EP328 | Stephanie Brady Celebrates 20 Years of Overland Journal

Overland Journal Podcast Episode #328

Tune in Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube

The Overland Journal Podcast is brought to you this week by Hankook Tire

For additional heritage content and news, sign up for Overland Journal’s Weekly Dispatch: overlandjournal.com 

New to Overland Journal and want to grab a subscription? Visit Overland Journal and enter code: overlandpodcast at checkout for 20% off. We thank you for being a subscriber.

https://youtu.be/HHvIRT_21KY

Guest Bio:

Host Bio:

Ashley Giordano

Ashley Giordano’s first foray into overland travel involved a 48,800-kilometer journey from Canada to Argentina with her husband, Richard, in their well-loved but antiquated 1990 Toyota Pickup. Currently cruising along the iconic Silk Road in a 2008 Toyota Tundra, her full-time navigator duties are rewarded with bowls of plov and lagman noodles, hikes in the Tian Shan, and countless cups of fragrant Tashkent tea. As senior editor at Overland Journal, you can usually find Ashley buried in a pile of travel books, poring over maps, or writing about the unsung women of overlanding history, including her enduring inspiration, Barbara Toy. @desktoglory_ash

Our No Compromise Clause: We do not accept advertorial content or allow advertising to influence our coverage, and our contributors are guaranteed editorial independence. Overland Collective may earn a small commission from affiliate links included in this article. We appreciate your support.

Transcripts

Ashley (00:01.195)
Hello and welcome to the Overland Journal Podcast. I’m your host, Ashley Giordano And as Overland Journal approaches its 20-year anniversary, we’re catching up with some of the people who have helped shape this community, sharing the stories, lessons, and adventures that brought us here. With that said, my guest today is Stephanie Brady, our wonderful director of design for Overland Journal magazine. Welcome, Stephanie. So great to have you here.

Stephanie Brady (00:25.435)
Yeah, so good to be here. I’m excited.

Ashley (00:29.537)
So if anybody’s ever opened up a the magazine, which I’m sure many of the listeners have, you are like the the person behind the scenes of how it all looks. So the beautiful layout and where all the images are and how the photography is laid out and all of that is Stephanie. So yay, shout out to Stephanie.

Stephanie Brady (00:35.916)
Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Brady (00:42.531)
Right.

Stephanie Brady (00:51.886)
Thank you. Thank you. Yeah.

Ashley (00:54.731)
I think one of the things about the magazine that I mean there are many, many what am I trying to say? There are many things that make it so well respected and one of them is the way that it looks. So yeah, that’s thanks to you.

Stephanie Brady (01:09.804)
Yeah, we we definitely get that a lot and I love that and I’m incredibly proud about that. I’ve many, many times had the privilege of, you know, handing someone a magazine and standing there while they look through it and just this the wow and the sweetness and that that just does my heart good. I mean, I just love, love, love when I get the opportunity to see that reaction in, you know, people and then just, you know, the high quality images that, you know, we are able to print in the magazine. And yeah, I’m very, very proud of it.

Ashley (01:40.234)
Yeah, yeah. I mean it’s it’s been wild to see the the development over time of how the style has changed and the layout’s changed and all of that. bring us back to the first issue of the magazine in s I think it was spring two thousand seven. And yeah, tell us more about that.

Stephanie Brady (01:58.625)
Yeah.

Well yeah, an app

And actually I feel like I’d love to back up a little bit because, you know, spring 2007 is when we printed the first magazine, but there were these this whole thing behind the scenes that you know many people do not know about. And I think that that is just such an interesting part of the story. And so I think the first thing that I remember was Scott and I, and and just to back up, Scott Brady and I were married for a very long time. Okay. So when I say Scott, it is that Scott Brady. And

So, and I I don’t really remember how far if it was the spring before we actually started the magazine or it was a whole year prior, but he he had come to me and I was driving. He we had this website, which is now the portal, expedition portal, but at that time it was called Expeditions West. And he wanted to, he just kind of started it as a hobby and he wanted to build up a vehicle and you know, and anyway.

So put it out there, he would post our trips and things like that. And so I was driving Land Rover Discovery at the time, and he came to me and just discussed with me: hey, what do you think of we’re gonna trade thinking of trading this in and then getting a tacoma to Tacoma that he wanted to build up into our project vehicle? So we talked about that and discussed that, and we decided it was a good idea, and so you know we did that transition, and then at some point after that, I remember.

Stephanie Brady (03:32.789)
We were in Washington meeting with, I believe it was it was ARB and I just remember talking with them, like their marketing team, and there were a lot of questions of like we were saying to them they like, why don’t we do this and why don’t we see this? And you know, just talking about the other adventure travel magazines, because all of them at that point had gone very hardcore rock crawling. and that was just not what we did. This is not how we traveled.

Traveled or anything like this, but that was really all it was. All of them look like that. And so saying a lot in that conversation is what I remember. Why doesn’t this happen? Why doesn’t someone do this? Whatever, right? So then fast forward, and again, I don’t really remember how far from when that happened to when you know this next event happened that I told you about, but we were, it was August of 2006, and we were coming back from a little adventure with some of our friends, and as we were driving, we were talking about what are

we gonna do next because he had been working Scott had been working for his uncle in California doing higher education systems on computers and it required him we lived in Arizona it required him to travel four days every single week so he would fly out Monday morning to go to California and then he would fly home Thursday at the same time I am doing real estate and so anyways we were just kind of getting both of us tired of what we were doing and so he came to me know

Or we were just talking in the car of like, okay, what are we gonna do different if we do something different? And we had a set of friends who were talking to us about building wineries in California. And I could tell Scott didn’t really want to do that. And then he says to me, What do you think of starting a magazine? And I’m like, what? You know, because like who who does that? You know, like who just randomly starts a magazine?

