Max Young and I came to this conversation from the exact same spot. Two senior creatives, a decade-plus in, standing at the same crossroads and asking ourselves the same questions. What kind of work do we actually want to be doing now? What should we be focusing on? And is the path we're on still the right one?

That crossroads can feel isolating. You build something up, get excited about it, and then there's this voice that quietly tries to pull it back down. Turns out Max deals with it too.

We get into self-doubt, the leap from designer to creative strategist, coming up through punk and DIY culture, the pull toward physical objects in a digital world, and the slow work of untangling your identity from your job title.

Max is a designer and art director who spent years in the sports world, most recently at the Seattle Mariners. He runs Love Machine, a gravel cycling project rooted in Vancouver.

Follow Max:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dmaxyoung/
Website: https://www.dmaxyoung.com/
Love Machine: https://www.lovemachinecycling.ca/
Love Machine Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lovemachinecycling/

outside is Magic is hosted by Christopher San Agustin.
Produced by Broken and Coastal.
Follow us on Instagram @brokenandcoastal
Help spread the magic. Hit follow, drop a review, or share the episode with someone who gets it. You never know who it might inspire.

Laura Kinman spent 25+ years in the outdoor industry, and she didn't plan to start a brand. Then, in October 2024, she was laid off from Patagonia while flying home from Vietnam. She calls it the day she "won the lottery."

In this episode, Laura traces a winding path. Growing up hunting for sharks' teeth near Myrtle Beach. Meeting her husband on a 1990s bulletin board system talking about 90210. Living the "Rachel from Friends" life as a young buyer in New York. And finally landing a job at Patagonia she felt completely underqualified for, where she "went in a climber and became a surfer."

We talk about imposter syndrome, the quiet grief of a layoff, learning a sport as an adult, and the decision to build Coastal Range Collective: a women's swim and surf brand made for the "other 90 percent," the women still paddling out at 50, 60, 70, not just the elite 1 percent.

Honest, funny, and a little tender. A conversation about second acts and what you do with the time you're given.

outside is Magic is hosted by Christopher San Agustin.
Produced by Broken and Coastal.
Follow us on Instagram @brokenandcoastal
Help spread the magic. Hit follow, drop a review, or share the episode with someone who gets it. You never know who it might inspire.

In this episode of outside Is Magic, I sit down with Braydon Bringhurst, a professional mountain biker, filmmaker, public speaker, father, and the founder of the Hard MTB League. You may know him from his film 8,600 Feet, but this conversation goes well beyond the bike.

This one is about process. About what it actually takes to overcome something hard, and what the bike can teach you when you treat it as more than a sport. We talk about turning pain into action, building self-belief through repetition, and why the way you treat people who can do nothing for you might be the only thing that really matters.

We get into:

- The mindset behind attempting the impossible on a bike
- Why overcoming isn't one massive effort, it's information
- How pole vaulting shaped a hyper-detailed approach to riding
- Building community over competition with the Hard MTB League
- Finding the right people instead of convincing the wrong ones
- Treating everyone the same, regardless of what they can do for you

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outside is Magic is hosted by Christopher San Agustin.
Produced by Broken and Coastal.
Follow us on Instagram @brokenandcoastal
Help spread the magic. Hit follow, drop a review, or share the episode with someone who gets it. You never know who it might inspire.