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  Brandon Richards launches The

The Culmination Project is an online community and network that’s the brainchild of longtime industry retailer Brandon Richards, the marketing director for Val Surf, and a group of professional athletes.

Wanting to showcase the online lives of some top snow and surf athletes under one domain, The Culmination Project features videos, photos and social media updates mostly through Instagram of selected surfers and snowboarders, all who are either company partners or friends of partners.

“Our slogan is friends supporting friends,” said Brandon when asked about the impetus and goal behind the project.

Since so many of his professional athlete friends had difficulty finding the time to update their own websites while on the road, Brandon said he wanted to offer athletes their own websites, all hosted under one domain.

“Not only is it convenient for athletes since we update and manage their sites for them, but now they can network together rather than just as individuals. A lot of great unseen videos and content gets lost within the world wide web, so we also wanted to have a specific place where relevant and quality content can live, and viewers can search for their favorite athletes without having to go to multiple sites,” he added.

Professional surfers Josh Kerr and Reef McIntosh, professional snowboarders Shayne Pospisil and Gabe Taylor, and longtime RVCA employee Keegan Gibbs have signed on as initial partners.

The site, which Brandon is running totally separate from anything he does with Val Surf, is financed entirely by Brandon. He’s hired a web developer to help make the site run smoothly, and posts many of the updates himself.

When asked if and how he plans to monetize the community, Brandon said he may extend opportunities for advertising and possibly launch an apparel collection down the road, but that right now he and his partners are still just focusing on building the community. The site launched in January.