Adventure Park Insider has named our own Assistant GM, Callie Murphy, as a 2022 Rising Star in our industry!
“Like so many Rising Stars this year, Callie Murphy—assistant general manager of the Adventure Center of Asheville (ACA)—found the first steps on her path to this career in the outdoors as a child.
I grew up on a farm in Georgia,” she says. “After school was all about playing in the fields and at the creek. It was an incredible way to grow up and built a need in me to be part of the outdoors.” When she headed to college, “I saw the outdoor education [major] and was like, ‘I can actually get a degree in this?’” Callie ended up securing a degree in Ecology and then topped it off with a master’s in environmental education—which she secured while working at Adventure Center of Asheville.
“I kept my toes in the aerial park world while finishing my masters, and I loved Asheville, so I moved here, found this year-round position and here I am: settled down but still out in the wild,” says Callie.
That drive continues in her current role. “She is always willing to step up to any task put before her and has both the respect and friendship of her team,” says a nominator. “She is a strong advocate for the team, but also maintains a solid balance of team and business.”
What’s your secret to success?
Surrounding myself with good people. My family and my husband, of course, but also a really good staff. I would never be any kind of success without those people around me.
The pandemic was very eye-opening for this industry in this aspect. Hiring and keeping people on long enough so they could settle into the world and be productive enough to be really helpful to you long-term was tough. You have to find people who will actually stay with you. That’s truly the secret to success, I think.
What’s the biggest challenge you see this industry facing now?
Policy and procedure, at this point, is a grueling love/hate dynamic for the entire field. But the bigger the field grows, the more we need to dot our i’s and cross our t’s. It’s frustrating, but I do believe once we get systems in place, it will be easier.
What do you want to do in the future?
I want to combine environmental education with the adventure side. You know: While you are zipping through the trees, why don’t we talk about those trees? Make the connection. While I know those are two different fields, I hope to find a place where we do both in tandem.”
For the entire article- click here: https://adventureparkinsider.com/article/rising-stars-2022/
