Marketing • Comms • Journalism
Multilingual storyteller & global marketing leader
Hi. Hola. Oi. Salut. I’m Evan, a marketing and media professional. I led the marketing strategy that brought surfing to the 2020 Olympics — and made its debut a global success. I’ve worked at two Olympic Games, covered Paris 2024 in Tahiti as a journalist, and published my late father’s memoir, The Substitute Asshole, now available on Amazon and in select bookshops.
I’m a quadrilingual traveler who’s explored 39 countries, documenting my experiences in seldom-visited places.
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Professional highlights
Marketing & Comms
- I led global marketing & communications for the International Surfing Association from 2015 to 2021. across — social (paid/organic), web, email & broadcast.
- We successfully convinced the IOC to include surfing in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, and at the Games achieved top-50% media impact among sports.
- I managed multilingual media teams at 20+ world championships across 4 continents.
- I drove comms (press releases, talking points, strategy) in Spanish and English with athletes and press; organized, scripted, and emceed press conferences at world championships.
- I managed digital strategy: growing the @isasuring Instagram following by 800% and Facebook by 84%, while driving up to 1.6M views to Olympic qualifier event pages.
Journalism
- I reported on site for The Inertia at the Paris 2024 Olympics; Investigative reports, interviews, daily news, op-eds; top stories received 300,000+ page views
- I covered human-interest stories across Africa, Asia, & the Middle East.
- Reported on local government for Santa Cruz Local, covering issues such as license plate cameras illegally used by federal agencies for immigration enforcement, homelessness policies, and disaster aid funding.
- Bylines in Stab Magazine, Surfer Magazine, Lookout Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz Local, Teton Gravity Research, Blue Man Hoop, Freesurf Magazine, Wave Pool Mag, Collective Santa Cruz.
My book: The Substitute Asshole
The year is 1983. My dad is sitting in a prison cell in the Mojave Desert and decides to pick up a pen. He didn’t know it then, but those words scribbled in his prison journal would mark the start of a 41-year project. They became the first words written for his memoir that I published in 2024, three years after his passing.
The Substitute Asshole is available in paperback on Amazon and select bookstores: Bookshop Santa Cruz, Dog Eared Books, and Bird & Beckett Books.
Raw and un-sensationalized, Dean Quarnstrom’s depictions of his wild shenanigans during the drug culture of the 60’s and 70’s are the more powerful for their honesty.
– Amazon review, Dorit
It’s the 60’s and Dean was an unsung hero, a must read! We are there with all the action, joy and pathos and it’s a wild ride. Laugh out loud funny and deeply moving. Dean and his son Evan are great writers and the reader stays engaged, reading quickly and not wanting it to end.
– Amazon review, Wendy
My story
I’m a marketing/media professional, journalist, world traveler, and polyglot. I love telling stories that allow me to dive headfirst into the communities where they take pace around the globe. Over the past decade, I’ve executed stories on five continents and spearheaded the marketing efforts behind surfing’s Olympic debut. In 2024, I covered surfing at the Olympic Games in Tahiti as a journalist.
When I was 29 I decided that my dreams were bigger than a dream job. I left my career in the surf industry — on paper, everything I ever wanted — and bought a one-way ticket to Brazil to steer my life in a new direction.
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