Meet the Halfdayers in LOS ANGELES Behind the Scenes of the Essentials Campaign

Earlier this month, the Halfdays team traveled to Los Angeles to shoot our Essentials campaign. We put out our first of many Casting Calls, in which we invite the Halfdays community (you!) to come to our photoshoots to be apart of our campaigns. The best part(s): we get to learn more about what makes our community so great, you help us make Halfdays product even better, and we all have a blast while doing so.

So without further ado, we invite you to learn more about the California locals who came to shoot, hang, and chat with us in Topanga Canyon.

@halfdays

The Halfdayers working towards accessibility in the ski industry

Halfdayers: Risa & Kayla

Risa and her best friend and colleague Kayla flew down from the Lake Tahoe area to meet us in sunny Topanga Canyon, just outside of Los Angeles, California.

After seeing our Los Angeles Casting Call, Kayla was quick to nominate her best friend Risa to come out for the campaign shoot. Risa’s devotion to recreational sports runs deep. Growing up with brain cancer, she dealt with disabilities thoughout her childhood. Getting outside and playing recreational sports was always important to her and brought her joy, so as an adult, she saw an opportunity to give back to her community by advocating for accesssibility in outdoor recreation. She works for the non-profit organization Achieve Tahoe, that’s dedicated to building health, confidence, and independence in people with disabilities through outdoor recreation.

When Risa’s not working towards making the world a happier, more inclusive place, she loves to get outside, be around dogs and a large body of water, and connect with her Georgia roots by listening to country music.

Risa brought along her best friend Kayla, who also volunteers with Achieve Tahoe. Like a true Halfdayer, Kayla is passionate about getting outside through mountain biking, skiing, and horseback riding. Data scientist by day and cat-mom by night, Kayla volunteers her time by giving back to the outdoor recreation community at Achieve Tahoe with Risa.

At Halfdays, we advocate for getting more people out on the mountain of all levels, and this is something Kayla stands by as well. Having learned to ski at age 25, Kayla says, “I would like to see more people willing to fail as adults.” Kayla also scored some brownie points with the Halfdays team as her biggest pet peeve is any season other than winter – which is always the correct answer.

About Risa

Home Mountain: Alpine Meadows, Lake Tahoe

Favorite Mountain: Alpine Meadows, Lake Tahoe

Favorite Dessert: Grapefruit

Best way to spend a Halfday: Hang out with dogs by a big body of water

Dream Girls Getaway: Las Vegas, wigs, costumes, and lots of glitter!

Risa’s Essentials: Dogs, swimming, grapefruit, Tahoe, country music

@achievetahoe

About Kayla

Home Mountain: Palisades, Lake Tahoe

Favorite Mountain: Alpine Meadows, Lake Tahoe

Favorite Dessert: Gluten-free coffee cake

Best way to spend a Halfday: Sleeping in, being on a mountain bike, skiing at sunset, or a day trip to Yosemite

Dream Girls Getaway: Exotic location, eat fruit and ride horses

Kayla’s Essentials: Cats, Gluten-free sweets, winter, football, mountain biking

@halfdays

Meet the Halfdayers baking the best macarons in Los Angeles

Halfdayers: Yuting, Anna, and Erin

Yuting, a recent L.A. transplant from New York City, drove out to Topanga with her best friends, Anna and Erin. Our Essentials Campaign is all about enjoying timeless classics with your girlfriends, and when Yuting showed up with her arms loaded in freshly baked macarons, we knew she understood the assignment!

Yuting, Anna, and Erin, arrived at the Halfdays shoot with their arms loaded in freshly baked macarons. As their uber-cute tagline states, “spreading sweetness through the community by making cookies,” the Halfdays team was overjoyed and indeed, satiated with sweetness.

Yuting used to work in NYC as a management consultant, and decided to make the big move cross-country to sunny SoCal with her fiancee to start a macaron business. Partnering with her best friend Erin, Yuting says that starting a small business with 2 millennial women was definitely scary at the beginning. Located in Koreatown, the bakery received incredible feedback from the community that invigorated Yuting and Erin to push onwards. Yuting, Erin, and Anna are excited to explore and ski the mountains in their new home state of California, and spread sweetness and positivity with their freshly baked goods.