Daniel Wakeham
Born: 12 November 1981
Home Town: Plymouth, UK
Bio
After a successful career as a professional / Olympic snowboarder, Dan turned to work for the Brands who had supported him through his snowboarding life.
The first brand was Head Snowboards where he worked as sales agent for the south of the UK.
In his first year he opened the door to get huge new accounts in some of the countries biggest stores. Head were so happy in how Dan had changed the face of the brand that they decided he would take on the whole country.
Dan kept snowboarding and gained some great competition results and mainstream magazine exposure that caught the attention of O’Neill who signed Dan as a brand ambassador and UK snow team manager.
While all of this was going on, Dan was busy setting up his own projects.
He set up One Snowboarding with the GB Team head coach, Hamish McKnight. Together they run high-level snowboard coaching courses including the coaching the GB Junior team.
Sterling Socks was set up with his good friend Nick Atkins. Nick is a sports photographer and distributer of international snowboard brands. Dan’s design, marketing and social skills helped the brand grow rapidly to sell out in the first year.
Dan is always in front of his computer creating content for the many blogs and social networks that he runs as well as coming up with fresh new ideas for up and coming projects.
Dan is a well-known face as an ambassador for British snowboarding and is well connected and respected through out the action sports industry.
Achievements
• Competed at a world cup level in snowboarding.
• Highest ranked UK male snowboarder for five years running.
• The first British male snowboarder to compete at the Olympic games 2006.
• Regular appearances in advertisements to promote brands.
• Regular appearances in mainstream media such as high street magazines, television, radio and internet.
• Worked with/along side large brands such as: Nike, Head, Tk Maxx, and LG Mobile.
Employment
February 2009 - Present Co owner of Sterling Socks
• Sourced product and communicated with manufacturers
• Design product and packaging
• Built brand image,including: Logos, artwork, website and team selection
• Sourced retailers to stock the product
November 2010 - Present: O'Neill Brand ambassador and Snow Team Manager
• Raise awareness for the brand by wearing the clothing
• Push for O'Neill specific content in the media
• Select, create contracts and look after the UK snow team
January 2010- Present: Head Snowboards.
National sales agent, Team manager, brand management and promotion.
• Arrange appointments with current clients either at trade shows or in shop directly.
• Take clients through new product lines and take orders.
• Continuously active in seeking new stockists.
• Control of budget for the Head snowboard team and brand promotion.
• Arrange photo/film shoots for the team.
• Update all social network pages.
• Create online content.
• Build hype about the brand and it's products.
One Snowboarding (high level, invitational snowboard camps)
June 2009- Present
Company director.
www.onesnowboarding.co.uk
• Arranging and running snowboard camps.
• Rider selection for invitations.
• Coaching athletes (potential Olympians of the future)
• Website development.
• Web content.
March 2009- March 2010: MPORA.COM
Featured film producer
• Cover events in video and photography
• Generally create content for their website.
• Blogging
October 2008- April 2009: LG Mobile
Online promotion
• Filming, editing a video diary podcast for their website
• Blogging on the LG Mobile website
• Personal appearances at LG events, including: The opening of the LG lounge in Harrods, The Air Bag Tour and the LG Freeze.
November 2007- April 2008: Tk Maxx
Online promotion
• Filming, editing a video diary podcast
• Hosting, running the online feed
• Controlling promotion of the podcast
• Blogging on the Tk Maxx website which receives an average of 8K hits per day
September 2007- November 2007: Snowsport GB
Single assignment, Making of a promotional film
• Research
• Script writing
• Filming and directing
• Editing
Movie shown in the vue cinema, Leicester square, London
November 2006 - march-2007: Extreme Channel
TV presenting for the channel and podcast
• Presenter
• Voice over
• Filming
November 2006 - 2010: Head Snowboards
International team rider
• Self promotion working on an incentive based contract
• Photoshoots for retail catalogs
July 2006: Young Enterprise
Motivational speaker
• Edited a movie of my Olympic experience
• Motivational presentation to 200+ year 11 students
June 2006: Snowlife
Motivational speaker
2003 - 2009: Nike
International team rider
• Self promotion working on an incentive based contract
• Photo shoots for retail catalogs
• Brand promotion in mainstream media
• Blogging on the Nike website
• Visited various schools talking about careers in snowsports
2001- Present: Seventwenty Distribution
Grenade Team manager
• Selecting a team of snowboarder/skiers
• Stock distribution
• PR
Courses
• Level 2 Freestyle Snowboard Coaching (highest level), 2009
• Media training with British Airways, 2007
• World cup level competion Judging, 2007
• Introduction to all media training, 2005
Skills
• I have an extensive understanding of Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, and Finalcut along with a competent understanding of Exel, Word, html, podcasting and web design.
• Basic French dialect
I am eager to learn new skills and improve my skills noted above, therefore am willing to enroll in the relevant courses in my own free time.
Interests and Activities
My interests include Board sports, cycling, filming, photography, editing still frame and motion picture, social interaction and fitness.
References are available upon request.
Dan in the December issue of FHM 2011
