I first met Danny Hairston a few years ago at the Snowbound show in Boston. He was speaking on a panel about inclusivity, diversity, and equity in snowboarding. The panel was fantastic and Danny's words were resonant. He is eloquent, thoughtful, and has a deep knowledge of snowboarding. That, coupled with his experience working in the non-profit space with youth and understanding of systemic inequalities and barriers to entry to outdoor opportunity, shapes Danny's perspective on what can be done in snowboarding today to enrich its future. For the New Yorker, snowboarding and service have always been intertwined. In 2014, he founded SHRED Foundation, a non-profit organization in Upstate New York that not only introduces young people to snowboarding, but encourages them to make it a meaningful part of their life, building personal and professional skills as they go. The impact is growing every year through programming, a new hub in Albany, and partnerships with Snowboy on events on both the East and West Coast. In addition, Danny is an integral part of gatherings like Culture Shifters and East Street Archives' Homesick. Wherever Danny goes, his extensive knowledge, love for snowboarding, and drive to nurture and support community is infectious to those around him. We caught up with him after Snowboy's Halo-Halo, earlier this summer.
Jesse Lynn Dawson
Hey, Danny. You were out in Oregon earlier this summer for Snowboy Productions Halo-Halo, right? How was that??
Halo-Halo was incredible. This was the event’s second year up at Timberline. We brought kids from our program who have never been out West, and we were able to extend the opportunity to kids from Hoods to Woods, as well, which I was stoked about. There were a couple of new additions this year--a Public Day and a Fireside Chat, which was an open discussion focused on the thoughts and experiences regarding inclusivity from participants and crew.
I can’t begin to express how honored I am that Krush asked me to work with him on the concept. The vision is for Halo-Halo to help expand opportunities for more representation throughout snowboarding. We have a youth, Ronnie, who perfect example for this vision. Last year, he attended and took the opportunity to work and learn from the filmers present. From that, he produced an edit and is now one of Snowboy’s preferred videographers. Halo-Halo is one of my proudest endeavors and I hope that we can get more eyes and sponsors on board, but more so, sponsors who are committed to creating substantial change and not simply performative ones.
You’re really involved in many different events and gatherings that serve the snowboarding community in various ways, whether fostering inclusion and equity; supporting and increasing representation; creating connections across generations through snowboarding; or offering educational opportunities and sharing knowledge and perspective. Where do you see these events, experiences, discussions, etc. fitting into where snowboarding is at right now and in welcoming people more deeply into boarding (or into it in the first place)?
I really see these events and the experiences and discussions that come from them as ushering in a new wave of snowboarders. I feel they create the gravitational pull that draws people into the culture. What I love about them is the fact that they are all-inclusive, all-accepting, and participatory. When we partnered with Snowboy for Fill the Fridge last year at Big Snow, it was intentional for it to be a participatory event instead of simply having people spectate.
In these events, you have current pros with OG’s, local legends, and weekend warriors participating. “Representation” is the concept that guides this movement toward diversity in snowboarding, but I’d argue that it also applies to your run-of-the-mill snowboarder. I think that is why we see things such banked slalom events and Burton’s Mystery Series Tour being created. These events are structured so that you don’t have to be an athlete to take part, so it helps evoke a strong community vibe that speaks to the fact that snowboarding is so much more than a “sport.” It’s all different types of people sharing this thing that we love.
How did you get into snowboarding?
I started as a high school chaperone through Burton’s Chill Foundation in New York City. I went from a chaperone to a volunteer, to becoming the New York City Outreach Coordinator and then moving to Burlington as the National Events and Fundraising Coordinator. I would say that I “got into it” working at Burton. At the time, the Chill office was a few blocks away from the actual Burton office. So, most of the time, I would spend part of the day at my desk and the other over there hanging in marketing and the various product divisions. With the help of people like Doyle and Todd “TK” Kohlman, I really absorbed everything I could culturally, so it was there that I would say I really became a “snowboarder.”
What role(s) has snowboarding played throughout your life?
I didn’t start until I was in my 30’s but it changed the trajectory of my life. Before snowboarding, I was headed into politics. I remember the look on my advisor’s face at NYU when I told him I was going to take my public administration degree and work for a snowboard company. I also have suffered from depression all of my adult life, so snowboarding became part of my self-care routine. It gave me an amazing community and it the courage to step out and create SHRED.
Most of all, snowboarding taught me how to persevere through failure. It illuminated the fact that life and all the things within are a process, and you must go through the process.
There are no shortcuts.
When did SHRED Foundation begin? What were the roots of it forming? How did the organization come to be?
SHRED was founded in 2014 and we had our first cohort in 2015. It began as a concept shortly after I was laid off from Stoked. However, it didn’t fully form until a few years later after I moved to the Hudson Valley and I met Daniel Broadwell who runs Flour City Distribution, the Mid-Atlantic Sales for Capita, Union, Coal and ThirtyTwo.