Ashley (05:26.657)
Ha

Stephanie Brady (05:28.97)
And but I could tell he was really, really serious about it. And you know, and really with Scott, he has always a lot of ideas and things. And you know, so I had learned at that point of marriage, which was almost 10 years at that point, of like, you know, don’t worry, don’t panic, don’t whatever. He’s just potentially passing through on this idea. And so, okay, whatever. You know, that was August of 2006. Well, I don’t even know, but like it he just was serious.

And we basically we got home and it happened really, really fast. Where I formed the LLC for this new business called Overland Journal. And unbeknownst to me at the time he asked, he had already bought the URL, OverlandJournal.com.

And he had already been talking to Jonathan Hanson, who was to be, you know, who would become our first editor-in-chief. And, you know, and there is a story in there. And again, I don’t know at what point it happens, but I remember going down to the Tucson area and meeting with Jonathan and Roseanne Hanson. And Jonathan even wrote an editorial about it one time about, you know, of course, his wife shrieking out, because this is a day before the internet existed as it existed today. And that, you know, we’re gonna lose our kidneys over this, you know, like who are these people?

And you know, whatever, right? And and so I do remember having that. But, anyways, it happened really fast from that August of 2006. we came home, I formed the LLC, and then by November we were meeting with who was to become our first team. So by that point, Jonathan was there. We had an initial technical editor mate named Chris Marzoni. there was Brian McVickers, who has always been in charge of the ads and development.

and then there was an initial very early on contributor of some money that came in, which we very quickly bought out. But anyways, that was November. in January we we bought me an iMac and which I don’t I had never designed anything before. I don’t really even know how I got appointed as designer of Overland Journal, except that no one else could I had the most potential skill, I guess. And and then we borrowed.

Stephanie Brady (07:39.363)
The Adobe Creative Suite from Roseanne Hansen because we did not have the funds to purchase it at that time. And so, and then by May 2007, we were at the printer in Salt Lake City with our first magazine. So it happened exceptionally fast. I I honestly I don’t know how it happened that fast, except this was just something that we were supposed to do in life.

Ashley (08:03.349)
Yes, yes. How did it feel putting the design together on something like you’ve never used these tools before? You you’ve never laid anything out like digitally or Yeah. Bring me into that.

Stephanie Brady (08:17.964)
I don’t even know. Like it was honestly crazy. Cause the only thing I had done, you know, as I mentioned, I was in real estate. And so having done that, I had used Microsoft Publisher before. That was like my extent of my design experience to do some little postcards to promote myself for, you know, real estate.

And I will just say, you know, Adobe Creative Suite and Microsoft Publisher were like worlds apart, especially at that time. So I have I have no idea. I was terrified. I like literally I went to Barnes and Noble and I bought a book of, you know, something like how to design for dummies or something like that. And because I didn’t know at all how to use, I mean, I had never worked on a a Mac before. I had never, you know.

worked in InDesign or anything like that. I remember early days being on the phone with the the printer and I had my you know, I was sitting in front of my iMac and I had the screen open and I could not I had to ask them how do I close this screen? I needed to close this screen to move to another one. I had to ask them. I could not figure out because, you know, I had been used to Microsoft products and so the Microsoft and the Mac, they’re on opposite sides of, you know, the buttons at the top to close. I had

I had to ask them. Like this is how green I was. I knew nothing. also on that phone call I remember they’re talking to me about, you know, dot gain and line speed and just all these different things.

And I had to interrupt and stop them and said, I need you to stop and I need you to repeat and explain every single word that you just said to me. I have no idea what you’re talking about. you know, and and they did and they were really sweet, but I literally I I used my little how-to book and it sat on my lap.

Stephanie Brady (10:12.792)
the entire for sure the first magazine, but several magazines in where I’d be like, okay, text wrap. And I would go to the index and I would look up text wrap and I would read how to do it and then I would do it. You know, like I I don’t know, you know, and I was really I was afraid. I definitely I had chest pain the whole first several issues that I designed because just the stress and the enormity of all of it and at the real estate office.

that I worked at because I didn’t stop working. Like I worked full time during the day. I would come home and I would work on the magazine until midnight, one in the morning. and

repeat day after day after day and there was this little designer guy at the real estate office and I was telling him I was scared and he said well could you design one page and I said yeah I can design one page he’s like that’s all you’re doing that’s all you’re doing and so

Ashley (11:10.293)
Over and over again.

Stephanie Brady (11:11.882)
over and over again. And so I just kind of really took that to heart. And I just I just did it. I just figured it out. I mean there was there was no option because especially, you know, once we got that first magazine out, which was in spring of 2007.

It was, you know, it was on repeat. I was gonna have to figure it out. It it was the biggest thing of sink or swim that you could imagine. I there was no option for me not to do it. we didn’t have funds to hire a designer. I was it. And so I just figured it out.

Ashley (11:47.957)
Good thing you did. We’re here. We’re here now.

Stephanie Brady (11:49.263)
Yeah, absolutely. So yeah, that was that was what was going on, you know, and how that all came to be. Yeah.

Ashley (11:57.824)
Wow.

That’s incredible. Wow. Yeah. Thanks for sharing the background on that. yeah, it’s so different now. what do you remember about the first few stories that were in the magazine? Like I’m sure you spent so much time looking at them and reading them. Yeah.

