How I Pitched This — Ruffling Feathers
The bike industry has been a predominantly white male-dominated space since its inception. Although this heritage is beginning to give way to more progressive tides, there is much work yet to be done. It wasn’t until the bicycle craze of the 1890s that women were even able to enjoy the freedom in social mobility that bikes have to offer, and yet today, the overwhelming majority of cyclists look the same: white, male, straight.
Perhaps the worst part of it, is that too many members of the cycling community are not only unwilling to acknowledge lack of representation as a problem, they simply don’t think it is a problem at all. They’re happy with things remaining the way they are.
But times are changing. Our industry is developing. Cyclists come in all shapes, sizes, genders, colors and backgrounds. It’s our responsibility to do better and to be better.
Ruffling feathers is a delicate dance of eloquent resonation. As a renowned people pleaser, it’s not my go-to approach for creating change, but 2020 has taught me it certainly has its place. Bringing shadow sides into light can present an opportunity to highlight moral limitations and present room for growth. We see this happen most often on social media, where one can express their ruffled feathers anonymously, seemingly without consequence. Ruffling feathers in the cycling industry is bringing to light a lot of dark shadows that will evolve the cycling space into a more inclusive and diverse community.
Machines For Freedom (MFF) is a leading brand in the cycling space that is doing this very work. Since 2014, when its founder Jenn Kriske built the industry’s first women’s performance cycling apparel brand from the ground up, MFF has been leading the charge on delivering products with inclusive representation, sizing and fit for everyone to enjoy cycling together.
When the Black Lives Matter movement took hold during the summer of 2020, while many brands had to pause and do some deep introspection, Machines For Freedom only doubled down on its same trajectory. Diversity, equity and inclusion were already such a core part of the brand that there was no need to strategize or talk it through. Without hesitation, MFF took a public stance and posted a fundraiser to match donations up to $10,000 to organizations supporting the movement. It was incredible.
Now, it was my turn to land the story.
As I began to brainstorm which publication I wanted to target, I knew that I had to look beyond the progressive mainstream outlets whose audiences were already familiar with these themes of inclusivity. I wanted to reach the source of the problem and targeted the core cycling community itself through Bike Magazine, a magazine with an audience in the core, an audience that might have some ruffled feathers over this movement.
This story of representation in the cycling industry needed to be told in an eloquent, thoughtful and approachable way, to not add to the divisiveness already coloring the rhetoric of our society. I knew I could trust Nicole Formosa, editor in chief of Bike Magazine, to deliver just that.
How did I pitch this? I simply shared the story with Nicole, then facilitated an interview with Jenn Kriske. The story took off from there and grew into something powerful, A Machine for Influence.
However, it wasn’t until Bike Mag shared the article on their Instagram that things took a real turn. While I went in thinking the article might ruffle a few feathers here and there, none of us expected the level of hate comments that poured out in response to the piece, steeped in racism and misogyny. Bike Magazine, too, was shocked to see the number of vocal opposers and to realize that so much of their own was still so closed-minded.
Despite the initial gut-wrench, I chose to see Bike Magazine’s circumstance as purification and progress, as did the client, Machines For Freedom. Bringing light to all the dust in the shadows is how you know the truth of your audience and our society. It gives us the opportunity to normalize all skin colors and body shapes in the bike space. It helps up simmer the toxic elitism mindset that challenges the core of their egos. Without knowing our baseline we can’t grow.
2020 was all about exposure; exposing the darkness of our society so that we can revolutionize and start anew. Two weeks after the article went live, Bike Magazine closed its doors...and with that Beta MTB was born with Nicole Formosa as Editor in Chief.
Thank you Nicole for sharing Machines’ story and for your eloquent words, and for making the bike industry a more welcoming space. And here’s to an evolving cycling community that is inclusive and representative of all ability levels, skin colors, sexual orientation, genders and body shapes.
