Spray Paint, Cyclocross, China and Squid with Emily Kachorek

The Sonya Looney Show

Would you spray paint your bike? Emily Kachorek does. Maybe you've seen a blur of color, stoke, and little orange creamsicles fly by you on the road or in a Cyclocross Race. This month, I've been focusing on entrepreneurs, and I was intrigued by Emily because she thinks outside the box. Not only is she creative and learned how to run a successful business, but she has her Master's in Biology and was a Professional Road Racer on the US National team.

Tired of road racing scene, she put away the bike for awhile. Inevitably, she rekindled her love of riding through commuting and found cyclocross. Intrigued by new people, experiences, skills, and places, she jumped right in.

Emily's vision for Squid started by wanting to be visible. She designed her own kit and ended up adding her own custom spin to her bike. "My bike was painted this school bus yellow color and had this neon vibe going.... so I went to the hobby store down the street and got a bunch of sheet of neon vinyl."

From there, she took her knowledge of the bike industry, her marketing prowess and understanding of how to bring value to a brand and applied it to bikes. Squid Bikes was born. The bikes are raw aluminum and buyers get to add their own personality using spray paint and fun graphics. The buyer spray paints their own bike!

This show is co-hosted with my friend, Brian Kennedy. Here's his YouTube Channel (BKXC) and the episode we recorded where I interviewed him!

Topics Discussed in the Podcast

• Racing in China
• The Travel Experience of China
• Why Cyclocross?
• Inspiration for Squid Bikes
• How to Spray Paint a Bike

Links

• Squid Bikes
• Emily's Instagram
• BKXC YouTube Channel (co-host)

Support the Show

If you like my show, I’m aiming to make it an ad-free zone using crowdfunding to support it. All donations will go directly to the production of the show. I’m raising money using Patreon. A lot of podcasts sell ads to cover the production costs of the show, which can be quite high. I am not a fan of ads when I listen to podcasts so my goal is make this podcast an ad-free zone. The currently production of this free show is primarily supported out of my own pocket and a small portion is covered through the donations on Patreon. With my Patreon page, you can donate directly to the show which will help me cover the costs each week. If you find value and enjoy this show, you can donate any amount 200 dollars per month to as little as one dollar per episode (which is only 4 dollars a month!) I really appreciate your support!

Crowdfunding on Patreon – thank you!

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Thanks for listening!