Fast 15: Beckie Irvin

When Beckie Irvin is passionate about something, she wants to share it with everyone. That includes outdoor education. “It’s what my career and passions are rooted in,” she said.

Irvin became interested in outdoor skills, including mountain biking, rock climbing and kayaking, during a leadership development program at Texas Tech University’s Outdoor Pursuit Center.

A Hico, Texas, native, Irvin graduated from Texas Tech in 2017 with an agricultural and applied economics degree.

Because of the rock-climbing opportunities in Northwest Arkansas, she came to the University of Arkansas for her Master of Education in Recreation and Sport Management, completing it in 2019.

Her professor, Dr. Sarah Stokowski, influenced Irvin’s approach to marketing by emphasizing the intersection between social issues and marketing. Stokowski taught that “marketing, especially sports marketing, can be tools to change the world” by giving athletes the platform to tell their personal stories.

Irvin’s thesis was entitled “Women’s Perspective On and Barriers Of Entry To Mountain Biking.” After graduation, she co-founded the Grit MTB Festival for “trans, femmes, non-binary folks and all women riders” to give women and the gender diverse community access to mountain biking and outdoor adventure. With a $260,000 grant from the Walmart Foundation, she hired staff, including an executive director, and founded the nonprofit, All Bikes Welcome. Irvin is board president.

Irvin joined 4Media Group as a social media marketing manager in February 2021. She had responsibility for $580,000 worth of social media, digital and influencer campaigns. Wanting to get back to outdoor tourism, she joined GoCamp in April as a marketing manager. GoCamp is a peer-to-peer platform patterned after Airbnb where van owners can rent out their camper vans.

Motivated by peer recognition and more of a doer, Irvin has learned “that overthinking can be your enemy in startups.”

Irvin’s five-year goal is to direct a team as a chief marketing officer. However, she believes that her greater purpose is “intentional communications,” whether she’s mentoring or communicating with those above her or creating public documents, Irvin wants to be intentional.