Dan knew that I worked at both Chill, Stoked, and was helping run Hoods to Woods at that time. He thought I should create a similar program for kids upstate and offered to back me if I did. He introduced me to several people and the consensus from these conversations was that the Upstate New York scene had disappeared. From there, SHRED was created to enrich the lives of youth through snowboarding, but also to help reinvigorate the Upstate snowboard scene. Our goal has always been to create new snowboarders, while at the same time doing what we can to elevate the culture and scene here.
SHRED Foundation
SHRED is based around the 3F Principle: Fear, Fail, Flow. Can you extrapolate on what this is and how it guides the organization?
The 3F principle was born from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s theory of flow. I’m not sure exactly how I was introduced to his book, but I started reading and I kept thinking how much it spoke to the snowboarding experience. As I continued reading, I came to the realization that the concept would be extremely beneficial for youth and especially those like ours who live in stressful underserved communities.
Csikszentmihalyi’s wrote that flow is “a state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience is so enjoyable that people will continue to do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it.”
That is essentially snowboarding.
He also states that flow occurs when your skill level and the challenge at hand are equal. That meant that there had to be a level of mastery involved. It was “mastery” that shaped our program structure, where we allow kids to return multiple seasons instead of a one-time occurrence over six weeks or so. It is important that we make snowboarders. It’s our credo.
The “fear” and “fail” components speak to the experiences necessary to achieve mastery. It’s acknowledging and overcoming the fear of trying something new or the fear of being out of your comfort zone. It is also the understanding that failure isn’t permanent nor final. Actually, failure is the component necessary in mastering anything. Nothing, in my opinion, offers the visceral experience of this process more than learning to skate or snowboard. The goal is to get kids to experience flow, understand the steps and seek to obtain it in other areas of life such as school, careers, or basically anything they wish to achieve.
SHRED Foundation
SHRED is based out of Albany, but your programming extends to multiple locations in the Northeast—can you tell us a bit about SHRED’s programs and community?
The move to Albany is rather new. We moved here three years ago with help from the Share Winter Foundation. Prior to that, we were based in Newburgh, New York. With the expansion, we conduct programming at both Windham Mountain Club and Stratton.
The kids we work with come from Newburgh, New York and the Greater Capital Region. These kids come from marginalized communities that experience elevated levels of poverty, stress, and violence. For the youth from the Albany area, we do two four-week programs at Stratton and for the kids from Newburgh, we run a single six-week program at Windham.
What is SHRED Industries?
SHRED Industries is a new venture we are very excited about and are currently working through the details to open.
The framework is a facility that will house the SHRED office, a classroom for our creative career workshops, workforce development, and mental health programming, and the only indoor skatepark within Albany and the one-hundred-mile radius surrounding the city. In this facility will have the ability to do year-round programming, create much a needed revenue stream, and serve as a community space for the Capital District.
The creative and career programming piece is really cool. What is your perspective on the intersection of snowboarding and off-the-board side of things with creative and career pursuits, both in general and how it applies to SHRED and the rising riding generation?
There is a synergy between snowboarding, skateboarding and all things creative. I look at Corey Smith and what he has done both through his visual medium as well as with Spring Break. Mikey LeBlanc launching Holden is another example. I have Jamie Lynn and Brian Iguchi prints hanging in my home, so there is a definite intersection between snowboarding, creativity, and off-the-board ventures. Snowboarding and creativity feed off each other. I’ve had the opportunity to sit with Tim Zimmerman, Mike Yoshida, and others that have inspired me to pick up a camera, as well as write.
But, as we work on increasing diversity on the hill, we also must be mindful and intentional about injecting that diversity into the industry as a whole. The catch is that this industry is very much a knowledge-based one. Diversity can’t be simply plug-and-play—there needs to be a pathway that provides that knowledge and the skills along with it. SHRED Industries is our attempt to not only create tomorrow’s snowboarders, but also tomorrow’s snowboard industry professionals and creatives.
SHRED’s work seems to evolve really intentionally. How do you guide the growth? Has its evolution in any direction ever surprised you in any way?
Our growth is predicated on our desire to create snowboarders. We wanted our kids to come back year after year because we only have six weeks with them. Over 60 percent of our kids are returners, which helps ensure that they achieve some level of mastery. We really aren’t focused on servicing the most kids and/or having programs at several different locations. We want our kids to rip and to both love and appreciate snowboarding and our culture…and they do.
I am encouraged by the change in perception between when we started and where we are now. In the beginning, it wasn’t easy selling SHRED to our community. I can’t begin to express the frustration I felt every time I heard “we (as in Black people) don’t do that stuff.” Now, ten years later, the influx of interest from youth organizations wanting to be a part of SHRED has grown so much that we are currently undergoing discussions and planning on how we could address the demand. I would say that the thing that has surprised me out of our evolution is the number of adults in the community that have heard about what we do and now they want to learn how to snowboard.
