Melissa Lipani

USA

Melissa grew up in upstate New York in a close, fun, and loud family. Her family owned a wonderful Italian bakery, Lipani's, and she was a serious competitive gymnast. She moved West to Colorado to attend school.  She graduated from Colorado State University and was a social worker in Ft. Collins. While in Colorado, she discovered climbing on accident near Horsetooth Reservoir. She dubbed it "gymnastics for adults" and was instantly hooked. Ten years later, she has climbed all over, and lived on the road to climb full time in 2004 and 2005 before relocating to SLC with her husband Adam. She tries to find balance in her life now with other activities, and is an active volunteer with No More Homeless Pets in Utah and Best Friends Animal Society, and she absolutely loves and adores dogs. She enjoys her family, house projects, good gin, strong coffee, good food, taking pictures, and warm weather.

Birthday? 7/15/19?? REALLY? Do you really need to know the year??

Year you first started at Black Diamond? 2005

Memory/story of your first week at Black Diamond? Explaining to my new coworkers that I had just been living in the parking lot on the west side of the building for the last few weeks (we had just finished a year long road trip and were effectively homeless upon moving to SLC). How many people can tell their new employer that they had been squatting in the parking lot (literally and figuratively) for the past couple of weeks?!

What does working at Black Diamond mean to you? Working with some of the most talented, fun, and creative people, who also happen to be some of the most amazing athletes in the industry.

If you weren't working for Black Diamond, what would you be doing? Interior Design, Working with Dogs, High Powered Biotech Sales Job, Climbing

Worst job you've ever had? I love my job at BD for the most part, and I'll probably get in trouble for saying this, but to be honest, I would have to say the ski bootfitting component of my job at BD! I really dislike feet. It's surprising the number of people who just don't take care of their feet. Cut your toenails people!

Do you have any pets? Three rescued dogs—Winn, age 13 (pittie/ridgeback mix), Tiggs, age 5 (pittie/whippet mix), Honey, age 3 (American Pit Bull Terrier)

Favorite sports/activities? Climbing! Sport and Bouldering

Favorite climbing area and why? Bishop—I love the style of the climbing there, the spectacular views, the splitter weather, Schatz Bakery, hot springs, and the chill hang.

Best climbing experience? Living on the road and climbing full time for a year before moving to SLC. Nothing could compare. I would love to do it again if I could.

What's your dream trip? Where? With who? I would love to go back to Sardinia, this time with my husband, and climb, kick it on the beach, and drink loads of good wine and eat piles of good food.

Guilty pleasure? Having grown up in a Catholic, New York, Sicilian family, I've tried to leave guilt behind.

BD gear you use every time you go climbing/skiing? My Aura Harness and trusty quickdraws—I like the long ones, and constantly get made fun of for it ("Oh look, Melissa brought her mountaineering draws'). Hey I'm short, some of them clips are tough!

What/who inspires you? My dog Tiggs, who has been recovering from a near fatal auto immune blood disorder. He has been through hell and back, but is always happy, ready to give love unconditionally, with a huge smile on his face.

What's in your iPod? A lot of hip hop—Notorious (East Coast!), Blackalicious, Dead Prez, Mos Def, Fugees, etc. Herbaliser, Cat Power, PJ Harvey, DJ Shadow.

Strangest place you've ever woken up? Prison. Just kidding!

Strangest person you've ever woken up with? My husband. He's weird.

Three things you'd never travel without? My husband Adam, my dogs, my tweezers—did I mention I'm Sicilian?

Superstitions? I always toss salt over both shoulders when cooking (I can't ever remember which one you're supposed to do, so I try to cover my bases).

What's your dream job? Growing up I always wanted to be a gymnast in the circus (I did audition for Sesame Street Live, no joke!).  Now I would love to either be an interior designer to the stars, or work with dogs full time. I'm working on the latter.

If you could steal one thing and not get caught, what would it be? Probably a piece of designer, bad ass, Mid Century Modern furniture.

If you could have dinner with three people (dead or alive) who would they be? My grandma Cerniglio—she was the best cook and had a great laugh, President Obama, and a toss up between Dave Chappelle or the guy that created the Family Guy, Seth MacFarlane—I would love to just laugh and laugh the night away.

Do you have any tattoos or piercings? Currently just my belly button, but I used to have my eyebrow and nose pierced.  No tats, that's just too much committment.