Stephanie Brady (12:05.256)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Stephanie Brady (12:20.42)
yeah, you know, you know, I I definitely what first comes to mind, I just I remember the main travel feature in the first issue was Graham Jackson’s Dark Continent. And you know, just just remember getting the images in. I truth be told, don’t remember a lot.

else of that first issue I do know that our logo came in like I think the week we were going to printer like there was you know someone had designed that for us and it was like okay I guess that’ll work.

Good. you know, like I will say that everything was very much fly by the seat of our pants in those days. You know, now everything is so, you know, planned out. We’re booked a year ahead of time with content. We have just amazing systems and processes, but at the time,

I don’t even know how we put it together, truth be told. Like I look back, you know, just in preparing this 20th anniversary issue. you know, had the opportunity, you know, we were going back and just looking at all these issues and pulling content and stories and and things. And it is very interesting to look at the early one, the early content and look at also just our file structure, you know, because it was sometimes it’s named by the name, sometimes by the story, you know. And I think it was just everyone was doing the best that they could.

And like I don’t there wasn’t foresight, you know, there wasn’t at the time, of course, understanding of what this was gonna turn into. And, you know, I think also there was no staff. And so when you’re, you know, I was designing the magazine, but then at some point in the first issue, I was like, subscribers,

Stephanie Brady (14:12.706)
People are subscribing. we need some way to track this. we need to build these advertising. You know, it’s like all of that, I I did not think through that at all. Like, no thought to it until it started happening. you know, we had bought a book of, you know, how to run a magazine for dummies and like no one had time to read it. There was there was no time.

Ashley (14:35.351)
Yeah.

Stephanie Brady (14:37.642)
You know, it just like like as I said, working full time and and doing, you know, all the magazine stuff in the evening and then on the weekend, there was there was just no time. So yeah. I I honestly it’s kind of a blur, but you know, a lot of fun also, you know, when you think back.

Ashley (15:00.117)
What did it feel like to hold the first copy of the magazine in your hands, like the physical producer? Yeah.

Stephanie Brady (15:06.006)
Okay, yeah. it was very surreal. I remember, you know, being up at the printer, Scott and I went over to Salt Lake City, which is where the printer is. And yeah, they walked us all around and introduced us to the very, you know, the various departments that we were working with. So these are people I had been on the phone with. So it was nice to meet them. And then being into the shop where the huge printers were, and I mean the

The you know, the machine where our magazine prints is massive, just very long, two stories at one point. And it was very cool, I will say, to be able to see those first issues of Overland Journal coming off. And it just as you would see in the movies where it’s just flying on the printer and just like almost like a blur of of how fast it was printing and moving. And then just they were explaining to us how it all went and you know, the binding and just all the things. and so I will say.

That was amazing. And that was very it was just surreal that like something we had just done. And again, this was a very, as I mentioned, a very short time period. It wasn’t like we had years to plan this out. It was from August when I heard about an idea. And then, you know, start, you know, I didn’t even have a computer in January. And in May, I’m at the printer. We’re at the printer. And so it with no experience, like I don’t even know how I did it. You know.

to or that we did it and Jonathan compiling the stories. I don’t even know. But it was very surreal. and then the other thing I remember being very, very tired. you know, that was

Ashley (16:45.107)
Yeah.

Stephanie Brady (16:48.11)
That was probably like my overriding emotion was exhaustion. ’cause like I said, I think, you know, working full time and then doing this in the evening and weekends and very, very, very long days and a lot of stress and figuring stuff out. So just just tired. But yeah, I mean I look back

And I remember thinking like I’m gonna look back at this and not like this initial issue because I feel like, you know, I didn’t know what I was doing. Like I was very aware that I had no design skills, you know, and like I didn’t know I had to determine all of everything, what everything looked like and you know, and I didn’t I didn’t know design.

And but I actually, you know, I look back and I’m so incredibly proud of, you know, with a girl with no design skills can produce that magazine, you know, that I produced. and again, not me, the whole team, but just from a design perspective. So yeah, excitement, surreal, and exhaustion.

Ashley (17:50.112)
That’s great. And here we are twenty years later. I’m curious from your perspective how the magazine and the nature of overland travel has changed since then. Like what are you seeing in terms of trends and maybe layout or yeah, just w what what’s changed?

Stephanie Brady (17:51.278)
I know.

Stephanie Brady (18:08.31)
Well, I will say just first of all, there was not an overland industry when we launched the magazine. Nothing. There was nothing that existed. Now there’s not it doesn’t mean that people were not traveling in this way. it was there was no word overlander in the United States. Now people, you know, in Africa and Australia and they were doing this form of travel, but in the United States it did not exist. You know, like I said, the word overlander did

Not exist. I think what Overland Journal did is just give a name to the tribe. I think is that happened and gave them a gathering place and something, you know, to be like, yeah, that’s that’s us, that’s me, that’s what we did, you know. so I think that was part of it, was just

We we did not know when we did it what we were doing. I mean, we had no idea what this was gonna become and this whole huge launching of an industry and these hundreds, maybe thousands of companies you know, that have sprung up since then of you know, everything from direct on, you know, trucks to clothing manufacturers and and just apps and everything in between. Because also like that electronic version of stuff did not exist at all. I mean, I don’t even know.

if there was Google at all. Like I know for sure there was not Pinterest. And I know that and the only reason I mentioned that one is because I I literally used to cut designs like layout designs I liked out of magazines. I’d be like at the dentist office and like ripping things out of magazines of like, that’s good design. And you know, kind of using that as an example of something I could use because there wasn’t there was no Pinterest. There was no way for me to track that. I had

design books and things I was trying to look at. you know, and then Pinterest came and I had those. And, you know, now of course I just template off, you know, myself and the things that I’ve done in the past. But yeah, I mean, I think the industry has just it has become an industry, has grown by leaps and bounds. And

