Industry Profile: Ashbury Co-owner and Professional Snowboarder Nima Jalali

04 Jun, 2009

Shay: So tell us about yourself?
Nima: I like music, snowboarding, skateboarding and the drink.

Shay: What is your job title?
Nima: Executive producer.

Shay: Did your parents question your job choice?
Nima: Nope, I’ve never showed my pops a photo in a magazine or anything, he probably thinks I race. But he’s down for whatever I do.

Shay: What was your first set up?
Nima: Burton Air.

Shay: What is your current set up?
Nima: Artec (Nima Board) flux bindings.

Shay: What was your first job?
Nima: My pop’s restaurant, making pizza pies.

Shay: What’s a great day of snowboarding to you?
Nima: At Bear Mountain with the homies.

Photo courtesy of Robbie Sell Photography

Shay: Who are your influences?
Nima: Sky Saxon, Laurent, Nick Dirks and Jake O.E.

Shay: How long have you been snowboarding?
Nima: 15 years

Shay: How many days do you get to ride a year?
Nima: 5 days a week-ish

Shay: What’s your trick of choice?
Nima: Frontside 360 airs on bump flats

Shay: Who are your current sponsors?
Nima: Artec, L1, Ashbury, Flux, Comune, Elm, Active.

Shay: How is working with your sponsors?

Nima: It’s good, they’re all my homies so it’s easy.

Shay: What is your favorite mountain to ride?
Nima: Bear Mountain.

Shay: Is being a pro more about talent or hard work?
Nima: Both, I know some really talented kids who are to lazy to get shit done, so they won’t ever make it. You gotta have both.

Shay: Do you find it’s harder for kids to become pro than in the past?
Nima: yes

Shay: How do you keep snowboarding cool?
Nima: I don’t know if I keep it cool, but Ashbury does.

Shay: What is your favorite product you have stamped your name on?
Nima: L1 outerwear. It’s the best shit around.

Shay: As a co-owner of Ashbury, what is your role there?
Nima: I do a lot of things, but I’m definitely not that Team Manager, that’s Lance.

Shay:Do you see the industry differently as a co-owner than when you were just a professional snowboarder?
Nima: No, it’s exactly how I thought it was before

Shay: What prompted you to make Ashbury?
Nima: We just realized that no goggle companies had teams that made sense. So we just wanted to start a company and have the best team ever, and we did that.

Shay: What are some of the challenges of starting your own goggle company?
Nima: Nothing, it’s been mellow. We’ve got a good crew behind the scenes, so that makes it easy. A lot of amazing people/companies have had our back since day one like Nitro/L1, Elm.. and Brad Alband helping us out. Brad is the shit!

Shay: Any future visions about Ashbury?
Nima: We just added Bryan Herman to skate team, we got some crazy shit in the works.

Shay: Do you do any side projects for other companies?
Nima: I started videograss with the Ashbury guys, Mikey Leblanc and Darrell Mathes. Our first movie is gonna drop this fall.

Shay: What influence do you see yourself having on snowboarding?
Nima: I can snowboard fast, I snowboard like the wind.

Shay: What’s a typical day in your life?
Nima: Wake up, drive to Big Bear, eat, snowboard all day, back to LA, grab some dinner, go out to one of the bars near my place.

Shay: What are some memorable experiences from being a team rider for various companies?
Nima: Going to Japan, and trips to the Ozone in quebec

Shay: What education/experience did you have before becoming pro and starting your own company?
Nima: I graduated high school and I snowboarded and skated every day.

Shay: What’s the best perk you’ve gotten from your job?
Nima: Free gear, good homies..

Shay: Any disadvantages of your job?
Nima: I have to watch snowboarders do sissor hands for no reason.

Shay: Since you started in the snowboard industry, what’s been the biggest change?
Nima: Kids can go pro and not own a snowmobile.

Shay: What’s the busiest time of year for you?
Nima: August

Shay: Education vs Experience…which do you think is more important?
Nima: Experience

Shay: What advice would you give to people wanting to become a professional snowboarder/owner of a company?
Nima: Stop trying to get sponsored so much, just snowboard every day all day. All the other shit will come.

Shay: Final Thoughts?
Nima: Check out  ashburyeyewear.com and videograss.com, and support L1, Artec Comune, Flux and other companies who are ran by snowboarders.

*Pictures courtesy of Nima Jalali, Ashbury and Robbie Sell.

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