Trending on Conversations with Big Rich is Senior Director of Marketing for Jeep & Off-Road Brands at Truck Hero, Lee Riser. Lee chased her career around Monroe, Louisiana with Superlift and Skyjacker, landing at Truck Hero recently. Listen in on a marketing 101 class for anyone in the industry. We support strong women in off-road!.
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class for anyone in the industry. We support strong women in off-road!.
1:54 – This industry is definitely where I’ve grown up
11:36 – “I hired you as my replacement, so I’m handing it over”
20:05 – We like to align ourselves with those brands that are obviously making an impact
26:50 – it’s interesting to see the field of marketing evolve
32:53 – are you really an influencer if you have to tell people you’re an influencer?
44:15 – as soon as a vehicle comes out we’re starting to produce product for it
49:57 – be flexible, be adaptable and watch the trends
1:00:19 – I want to do stuff that stretches me, pushes the limits a little bit morel
1:09:35 – props goes out to the men in this industry that help encourage women
We want to thank our sponsors Maxxis Tires and 4Low Magazine.
TRANSCRIPT
[00:01:21.010] – Big Rich Klein
On today’s episode of Conversations With Big Rich. We have Lee Drew Riser. Lee has been around the offroad industry for quite a while. I first met her through Skyjacker. I believe it was, and we’re going to get into all of that. But Lee, thank you so much for coming on board and talking with us. You’ve been in the marketing part of this, and that’s what we really want to concentrate on is the marketing of off road companies and how you got involved with it.
[00:01:52.920] – Big Rich Klein
So thank you for coming out.
[00:01:54.970] – Lee Drew Riser
Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate the time and excited to kind of share the story. This industry is definitely where I’ve basically grown up.
[00:02:05.170] – Big Rich Klein
Excellent. So let’s go ahead and start with where were you born and raised.
[00:02:10.750] – Lee Drew Riser
So I was actually born in Westwood, Massachusetts, but I was raised in a little town, Pahoa, Hawaii. So it’s been early elementary, high school and even the first part of College in Hawaii, actually.
[00:02:28.140] – Big Rich Klein
Oh, wow. Okay.
[00:02:30.490] – Lee Drew Riser
Yeah. So not a bad place to grow up.
[00:02:33.260] – Big Rich Klein
No. My wife and I visited Hawaii, the big island and then Oahu. And what I found, though, was it’s too small for me?
[00:02:43.930] – Lee Drew Riser
Yes. Island fever is a real thing. You can drive across the island in a few hours. So that’s not great for antsy people?
[00:02:52.040] – Big Rich Klein
No. And I’m one of those antsy types, I guess.
[00:02:57.130] – Lee Drew Riser
No, I agree. I definitely had island fever. It’s hard when you’re definitely confined to just what you can get to in a few hours in a car.
[00:03:05.660] – Big Rich Klein
Right. So when you were born in Massachusetts, but you moved to Hawaii, at what time frame did that happen in your life?
[00:03:14.200] – Lee Drew Riser
Early elementary school. Yeah. So basically, I grew up there. I graduated from high school and like that started College, actually, University of Hawaii at Manoa, which is located in Oahu.
[00:03:28.390] – Big Rich Klein
Excellent. And which island did you grow up on?
[00:03:31.640] – Lee Drew Riser
I grew up on the big island.
[00:03:33.630] – Big Rich Klein
Okay.
[00:03:34.350] – Lee Drew Riser
Yeah. And then just spend a little time on Oahu for College.
[00:03:37.850] – Big Rich Klein
Excellent. And what town on the big island did you grow up in Pahoa?
[00:03:43.990] – Lee Drew Riser
Yeah. Actually, if you saw the lava, that kind of went through a few years back, it went through that area. They got hit pretty hard.
[00:03:52.400] – Big Rich Klein
Yeah. We actually drove some of the roads back into that area and got within. They had the major road blocked, but some of the side roads, you could get within probably 40 50ft of the lava. And it’s amazing how that stuff moves across the ground. The paved road. I would have thought that it was melted up to it, but it was perfect. It was just like a big coating of concrete was laid down. Black concrete.
[00:04:27.980] – Lee Drew Riser
Yes. No, it’s incredible to see Gosh. It comes through. It’s a lot of destruction, but it stops in certain paths and you’re like, okay, this is completely untouched. I mean, it’ll make a V sometimes around houses. And like you said, you can see the road. Nothing damaged up until the point of then the lava covers it. It’s kind of crazy.
[00:04:51.720] – Big Rich Klein
It is really crazy. What was life like, what kind of things did you do on the big island of Hawaii for entertainment as you were a kid growing up. Did you surf or anything like that?
[00:05:04.810] – Lee Drew Riser
I did more of the Boogie boarding, but, yeah, it was just a mile or two from the beach. So Kohiki area actually there. So, yeah, I was quite the beach bum, but didn’t get into surfing much. A lot of the guys did surf, but, yeah, I spent a lot of time at the beach, and I was super involved in high school and a lot of different things. I was a little bit of an overachiever. I was in DECA, which is a marketing club. I was in FBLA teacher, Future Business Leaders of America.
[00:05:36.580] – Lee Drew Riser
I did close up Washington student body government, yearbook. So I stayed pretty busy with that. READ MORE