Stephanie Brady (20:18.028)
Yeah, I mean, it’s just it’s huge. I mean, you just look at, you know, just even like Overland Expo and even that we saw like the first one that started was just like, you know, some of the advertisers, some of the people, you know, just showed up in Prescott at this race track that was right there. And then just what it’s turned into today, which is just massive. So I think I mean it’s it’s on every front. I feel like that we have seen change, both from

just becoming an industry, all the different businesses, you know, just design. Like I remember and like laughing about it at the time, but like

We, you know, our initial Overland Journal logo had a compass rose in the middle of the O. And for a while there, every business that sprouted had a compass in the logo. And we would laugh about that. And that was actually why that was kind of the impetus of why I ended up changing the logo after a while is because I was trying to pull us away from, you know, just that of e everyone doing it.

But but yeah, it was I’ve it’s just amazing growth. Just you know, and just such beauty in that.

Ashley (21:35.477)
It must be interesting too to go from that core team all those years ago and seeing how many contributors there are to the magazine now from all over the world.

Stephanie Brady (21:46.689)
It yeah, it was it’s absolutely amazing. And I mean I just I so thank you know these initial contributors who were there and were with us and there was definitely a handful and it was really basically who we or Jonathan knew was basically, you know, I mean Jonathan wrote a lot, Chris Marzoni, Scott, and then the handful others, which it was not a very big circle, was basically friends.

friends and family, you know, of doing it. And now, you know, and of course you can attest to this, just like the number of people that we work with today and our editorial and being able to be booked a year ahead of time for the magazine and of course the hungry beast that is Expedition Portal and all the content that moves through that. no, it is it is mind blowing.

what the changes that have happened. And I I think if you had told any of that us, but I will speak for myself, if you had told me at the time what this was gonna become, I would have been terrified. I think I would have thrown down my IMAC and run.

Like I’d be like, I can’t do that, you know. but I think, you know, that’s just the nature of anything that you do. You just you just keep doing it, you just keep chugging along. And, you know, we just made strides along the way. And I think as people, we all grew so incredibly much. and yeah, and now it’s just like second nature to us. Like we, I think we all just think nothing of it now. This is just what we do.

Ashley (23:24.277)
Yeah, yeah, totally. What about some shenanigans or fun moments from the last twenty years?

Stephanie Brady (23:26.591)
Mm.

Stephanie Brady (23:30.987)
my gosh. So so many. I think. so I think the thing that first comes to mind. So when we started the magazine, right, we didn’t have a shop. We were running it out of our house.

And so, you know, the team would come up when we were gonna I would just edit in our I would just design the magazine in our front bedroom. And when we needed to edit the magazine, Jonathan and Roseanne Henson would drive up from Tucson and they would do it, everyone sitting around my kitchen table. And so you know, so this is where we started. And so

you know, we had to do gear tests and stuff like this, and we were, you know, very serious about this. And so I think what the first thing that comes to mind is we were doing a rooftop tent test, and we needed to test the wind speed of, you know, like if you were in the tent camping and you know, the kind of winds it could withstand And so how do you do that, right? We don’t have access to a wind tunnel or all these, you know, big fans or anything. So what we did is, you know, as we mounted each rooftop tent to the

truck we left it open we would put a team member inside the tent and then someone else would drive it up and down the street and the one inside had like the one inside would have a wind meter that would test

the s you know, the wind going certain speeds. And so we would just do this, back and forth and back and forth, up and down. And then we would unmount that tent and then we would redo another tent and then we would repeat. And so and there were so, so many things like that. And we so we lived in a subdivision, you know, with an HOA.

Stephanie Brady (25:18.794)
And they were so not fond of us. And we were constantly, constantly, constantly in trouble with the HOA, constantly getting notices and warnings and things like that. And then, like, you know, someone would go off to Walmart and they would see an overlander and a Unamog. And of course, they would bring them to our house. So now we’ve got a big huge unamog parked out on the street. And you can’t you couldn’t park on the street at our house. Like, you know, they had to keep it all, you know, nice and all. And so, you know, we got this big huge unamog.

sitting there with hooked up to our water and they’re in talking with us and using our internet and all of that.

And literally we were we were making the HOA’s meeting agenda every single time they met. And you know, I know this because you get copies, you know, as a resident of the subdivision, we were getting copies of the meeting and we were literally in their agenda all the time. And in fact, that Unimog, they took pictures of that and we made they took pictures of our infractions and we would be in the meeting agenda sometimes with pictures. You know, there was a sign that was like, you know, after our house, there was like a curve and then.

Ashley (26:01.249)
Yeah.

Stephanie Brady (26:23.888)
And there was a you you could park after that. And they ended up moving the sign way down the street. So we were just yeah, lots of funny shenanigans with tints and tests and just all the things that we did. there, I think,

I’m trying to think, you know, what else we would yeah. I don’t know if I want to tell that one. But you know, we would be given you know, just given vehicles and stuff. And one time we had this military Jeep and it had infrared inside, like you know, in the little camera space where you have and it but it was infrared and so as one of the settings. And so one time we were coming home from the movies and it was pitch black and in Prescott it’s a dark skyline, so you know there’s there’s no street lights in.

Ashley (26:49.066)
Yeah.

