KC: Let's start with just a little background info on yourself......business, a little personal would be good, but you don't have to tell anything embarrassing....unless you want to!  Haha...

MK: I grew up in Southern California. I have always been into action sports both in career and in life. In the late 80's I got my first real job working for Vision Skateboards/Vision Sports. Vision also owned Sims Snowboards at the time and after getting into snowboarding I ended up transferring to the snowboard Marketing and Promotions department.  I got into the snowboard industry at a time when the sport was just starting to emerge. I worked up from Promotions Coordinator to the Team Manager position at Sims Snowboards to ultimately the Vice-President of Marketing for Morrow Snowboards. I moved from California to Oregon to head up marketing for Morrow and we grew the company into the 3rd largest snowboard manufacturer in the U.S.  At the time it was a great organization to work with and I am very grateful to have been a part of the Morrow team. It was a great time in my life.

After Morrow went public, I moved to Bend, Oregon. (where I live now). I wanted to be close to Mt. Bachelor and to have time to ride my dirt bike. There is great trail riding out here. When I first moved to Bend, I was doing a lot of freelance marketing consulting work in the Action Sports industry for clients like Zombies and High Cascade Snowboard Camp (now owned by Vans) and I also founded a freeride motocross magazine called Wide Open. I now run the WMA out of an office behind my house and overlook a little motocross track and freestyle area in the backyard. When I’m not traveling on WMA business I am either riding here, or up at Mountain MX in Sandy, Oregon.

What got you into motorcycling?
My first introduction was through my grandfather who rode Harley’s out in the hills of Palos Verdes and my uncle time Tom. I have the coolest old movies of my Grandfather from the 40’s when he was a young with my great uncle Pete Smiley (who had a race team at one point) riding there. As a teenager my step-dad had a pristine ‘68 Triumph Bonneville but it wasn’t until much later that I got on a bike. Honestly, it was after watching a snowboard video called Creatures of Habit that was made by snowboarders who went on to produce Crusty Demons of Dirt.

Creatures had a freeride motocross segment in their snowboard film and that got me interested in riding. There were a few guys in my marketing department at Morrow that were really into motocross as well. I picked up a Sunday paper and found a good deal on dirt bike and just bought it. It's funny it was an XR 100, I out grew it in like 3 weeks. I borrowed a friend’s 125cc and started to ride at a local track as well as trail riding and then bought my first Honda CR125.

What made you focus on the WMA?
Starting the company. Ha, ha. Actually I got took over the reins of the U.S. Women's Motorcycle League in the fall of 2000. Later after the WML dissolved, I founded the WMA. I got into promoting and sort of being an advocate for women's motocross when I met some of the fastest women riders and realized their support was really limited because there was no structure in place for a legitimate professional series. I thought my marketing and promotion background could help the WML and like I said, I ended taking over the organization. I felt that I could make the biggest difference in the sport for women by shining a spotlight on women’s professional racing. I still worked to promote amateur racing at the Nationals as well, but I wanted to be sure there was a place for amateur women to go someday. Women’s pro racing is where I felt the work needed to be done.

How have things changed since you took over the helm of the WML (and then starting the WMA)?
Since I got involved with the Women’s Nationals in 2000, I have been able to secure better time slots for the WMA pros racing at the AMA Nationals, some years, having a Sunday moto at select rounds and this year being the best schedule to date with our second moto on Sunday at all six of our Nationals. In 2002, I arranged for us to have highlights of the women’s pro racing in the AMA Motocross telecast on ESPN and we have highlights in the telecasts since then with the exception of last year when the Motocross programs moved from OLN to Speed. We are back on Speed now and we also have our own Racer X Motocross Show (Webcast) on motocross.com for each race. Racer X has done such a great job with their shows. You know, media coverage in general is a big focus and the type we have garnered already this season is unprecedented. The interest from the motocross media has never been as strong and mainstream media has shown interest in women’s motocross – USA Today, Men’s Health and Fitness, ESPN, Rolling Stone are few great examples of the mainstream media. We have had better sponsorship and better purses. In addition to the Nationals, I started the WMA Cup as an event that really focused on women’s amateur racing since I had been very limited on what I could do at the actual Nationals for amateur women.

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