J.J. Tolland, public relations director for Sugarbush Resort

J.J. Tolland is the public relations director for Sugarbush Resort. I met with J.J. at the Castlerock Pub at Sugarbush last Saturday to talk about his career. Before his life at Sugarbush, J.J. began working as a freelance snow sports journalist based in Vermont. One day, while eating lunch with the Stowe communications director, it was suggested that he apply for the Sugarbush P.R. position. So, in October of 2003 he became a Sugarbush employee in the public relations department. When I asked J.J. to describe his job, his answer was, “in the ski industry you do not really ever stick to the job description.” The most important part of his job is being a great storyteller. Most of the time he deals with print and video media.

Perhaps the most memorable experience in his role as public relations director was working with “The Today Show” last winter. They hosted an entire show, on location, live at Sugarbush Resort. In planning for the arrival of The Today Show he learned what it is like to go a whole month with almost no sleep getting the resort ready for one morning of live video.

J.J. enjoys the freedom of working for an independently owned resort, where the owner lives locally and he can call him up or meet him on the mountain if he has a question or to discuss an idea for the future. His least favorite times working in PR are the 3 AM phone calls from the press or mountain supervisors when something drastic happens and he needs to deal with the press right then.

The biggest challenge that J.J. sees for the future of the ski industry is the projected decrease of 20 million skier visits by 2016. Sugarbush is addressing this challenge with new marketing campaigns to attract and keep more Sugarbush skiers and riders, such as Sugar-Tube (Sugarbush’s answer to You-Tube) and starting a ‘first-timers to life-timers’ ski/ride program. While J.J. has been at the helm, Sugarbush has received the National Ski Area Association’s guest services award and is currently expected to receive a media award for Sugar-Tube.

As for people interested in a career in public relations, J.J. suggests that they offer to help edit or write some press releases for the resort or organization they want to work for, in order to gain some experience and face time with the PR department. J.J. loves his job at Sugarbush because there is no such thing as an ordinary day. Every day provides new material for another Sugarbush legend.