Stephanie Brady (27:13.264)
Anywhere, all lights have to be pointed down, they have to be off at 10, you know, and the points to see the stars. But we were coming in, and again, no one’s supposed to be parked on our street. And so Scott coming in down to our street decides we’re gonna turn our headlights off and we are gonna use the infrared to navigate down the street. And it it and it was going well, you know, because you can see with the infrared, except that he just

Thank God, last minute decides to turn on the headlights and we were right about to hit a park car that was like not supposed to be I know it because no one’s supposed to park there. So we thought we were fine, but the infrared wasn’t picking it up because it was cold, you know, it was winter in Prescott and so there was no heat signature of it or you know, nothing that we could see. And yeah, we’re normally very responsible. Like, you know, but thank you.

Ashley (28:05.015)
Disclaimer.

Stephanie Brady (28:06.37)
The disclaimer normally, you know, and I think other things like I remember coming back one of the times of the expeditions seven, that expedition and the guys had come into

Prague. So the the trip was done coming to Prague and but we needed to get the trucks to France to have work done. Now there were three trucks, three big of these expedition trucks at the time, and big land cruisers. And so me and the video guy’s wife and Kelsey, who is one of our team members, we everyone we flew over to meet the guys and then we were gonna help move the trucks around back to France. So but on the way, you know, we saw Prague and you know

Italy and you know, Kelsey wanted to go to Monaco, so we went to Monaco. So we’re driving through all these places and stopping and kind of, you know, just enjoying at the end of the trip. And so we’re in Monaco.

And we cannot, we want to get out and walk around, but we cannot find a place to park. And so, you know, in a narrow streets, very big truck. And so, anyways, we see this space, and I’m like, that is not big enough. So it’s at that time it’s me, Scott, and Kelsey is in the truck. And I’m like, no, that’s not big enough. And Scott’s like, no, get out. You can spot spot me going in. And so I’m like, my gosh, you know, so we end up parallel parking between a Rolls Royce and a Lamborghini. And I’m not kidding you, there was maybe four.

to five inches on either side of the bumpers between us and these cars. And it was just like so I don’t I don’t even know how we’re not still wedged in there, truthfully. It was so, so tight. But yeah, there was like tons, tons of stuff like that. You know, I would host Halloween parties every year. AT Overland were was in the building next to us. And so we did a lot with them. You know, we would, you know, have breakfast, we’d serve breakfast.

Stephanie Brady (30:01.36)
you know, when we got Atlas who is our Alaskan Malmute, you know, and we’d bring him to work every day and sometimes I’d, you know, walk to the other shop and I come back and every single employee is sitting on the ground playing with At and Atlas is, you know, tearing around the shop. you know, just

It was fun. I mean, there’s so so so many fun things and shenanigans and just you know, because it was just really I think in a lot of ways, especially in the early days, we it was just really fly by the seat of our pants. It was like there were no rules. There were, you know, we were trying to get our thing d stuff done. And, you know, we’ve always been very, I would say lax a bit with, you know, the employees. We want them to feel like family. And so, yeah, we just

Yeah, it was just it was come as you are, you know. But we had a lot of fun as a result of all of all that.

Ashley (30:53.173)
It’s fun. Yeah. What are some of your what are some of the most memorable stories that you’ve designed over time?

Stephanie Brady (31:05.536)
Yeah, I think so many. I think what first comes to mind of like most poignant, there were two different stories where I actually cried while doing the layouts and the first one was a story of this couple and they were driving through Africa in a 110 and as they came into the city or the it was a you know just a little town.

Children swarmed their truck, which often happens, you know, when you come into a a small village, and the children had swarmed their truck and they were kind of pulling on the limb risers and holding onto the bumper and stuff like that. And they’re moving really, really, really slow. But what happened is one of the little boys, he got he fell and got sucked under the tire of the 110 and they killed him. And the yeah, the authorities were urging them to try to smuggle them.

Ashley (31:57.719)
God.

Stephanie Brady (32:03.692)
out of the country like really quickly it’s because they were afraid of reprisal from you know just the people in the town that they might hurt this couple but the couple chose to stay and do the right thing and requested that they meet with the family and you know just

you know, just say sorry to the family and the mother and, you know, what happened and and they did end up there was some money exchanged and you know, so they they made it right. in in the money, that was not them trying to bribe or anything. It was just simply it was the authorities saying

you know, this is fair. And so and they were really took the authorities took an attitude of, it’s fine. She’ll have another child next year. You know, no big deal. but, you know, they want to make it right. You know, so that I think that was just very poignant because, you know, it’s something that could happen. We’ve all come through.

Ashley (32:44.396)
Mm.

Stephanie Brady (33:01.452)
you know, towns and been swarmed by children up against the trucks and, you know, how just easily and how quickly something, you know, like that can happen. and then the second one, kind of in the same vein, but this couple and they were I forget where they were, I don’t know if it’s South America somewhere, but coming down very, very tight switchbacks and the the wife had gotten out to help spot because it was so, so close and tight with this big truck that they were in down the switchbacks.

Ashley (33:11.095)
Mm.

Stephanie Brady (33:31.329)
And you know, she’s leading him and she accidentally steps off the the edge of the cliff and she fell to her death. And and it yeah, and it wasn’t it’s just one of those things, and you know, when you’re in, you know, a third world or developing world country, you’re not just calling lifeline. There is no 911, there’s no way. And this was before, you know, like the satellite and the evac and all the stuff that you can get these days.

and so it was hours and hours before he was able to make it down the mountain and go get authorities and then they were able to come back to help her hours and hours. And she anyway, she passed and so that was that it was just sad, you know, because I think again I’ve had that experience of being out of the truck, guiding a truck, you know, down switchbacks in a another country and just how quickly something like that could happen. So

Ashley (34:28.801)
Mm.

