Kourtni Ayers-Ethel

My retail career has taken me all over the country — from California to Montana to Utah to Hawaii — working for brands that all operate a little differently, expect different things from their teams, and define success in their own ways. Moving through those environments taught me how to adapt fast, listen deeply, and build teams that feel supported no matter what the brand or zip code is.

At my core, I’m a dirt-under-your-fingernails kind of manager. I’m not the sit-in-the-back-office type. I’m shoulder-to-shoulder on the floor, solving problems in real time, coaching through the moments that actually matter, and making sure the team feels confident — not just compliant.

Across every role, the through-line has been the same:
empower people, make the work feel doable, create clarity where there isn’t any, and lead in a way that makes teams feel proud of what they’re building together.

My career has zig-zagged across states and brands, but the heart of it stays the same: show up, elevate the people beside you, and leave every team stronger than you found it.

I’ve spent the last decade building a career that basically lives at the intersection of retail leadership, operations, training, and getting teams to believe in themselves.

Right now at Outerknown Palo Alto, I’m the person who keeps the store running smoothly day-to-day and makes sure the team is constantly growing. I’m big on coaching and developing people into their next role — building internal talent pipelines instead of scrambling to hire from the outside. Clean floors, smart staffing, strong sales, and a team that actually likes coming to work… that’s the vibe.

Before that, I spent a year up in Big Sky, Montana managing Montana Supply on a contract — which basically meant making seasonal chaos look organized. I built onboarding, SOPs, training docs, event calendars, staffing models… you name it. I created an EXPLORE customer-connection program that helped everyone feel more confident on the floor. It was like taking a rotating cast of seasonal hires and giving them a fighting chance during the busiest times of the year.

I’ve also dipped into the production side of retail at Boot Barn HQ, where I helped move product from concept to finished good — coordinating with factories, tracking WIP, placing POs, negotiating pricing, and making sure everything actually arrived when it was supposed to. It was a crash course in how product truly gets made.

One of the most defining roles I had was being an Area Manager at Black Diamond, where I oversaw nine stores across the U.S. I built leadership training programs, created regional event calendars, launched operational frameworks and KPIs, supported new store openings, and managed P&Ls and labor. It was like retail leadership on “expert mode” — and I loved it. That role taught me how to scale culture, operations, and performance across multiple locations. Before that, I managed one of their stores, which taught me the everyday realities of leading from the floor up.

My early years were a mix of retail management, product development, purchasing, and marketing support — from Quiksilver in Maui, to fabric sourcing in San Francisco, to helping run social media and influencer campaigns for a brand in Hawaii. I started as a sales associate at Lucky Brand, moved up quickly, and just kept going.

In short:
I’m obsessed with building teams, improving the customer experience, designing training that actually works in real life, and keeping retail operations organized enough that people can do their best work. Whether it’s a single store or an entire region, I’m the person who brings structure, clarity, and momentum — and I make sure the team feels supported, not micromanaged, along the way.

I earned my A.A. in Product Development from the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, where I learned the foundations of how products go from concept to creation — everything from sourcing and materials to fit, construction, and the full development lifecycle. It gave me the technical base that’s shaped the rest of my retail and operations career.