I am working to create a way to help make that happen. I believe it provides an opportunity for SHRED to further foster inclusion and promote Windham, Stratton, and all our shop and brand partners who support our efforts.
What is something that you have learned throughout founding and running SHRED thus far?
Humility and perseverance. I have had to develop a tougher skin. There’s nothing lucrative about running a non-profit, especially one that concentrates on snowboarding, so I am always fundraising. Raising money comes with a lot of rejection and lack of support on the other end of that phone. A lot of times it hits harder than any slam I have ever taken on my board. But it also makes me realize that I really love snowboarding and I love doing this work. It’s that realization that keeps me sending emails, making phone calls, and knocking on doors.
What makes you love snowboarding on the East Coast—and specifically at Windham and in Upstate NY?
The community. While we may not be different than any other location, it really feels as if we are the tightest knit. Plus, the lack of a true winter most seasons makes us appreciate and hustle to get at whatever we get and riding on what is essentially ice gives us more grit than anyone. As much as I love being at Hood, the support and connection that this community gives to us makes me feel that our kids are extremely fortunate to experience snowboarding here. Things are special here on the East.
I love that part of SHRED’s mission is honoring the history of snowboarding and skateboarding, not only teaching young people to ride and skate but also to welcome them into the culture through sharing knowledge—and thereby impact snowboarding and its future in their own way. Can you share your perspective on this and how sharing history can be integral in affecting the trajectory of the future?
We had this discussion during the Halo-Halo Fireside Chat. It’s the culture that differentiates a “snowboarder” from someone who just snowboards. As a “snowboarder,” you are essentially an evangelist for the culture. As a shared value and norm, we want more people to experience this thing and eventually, become a part. This is what really excites me about Big Snow. It has created new levels of accessibility and is introducing snowboarding to a new demographic and generation of snowboarders. There was a crew in the Fireside Chat in which every person in the group started riding at Big Snow. They were at Halo-Halo working as shapers on the course and are currently making careers for themselves out in Utah at Snowbird. I love that.
Individual experiences and backgrounds only enrich this culture. Inclusivity adds fibers and strengthens the shared history that bind us in this thing we love.
When you think back to your beginnings in snowboarding, what is something, someone, an image, a video, a moment—what is something that had an impact on you that still resonates with you today?
That would be Jake. Without a doubt.
My most meaningful Jake memory is the morning I skipped going into the office to ride at Stowe. It was the same morning that he and Donna came to deliver the annual Christmas presents. I got to my desk to find my present resting on my keyboard. I panicked. I quickly sent off an email thanking him for the gift and apologizing for being at the mountain and not at my desk. In what seemed to be a nanosecond he replied, “That’s where you should have been.” There are really no words to express how much that time there, the people there, the environment there meant to me except to say that, for the longest time, my only tattoo was the mountain logo I had inked after he passed.
There would be no SHRED if not for that experience and I have worked to replicate that culture in the work we do.
What are some things happening in snowboarding that make you excited currently?
I’m really psyched on all the homegrown/grassroots events. Things like the vibe that Gary [Land] and Barry [Dugan] have created with Homesick is incredible to experience. It has reinvigorated the snowboard scene here on the East in a way that has been missing since the Open left. It also helped illuminate the fact that while the competition was a focus, it was the annual coming together which made it special. Homesick speaks to SHRED’s core values and I am so extremely honored to be a partner.
Tell us about SHRED the Runway?
SHRED the Runway is our annual fashion show fundraiser in partnership with Burton. It is a showcase for BIPOC designers to create their take on winter wear and is capped off with our SHRED youth modeling select pieces from Burton’s 24/25 outerwear line. This is our second year, and we are psyched to be moving it to Proctors Theatre in Schenectady this season.
What else is in store for the 2024-25 season for SHRED?
The biggest thing is that this is our 10th program season, so we are working on officially commemorating the milestone, so stay tuned.
We will be partnering with our Hoods to Woods family and Sugarbush Parks for a Shapers Summit. Selected youth from both programs will spend a weekend getting hands on training in shaping and building special features that will be erected within the park.
We are also working on plans and logistics for an after-school program to hopefully launch the 2025-26 season in addition to creating a specialized program with local organizations to help combat youth gun violence in the communities we serve.
How can people get involved with SHRED?
There are numerous ways. You can follow us on Instagram at @shredfndn and on Facebook by searching under SHRED Foundation. If you are local, you can volunteer by emailing main@shredfoundation.org.
But most importantly, you can donate by going to:
give.classy.org/supportshred
If you wish to donate by check or to donate gently used gear, our mailing address is:
SHRED Foundation2500 21st Street
Troy, NY 12180