Stephanie Brady (34:28.88)
So yeah, I just I would say those are, you know, the most poignant stories that I’ve that I’ve laid in. and yeah, and I I feel like other

Other ones that are meaningful to me as I love our photo essays. I like the first time I ever did that, I believe it was maybe fall of I don’t know if it’s 2012, but I may have that slightly wrong. But it was some images that came in from Sinuhe Xavier. And it was the first time I ever did it. And I came up specifically with that layout for him for his images. And it is so interesting how that kind of thing happens where we have a a

like specific layouts sometimes that have come up because of a specific contributor where like I need to lay something out and we don’t I you know especially in the early days right I I now have way you know set layouts where I handle certain things say for example if I don’t have a lot of good images but the copy’s good and we really want to take a story I do a specific layout that is actually to this day we call it after the specific contributor that why I came up with

It you know and yeah so anyway, though those are my favorite though is are the the photo essays because I just I absolutely love just looking at the images and I I feel like it makes the the magazine so strong when there’s a lot of really amazing imagery and so and really in an any photo essay layout there’s I don’t know up to 30 early 30s of you know say 32.

35 of them getting crazy with the layout images, but I might get up to 200 or more images. And so I think like what I see.

Stephanie Brady (36:22.048)
is just so amazing and stunning. And I think, you know, that’s probably it across the board. That’s probably one of my favorite things of, you know, just the job that I do is I’m able to, you know, put for the reader, I I believe craft a beautifully, you know, crafted story from the image standpoint. But, you know, what I see is is amazing. And that just makes me love it all the more.

Ashley (36:47.957)
What what are you looking for in a pitch? Somebody sends a pitch in with a bunch of photographs. What are you looking for?

Stephanie Brady (36:57.922)
Yeah, that is such a good question. so my obviously, so when I, you know, I’m obviously part of our editorial team, so I handle, you know, the image side of stuff. you know, my opinion on that. And so I think obviously I’m looking for well-composed, well-shot,

images that tell a story and I am not and we will take a variety of images and pitches. So sometimes I’ve run, like I think of this one and it was a motorcycle trip.

I forget where it was. but it it was crazy that they took these motorcycles like up this hill and down. and so the images were really not very good from like a technical standpoint, but they were legit. So I mean, so it’s a whole range from legit to crafted, you know. So for example, for latitude and photo essays, I’m looking for more crafted images. Like I want them, you know.

I want them to be shot well. I want this is the creme to the creme of what I’m always looking for with those two things. But then, you know, obviously if there’s a legit story where the photos are not that great, but it is just like, my gosh, I can’t believe they did that. You know, that works too. So, but I’m I’m looking to tell a story. So I don’t so much care. Like I care about the truck. Like I want to show the truck. This is Overland Journal. The readers want to see the truck. But I what I’m ultimately trying to do is take the reader.

On the trip with you. I want them to see themselves in your story. So I always want to see what you saw. So not so much the truck, but yes, I do need truck pictures. But I want to see what did you have for breakfast? Where did you camp? What are the people you saw? Was there a struggle? Did the truck get stuck in the sand and you had to dig it out? Was there, you know, the caravan of camels or you know, whoever came by, the tea ceremony, the I don’t know, the the

Stephanie Brady (38:59.098)
Candles in the church, like what show me what you saw. I need to see your adventure. That is always what I am looking for. And at this point in twenty years in an overland journal, I need I’m looking for different. if I can get it. You know, I’m

Ashley (39:15.263)
Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Stephanie Brady (39:18.05)
Really, really like because we get a lot of the repetitive areas and that’s fine, people are going through, but if you can shoot it in different ways where like things that I have not seen before, I am always very, very interested in that. And I always I will seek that out trying to get it.

Ashley (39:36.184)
I think that’s such an important point. And I remember that piece of advice has stuck in my head forever is what are what are you seeing? Because the magazine visually is very different from social media. So you’re s shooting for social media. We can often is like, look at me doing this. Whereas this magazine, you’re looking for what are we seeing? It’s a different, it’s different.

Stephanie Brady (39:44.6)
Yes.

Stephanie Brady (39:55.854)
Right.

Stephanie Brady (39:59.551)
Exactly. And that yeah, and that is the number one thing. And I when you know, Instagram really became a thing and then we started getting a huge plethora of images of, you know, people like

you know, on the side of a mountain or you know, lotus pose on a cliff and you know, whatever, right? And I’m like, I would reject every single one of those. I was like, no, I don’t I don’t care about you. Like I don’t wanna see what you are doing. No one is wanting to look at you. I wouldn’t I need to see what you’re seeing, the beauty of it. Why are you there? Who are you interacting with? Like show me the trip. Show me the struggle. Show me ’cause that is so much of it, you know. I want them to experience and and

And I think that’s the biggest thing is like I need your experience of it. That is always what I’m looking for.

Ashley (40:49.687)
Great tips, great insider tips. So if you want to send your pitch in, that’s that’s really good advice of how to get how to get something in Overland Journal. So that’s great. I’m curious about out in the field for you. So you’re, you know, at your computer making designs and laying photos out of everybody else’s adventures, but you’ve been on your own adventures as well. What are some of the most memorable trips you’ve been on?

Stephanie Brady (40:54.882)
Ha ha ha.

Stephanie Brady (40:59.755)
Absolutely.

