so I spent the remainder of the summer reaching into barrels with a large scoop at the ice cream window. By the end of the summer my forearms were ripped.
NNBW: What person, living or dead, would you most like to have dinner with, and why?
Cowley: Beat poet/editor Malcolm Cowley. He is my grandfather. He died before I knew to thank him for the genes.
NNBW: What's the best advice anyone ever gave you?
Cowley: Find a seed and plant it.
NNBW: What do you like most about your job? What do you like least?
Cowley: Checking my phone messages is what I like least. The snow, the experiences and the people are out of this world and what I like most.
NNBW: What is the one thing you most want people to remember about you?
Cowley: The times and laughs we shared.
The basics:
Name: Savannah Cowley, Squaw Valley USA, media and public relations/spokeswoman
How long have you been in this job? Since 2005
Education: BA in Political Science/Minor in Women's Studies
Best book you've read? "Underworld," Don DeLillo and "The Sun Also Rises," Ernest Hemingway
What's on your iPod? Five songs: "Powers that Be" (Hieroglyphics)
"I Don't Like Reggae, I Love it (Panache Culture) 3. "Chick Habit" (April March) "You Don't Love Me (Dawn Penn), "Black Magic"(Swollen Members)
Best movie ever? "21 Grams" and "Hot Dog ... The Movie"
Do you have a nickname? Savs, Savanimal
