Ashley TepenDigital marketing director & slow-travel planner

From the rink to the road less traveled.

I’m the one who does the research — the town, the trains, the trail half a mile from the door — so the travel can be slow and the work can be sharp.

I grew up in Florida and competed as a figure skater before I ever thought of myself as an outdoors person. A first trip to Colorado changed that. Somewhere between managing a Midwest running store and lacing up for my first 5Ks and half-marathons, the outdoors became home.

Andrew and I do all of this together. We built and sold four niche content sites, then rebuilt everything on Astro and Cloudflare. For the past six years we’ve lived as digital nomads across the US, Europe, and the UK — about two and a half years of it based in Germany, France, Italy, Scotland, and England, where I planned every route, every extended stay, every car-free itinerary. Today I’m managing director at a digital-marketing agency and co-founder of Creatively Grown, our own studio.

I notice the small things: the flower, the bird, the aspen leaves turning in the wind. That eye for detail runs through everything I make — the brands, the guides, the photos, the client work.

Off the clock, Andrew and I volunteer web and email-marketing help to the Yavapai Trails Association — a small thank-you to the local trails that get us outside every day.