Stephanie Brady (41:19.192)
Okay. Yeah, I I think I would say my favorite, so I feel like my favorite probably across the board is Iceland. I just absolutely loved Iceland and I think I

I don’t know. I think just like, you know, the black volcanic soil and, you know, the the blue of the glaciers. Because I think for me, just everything with me, it’s not so much about the adventure, but about the beauty of the place. Like I want to, you know, see the moss, see the contrast in the colors. I

Yeah, I just look at things I think differently just as the designer and just like who I am as a person. You know, the green of the moss, just you know, the way the columns and the rocks, stuff like that. So I loved Iceland. I think Africa is really, really special. you know, have been there two different times.

You know, each pa place is very unique. you know, has its own feel, has its own people, its own set of experiences. so I think Africa, Iceland, Africa, you know, obviously been into Mexico a lot, you know, Baja, mainland, through South America, Chile, you know, Argentina, all of that.

So yeah, I think just you know, of course then across Europe and all that. So I don’t know, it just like I think all of I would if I had to pick a favorite be Iceland. But I will say that every every all of the trips in and of themselves, I have amazing and beautiful memories from everything.

Stephanie Brady (43:00.94)
You know, and again just coming back with all the pictures and I always when I go somewhere I try to pick up design magazines and those are some of my, you know, just possessions that I really, really love, you know, so I can’t necessarily read the magazines often if they’re in other languages, but I just I really enjoy doing that and just just see what’s you know, what’s going on in the world of design and you know, wherever I am. And so yeah. Nice.

Ashley (43:29.033)
Ooh, I like that. That’s a fun souvenir.

Stephanie Brady (43:30.402)
Mm-hmm. But it’s enjoy that.

Ashley (43:34.135)
Cool. I’m gonna start looking for those now.

Stephanie Brady (43:37.644)
Yeah, you should. It’s fine.

Ashley (43:40.978)
on those trips were those personal trips or were they part of a an expedition or what what were what was happening?

Stephanie Brady (43:47.391)
it was it was a probably a mix. I mean, there were some of them where we were on the expedition, you know, gonna be gathering content or, you know, generating content for the magazine. But there were also a fair amount of those, like I mentioned, where Scott say would come in from, say, like Antarctica. So the one of the Africa trips, right? He had been in Antarctica and that whole trip. So we’d been gone for two months. So I flew down to

Africa and met him, you know, and then just to see him and to spend some time.

And you know, like I said, when we moved the expedition seven trucks, you know, so usually I would try to, if I could, piggy back on an end of a an expedition. And then, you know, so I get some, you know, fun too. But some of it like the Iceland was a Land Rover launch and, you know, so I I would say it was kind of split 50 50 of you know what I got to go and do and experience. but usually I was right along. I was not, I would shoot photography.

sometimes in the early days, but I mainly was, you know, I was just going along and enjoying.

Ashley (44:58.367)
Nice. I love it. I love it. tell me a little bit about what you’ve been up to recently. I know we’ve had a big move from Arizona north. So what what have you been up to?

Stephanie Brady (45:11.124)
Yeah. Okay, yeah. So I just like I don’t know. I mean there were reasons for it, but moved from Arizona to Minnesota. So I am in a small resort town about two hours northwest of Minneapolis. And yeah, it’s just it’s really sweet. Small town, not unlike Prescott.

you know, which is where I moved from. but tons of lakes and so I don’t know. I think I’m just honestly enjoying the lake lifestyle. I mean like just honestly like still, you know, designing the magazine and I do, you know, do stuff in my in-between time for the collective, for Overland Collective, with process stuff and whatever, but it but especially like through the summer, I was kind of I just honestly doing a lot of playing, you know, in between all

of this stuff. you know, pontoons and e-bikes and yeah, stand up paddle bores and kayaking and and stuff like that. So so yeah, I don’t know, just try not to take myself too seriously. And you know, we spent just, you know, twenty years

Building up the magazine, working incredibly hard, lots of incredibly long hours. And I just I had the opportunity to do something different for a time and just to relax a little bit and enjoy and just kind of re-center and find myself and just honestly try not to think very much. Just go do have fun. So, you know, that’s kind of what I’ve been doing recently. And you know, kind of starting to now that fall is starting.

starting to come here in Minnesota and you know def definitely everything changes here. It’s a huge difference from Arizona, you know, living with sun all the time.

Stephanie Brady (47:03.33)
And so, you know, you kind of get stuck inside. but you know, and I think there’s beauty in that too, with here with the snow and cross country skiing and a lot of it’s very popular, you know, you do the sun and then you do the you know, the polar plunge. And so there’s just I look forward to taking advantage of a lot of that this this winter.

Ashley (47:23.095)
Are there any cultural differences that you noticed moving to Minnesota?

Stephanie Brady (47:26.73)
I Yeah, I will definitely say I noticed that initially. I think in the West people and I’m not and I’m sure Minneapolis is probably different, but just where I am, you know, I would say in the West it’s definitely more fast forward thinking,

thing you know quick movement i i would say it’s definitely a slower lifestyle here everyone’s super crazy nice i mean i have met so many good people and i now am part of like a 19 person strong friendship group that is like family and we do a lot of things but yeah i will say that i noticed a much slower lifestyle when i first moved here yeah

Ashley (48:10.261)
Nice, nice. And you survived your first winter. So

Stephanie Brady (48:13.31)
my gosh. Just barely. I wasn’t sure about it. And it wasn’t so much the cold. You know, it’s obviously I have gear for withstanding the cold. It was just, well, one, the snow driving, which I wasn’t, I’m not super fond of. but the other thing is just the well, the light, it’s lack of light. and also you were literally for seven months. Like basically once you go in to their winter, you were

you’re kind of stuck in sight, you know. you’re really Yeah. So that was something that was an adjustment. But like I said, I’m trying to figure out, you know, this next year, this next winter, okay, and get out more and just do some more fun activities.

