Hey everyone - I am stoked to join the incredibly hardworking and passionate team at Pathlabs!

I have never written a bio before. I was asked to write a short story about my career. The paths, the people, the choices that brought me back to my hometown of Missoula, Montana to join a shiny new digital media company called Pathlabs. Here is the story of my career (so far).

My name is Elias Snyders. I have been told I was named after the great Walter Elias Disney. So, that’s something. I have always been a storyteller. I love stories. My stories are typically told through filmmaking or photography. These passions have been my guiding light through my career - everything will be fine just as long as I get to spend a lot of time creating. 

I grew up in a small truck-stop town called Lolo, just outside of Missoula, Montana. My dad was the president of a public relations firm. My mom was an artist. Funny, I ended up somewhere right in the middle of those two careers. 

I am the second eldest of 4 siblings. Google tells me the middle child is sociable, independent, and stubborn. I’d say that stereotype is fitting. 

Growing up, I was always creating something. I remember countless hours spent building with Legos, or customizing skateboard setups, or writing music. I was so passionate about designing and creating, my grandparents always said I would be an engineer. Then I got my first camera, and the rest was history. 

I enrolled in the University of Montana after realizing that I would eventually have to pay bills, and making videos on YouTube was not quite getting the job done yet. College was fun. I wasn’t the best at showing up to class, and I certainly skipped a few reading assignments, but I was introduced to some of the most influential people in my life. In fact, my current boss at Pathlabs is an ex-professor of mine. 

For my Junior year of college, I was presented with the opportunity to study abroad in Australia. This experience was life-changing. I had traveled a bit throughout my life, but Florida was the furthest I had been from home. Traveling to an island halfway across the globe and moving in with a bunch of German and Taiwanese students was a completely new experience. I learned about different cultures, taught myself how to cook, experienced nightlife for the first time (the legal drinking age in Australia is 18), learned how to photograph the ocean, and traveled all over Australia and Southeast Asia. When I returned from Australia, I was a new person. 

College ended and I immediately jumped into working in the entertainment industry. Over the next two years, I worked on hundreds of gigs in the film, television, and music industries. Every day was different. I fell in love with the passion that these people had for their craft. During this time, I was starting to see my dreams come alive. I wasn’t making the films I wanted to make, and I wasn’t working with the musical artists I wanted to work for. But, I was spending every single day of my life either behind a camera lens or backstage at a concert. And I was making enough to pay rent. This felt like I was on the right track.

Then, the entire world changed. It was March 13, 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic flipped my world upside down. I was in San Diego when I received a call that I would be out of work for at least a month because live events had been indefinitely suspended. Well, “a month” was a vast underestimation. The next five months were spent in and out of quarantine, and not finding any consistent work.

In the summer of 2020, I was very fortunate to land a full-time gig on a TV show called Yellowstone. Working on this show was perfect for this time of my life. We worked in a “bubble” with minimal contact outside of our crew. When we wrapped on filming the show and went back into the real world, I decided to take on a new gig in Big Sky, Montana.

I spent the next nine months in the beautiful ski town of Big Sky as a full-time content creator and social media manager. This job was great for a while, but as COVID started to slow down, I couldn’t help but feel my hometown pulling me back. Through a series of events (and a little bit of luck), I ended up accepting a job offer from Pathlabs.

WHERE I AM TODAY

How does someone like me fit into a company like Pathlabs? One of my favorite things about working in entertainment was that it is constantly evolving. I learned through my studies at the University of Montana that tech and marketing evolve just as quickly. After speaking with a few friends and mentors who are very familiar with Pathlabs and the work culture, I realized that a person with my experience could be a great fit for this company as it continues to grow. Luckily, the folks at Pathlabs agreed. 

I am stoked to be joining the team at Pathlabs as a marketing manager. My role works hand-in-hand with senior management and the sales team to bring life to our marketing strategy and tell the story of our media business. This role wears many hats. My day-to-day will involve working on the website, email, social media content, merchandise design, sales collateral, SEO, and content strategy execution. And that is just scratching the surface. 

Thank you to the Pathlabs team for giving me the opportunity to share my story. This new chapter is going to be a good one. 

Cheers,

Elias Snyders

Marketing Manager