We recently had the chance to connect with Liv Gewanter & Rachel Reiswig & Hayden Chedid & Davis Duncan & Gabi Linke & Max Iannini & Chloe Wolfram & Marin Gloor & Norah Hampford and have shared our conversation below.
Liv & Rachel & Hayden & Davis & Gabi & Max & Chloe & Marin & Norah, we’re thrilled to have you with us today. Before we jump into your intro and the heart of the interview, let’s start with a bit of an ice breaker: What do you think is misunderstood about your business?
One of the biggest misconceptions of ROAM Boulder is about the type of media that we produce. We are a student ran fashion magazine and we create social media content to get our name out there. We hope people see more than just the reels we post as we have many talented creatives that contribute to our prints.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
ROAM Boulder is CU Boulder’s Life and Style Publication. It was founded by Julian Belian and Aspen Pasikov & was later passed down to the group of creatives that is running it today. We are a multi media organization that aims to produce four fashion & lifestyle publications each year and one runway show. We are comprised of a plethora of cohorts that contribute to ROAM’s publications, social media pages, events, designs, and meetings to help better the organization as a whole. Some of our most popular cohorts include journalism, modeling, photography, marketing, and graphic design.
Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. What was your earliest memory of feeling powerful?
Our earliest memory of feeling strong as an organization was our first meeting of the 2024-2025 school year. There were 100 students there which was the largest meeting in the history of our organization! In our fourth year, we started to hear our organization being discussed in public settings which is when we realized we really started to gain traction in our community. The “ROAM Fit Checks” in specific, which feature weekly looks from CU Boulder students, took off and have become a hot commodity amongst students. From those social media posts, we gained a student audience which led more creative students to our weekly meetings & photoshoots.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
When we first started becoming relevant in our community, we faced a lot of hate from students & adults both in Boulder and outside of Boulder. Students were receiving hurtful messages through our comment section and we were devastated to see that occurring. We received many DM’s from students and comforted them in the best way we could. Since then, we have begun monitoring & filtering our comment section to ensure harmful comments like the ones in the past does not occur today. This taught us the lesson of preemptive action. We want the ROAM platforms to be a safe space for creativity and for people to express themselves freely.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
In the fashion industry, there are tons of harmful production methods that hurt people & the planet. The fashion industry tells itself that it is making efforts to be better in these ways while still encouraging and contributing to the production of fast fashion. We aim to highlight local sustainable businesses & partner with brands such as Depop to host clothing swaps and vintage markets. The fast fashion industry may produce the trendy clothes that people are looking for, but if you look hard enough, you can find treasures in second hand fashion & the art of up-cycling. We host events such as our clothing swaps to encourage students to invest in fashion, learn about the history of what they are purchasing, and stray away from harmful fast fashion companies.
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. Could you give everything your best, even if no one ever praised you for it?
YES! We already have. In our first few years we struggled with gaining an audience both in person and on social media. Even though this was the case, everyone who was involved in ROAM Boulder’s early years was extremely dedicated and passionate to helping the organization grow to what it is today. In 2023, we finally got recognized as Student Organization of the Year, and since then we have been flying. If everything were to change today, we would still give ROAM everything we had.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.roamboulder.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/roamboulder/#
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/roamboulder
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@roamboulder?_d=secCgYIASAHKAESPgo8kyl0Ej8n7PYtvFxm68nK%2Bw79gMDkouy7m5EXWt2kNqIU7rrMvnZ0iP%2B4sCzcsmAwgj6nAOcWSEIfaJ2jGgA%3D&checksum=b4e2fa1ce2e73ac1450e0eab1cc589f5e54080f89d38d9d7f976657877f2976a&language=en&sec_uid=MS4wLjABAAAAMowO2kxR4dHJCoHjyJB9wY-gkcUCugO1v3Y-zdjBZ-eGnd3_2r0osD3GM1btuRud&sec_user_id=MS4wLjABAAAAMowO2kxR4dHJCoHjyJB9wY-gkcUCugO1v3Y-zdjBZ-eGnd3_2r0osD3GM1btuRud&share_app_id=1233&share_author_id=6998194249297888261&share_link_id=C57B08A4-3317-4100-A7C5-24F87E42BC6B&tt_from=copy&u_code=dk7i7e1ebk13c0&user_id=6998194249297888261&utm_campaign=client_share&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=copy&source=h5_m&_r=1
TikTok
Image Credits
Gabi Linke, Sutton Raeburn , Garrett Botsch, Tylyn King