Ashley (48:55.189)
Yeah, that really, really helps. but you’re right. I feel the same way. It’s like once winter hits, you’re in it. You’re in it. The n in the north. We are the north. Stephanie.

Stephanie Brady (48:57.549)
Yeah.

Stephanie Brady (49:02.092)
You’re in.

No, totally. You were in the north. So I’m looking forward to, you know, my mind is starting to roll a little bit of okay, you know, is there any other fun projects or anything that I want to do? And so I’m trying I kind of had my deadline of like October one that I would give myself and not think about anything. So I but I am, you know, as we’re coming up to that, I’m starting to, you know, I think it’s just by nature of who I am too. I I do like, you know, have that entrepreneurial spirit and stuff. So I don’t

We’ll see. I don’t have anything yet to report.

Ashley (49:38.741)
I’m excited to hear the update when it comes. Yeah. before we wrap up, I’d like to know what does Overland Journal mean to you?

Stephanie Brady (49:42.562)
Okay.

Stephanie Brady (49:51.967)
Okay, that’s a good one and I I don’t know I hope I don’t cry but I would just say like Overland Journal is my life. It has been my life.

I mean, I I do consider myself really like the matriarch. And I hope that I’m not I don’t say that at all to be, you know, prideful or at all minimize anything else that the rest of the team or anyone did. But I do have just this maternal feeling toward the magazine and just

everything just shouldering it, you know, through because so often I think, you know, I did do a lot of, you know, the behind the scenes, not just creating the magazine.

But you know, so many of those the processes and coming up and how we’re gonna run and how we’re gonna track this and what we’re gonna do and re-architecting systems when you know they needed updating or just like, okay, let’s do this instead, or you know, whatever. And I mean just trying to keep the consistency and the brand and like, you know, just the keeper of all these things, you know, and it’s so it’s kind of like a mom when you know, just so many people with their mom, they take it, you they don’t even think.

About, like, you know, there’s clean underwear and socks in my door. You know, like no one thinks about that, but like someone is there behind the scenes making sure the stuff happens, you know, and so that has really been me behind these scenes in a lot of ways, is in the process side, and so yeah, I just I feel like I am the matriarch, that I am the mama.

Ashley (51:12.906)
Yeah.

Stephanie Brady (51:33.463)
this thing, just loving it and shouldering it and like getting it to this place. where now, you know, with the Overland Collective and like I remember when we were in talks with, you know, Clay and Rochelle and, you know, and just seeing how this all could look.

And it felt to me almost like I was giving like giving the daughter to their son. It almost just felt like this beautiful transition when you think about, you know, in a wedding, in a marriage, this beautiful joining, but that, you know, this could stand on its own now. Like it it just it was grown up.

And yeah, it was just so sweet. So I’m so, so grateful, you know, to be able to still be there, to still be able to be the designer and just do what I absolutely love to do.

Ashley (52:14.263)
Stephanie Brady (52:30.048)
And that that is that has been the be most beautiful blessing that I ever could have to you know still be there. And but yeah, I’d say Overland Journal has just it’s been my love, it’s been my life. It’s yeah, I yeah, I’m super proud.

Ashley (52:48.225)
Well, thank you for making our stories look so incredible. And also I will say like for myself, there are a lot of stories that have meant a lot to me. And to have them printed in the journal is is a great honor. especially some like historical, even though I know those are very difficult to get, you know, imagery for historical photos is always a struggle. But

Stephanie Brady (53:09.555)
Right. Right.

Ashley (53:13.853)
Yeah, some of those stories I’m quite attached to. So to be able to have them out in the world and shared with others is is so wonderful. So thank you for your contribution and everything all these years, twenty years of Overland Journal. So yeah, thank you.

Stephanie Brady (53:26.2)
Thank you. I know. So welcome. So welcome. My absolute pleasure.

Ashley (53:34.603)
Well, thanks for coming on the podcast, Stephanie. if anybody is interested to reach out or learn more about you, where can they go?

Stephanie Brady (53:44.635)
I think probably I guess just for through the collective. I don’t, yeah, I don’t really maintain a lot of social media. I do have social media, but I but I’m honestly bad at posting to any of that. I honestly don’t even think I can remember my Instagram handle. I’m sorry. I don’t I don’t think so. I don’t think you can find me. I don’t know. Probably just have to email.

Ashley (54:03.287)
I love it.

Ashley (54:09.803)
That is my goal. That’s my goal in life. You can’t find me. They’ll they’ll

Stephanie Brady (54:15.276)
No, I mean I am on Facebook and stuff, you know, but yeah, my name.

Ashley (54:18.923)
Yeah. I going through the the pitch process or the collective, they’ll they’ll find you. They’ll find you if they really want to. Yeah. Cool. They’ll see you on the mast head.

Stephanie Brady (54:25.676)
Totally. Absolutely. Absolutely. Totally. Yeah. That’s where I am.

Ashley (54:33.969)
Awesome. Well, thank you again. It’s been a pleasure. And yeah, thanks for sharing the stories. And I hope all the listeners have really enjoyed this deep dive into overland journal history.

Stephanie Brady (54:44.302)
Mm-hmm. All right. Thank you, Ashley.

Ashley (54:46.815)
Yay. So to honor the 20-year anniversary of Overland Journal, we’re revisiting special heritage content in the upcoming 100th issue of the magazine. so to stay in the loop, sign up for the new Overland Journal newsletter. I’ll put the link in the show notes for that, and head to Expedition Portal for more bonus heritage content. And thanks for listening. We hope you enjoyed this episode and we’ll catch you next time.

Bam.