Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Christopher Austin. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Christopher, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
My wife Kelsey Braun and I re-met at 30 years old in Minneapolis and were struggling with where we wanted to go, who we wanted to be, what we wanted to do. You know, existential questions as you’re no longer in your free 20’s. We both were starting over in life. I had been a physical therapist in New York City and Kelsey was working in real estate in Austin, Tx. We both had traveled extensively, lived abroad and in multiple cities in the US. This world view and education of sorts gave us a unique outlook on how we viewed life and living, what we wanted to do for work and how we wanted to leave our mark on society. What we loved from our travels the most was meeting new people, learning about their life experience and incorporating adventure into a stay. Our best stays and the most memorable were the ones where we met locals, went on an exploratory adventure and shared a meal with newly made friends. Being a former physical therapist and understanding the importance of physical activity and movement to bring about mental peace is something we continue to promote at our resorts Cuyuna Cove and Tofte Trails. With an overwhelming amount of people reporting high anxiety and depression these days we really strive to have our guests get outside no matter the weather and be active. It is so important and so easily overlooked. Combine activity in nature and you have a recipe for stress reduction. We also understand that with the majority of people living and working in major metros that the forest or nature in general can feel so foreign now and unfortunately uncomfortable. This is where our creative outlet comes into the picture with the cabins we offer at our resorts. They are our artistic outlet and we want our guests to have a full experience of adventure and relaxation. Beautiful spaces surrounded by the natural beauty of Cuyuna’s pristine mine lakes (Cuyuna Cove) and Minnesota’s North Shore (Tofte Trails) forests give our cabins a unique offering. They are more than just a stay and that is the whole point. We encourage our guests to meet each other, go for a hike, wear themselves out in any activity they fancy and then come back and chill out in style.
Christopher, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Kelsey has spent her entire working life starting at 14 in hospitality. I’ve had numerous jobs over the years all culminating in achieving a doctoral degree in physical therapy. Which one has to have a patient centric focus much like hospitality drives a guest or customer centric focus. Basically both disciplines are all about the person before you and how do you help them. Helping them with their health as it pertains to physical therapy and helping them with their leisure or activity when it comes to hospitality. So we’ve blurred these disciplines together where we want to help more people get active and get back to nature. Studies continue to come out about the benefits of forest bathing and stress reduction. Having lived in New York City and then returning to Minnesota I’m able to directly see and feel the difference when stimuli is substantially reduced. In a major city you are bombarded and over stimulated and you don’t even realize it anymore as your mind adapts to your environment. Air quality, space etc comes into play as well. Health and wellness will always be multifactorial but if we can start to let the dominoes fall in the right direction it all adds up to improved outcomes for physical and mental well being. These days with our resort cabin offerings we are striving to get our guests back to nature or to nature for the first time. Put them in a space that is warm, comfortable and inviting and hopefully inspire them to be more active, meet new people. We want our guests to slow life down, focus on themselves or their partners. Our cabins are artistic outlets for us that foster a pensive and interactive getaway. Guests that stay at our resorts rave about the details!
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
When we started over in life we truly had no money. No savings and barely an ability to get a loan. I took a remote medical reviewing job so that I would show W2 income in order to be able to get a loan. We were both doing odds and ends digital work and really trying to piece together the financial picture. We knew we wanted to do something in hospitality but we really weren’t sure what. The Cuyuna Cove property was a former industrial lot, overgrown and left aside from the former mining days in Crosby, MN. Upon walking the property we saw what could be with the old mining shelves still cut into the land. The Cove cabins sit on stilts on this shelf. The property as it was is how it largely still is today. We simply built into it rather than trying to reform it into something else ie a paved motel parking lot situation. We had to do the lions share of the labor ourselves even with a small loan from the bank. We worked night and day for two and half years to make Cuyuna Cove a reality. I would start my medical reviewing at 4am, work until 12 and then head out to the Cove property to work on tree removal, foundations, building etc. When we were finally about to open Covid had just hit and we wondered what would come of that and how we would be impacted. Electricians and plumbers also looked worried and asked us if they should still finish and without actually knowing the outcome we of course said “keep going” at this point it’s a leap of faith and whatever will be will be.
Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?
This is kind of fun and shows how energy can work in mysterious ways. Kelsey and I went to the same junior high and high school in Minnesota. We knew who each other were and would cross paths over the years having “dated” for 1 week in junior high. A school picture from 7th grade was hung up at my father’s house to which I am wearing the necklace Kelsey had gotten me all those years ago. This was discovered after we re met at 30. I had been living and working in New York and Kelsey had been in San Diego, Colorado, Spain and Austin Texas. Admittedly I was interested in her life as I saw her watch brand Tuk come up on a social media feed and so I went down the rabbit hole of scroll to see what she was up to. We had no communication between each other by the way and really no mutual friends albeit knowing some of the same people. Kelsey ended up back in Minneapolis at 30 having recently moved back to be with an aunt who was passing away from cancer. I left a prior relationship and my career in New York and was back in Minneapolis just visiting for Thanksgiving. I had caught word that Kelsey was also back in Minneapolis and was asking a good friend of mine to find her number. He knows everyone and is that person in Minneapolis so it wasn’t a weird inquiry. He did in fact get her number or already had it having had mutual friends. As he and I are at dinner with his family for Thanksgiving Kelsey and I bumbled into one another ie she had to message me of course, app rules. We started chatting and I met her with her sister and law and niece at a brewery in St. Paul the next day as I was flying out to DC soon and unlikely to return to Minnesota. We started talking and within a few weeks I came back from DC and moved into her porch room in Northeast Minneapolis. For real, a porch that barely had enough heat in the winter time in which Enzo’s (our dog) water bowl would freeze without a space heater supplementing heat. Her two random roommates were not happy about it either! From there we struggled together and made our way.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.toftetrails.com www.cuyunacove.com www.stillresorts.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/toftetrails/ https://www.instagram.com/cuyunacove
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=tofte%20trails. https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=cuyuna%20cove
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFfiK2xtGAJ-GjuDcAfE7Lg https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cuyuna+cove
- Other: @toftetrails @cuyunacove For Facebook, Instagram, youtube.
Image Credits
@rachabellaphotography (Cuyuna Cove pictures) Kelsey Braun (Tofte Trails pictures).