Today we’d like to introduce you to Alex Hudson
Hi Alex, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I was born in Detroit, MI, grew up in Ohio and moved to Park City, UT in 2002 when I started high school. I am the youngest of three kids. My family is very close and we have all migrated back to the Park City area over the years. I have worked alongside my husband Henry at Blue Sky since 2020. Blue Sky is a working ranch and is home to the Lodge at Blue Sky, High West Distillery, the Adventures Company at Blue Sky, Gracie’s Farm and the Saving Gracie Equine Healing Foundation. The now almost 4,000 acres that Blue Sky sits on today was purchased by my father, Mike in 2004. Over the years, the land became a special place for my family to gather while we continued working on the long term vision of creating a place for guests to experience all it had to offer. The distillery opened in 2015 and the lodge opened in 2019 along with Gracie’s Farm, our regenerative garden in Wanship, UT.
Growing up, I was a very competitive soccer player. I played goalkeeper and ended up playing four years of division 1 soccer at the University of Washington. Over the years, I’ve realized this as one of my greatest accomplishments not because of any soccer specific accolades, but because of my ability to overcome adversity and put a team at the forefront of my priorities. After graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Medical Anthropology & Global Health , I moved back home to Park City and began to pursue a career in healthcare. I received my Bachelor’s in Nursing from the University of Utah in 2014 and started as an Operating Room nurse at Park City Hospital. After having my first child, Etta in 2017, I decided to transition to an outpatient nursing job in Dermatology. I helped a friend open a new clinic in the Park City area and worked there for about 4 years. Right about the time the world shut down in 2020 and my second child, Bernie, was born. I decided to transition out of the medical field and found my place at Blue Sky. At Blue Sky I joined the all female team at Gracie’s Farm under our Farming Director, Lynsey Gammon. The work of regenerative farming is difficult but very rewarding, especially with our high mountain desert environment and short growing season. In addition to working the land I was able to create farm programming for the guests at the Lodge at Blue Sky to experience. As a new mother of two and a changing world in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic, it was a beautiful place for me to be. As the success of the Farm grew I expanded my role into elevating our guest experiences and introducing new programming on the property. In addition to the role as the program manager at Blue Sky, I serve as the Executive Director of the Saving Gracie Equine Healing Foundation, the non-profit horse rescue that my mother Barb Phillips created in 2014. I am so lucky to have a place like Blue Sky to work. Being involved in a “family business” is more challenging and more rewarding than I could have imagined. I love the people and the environment we work in so much and am lucky to be a part of it.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Perspective is very important to me, so I would say overall yes, the road has been smooth, but certainly not straight! I am so lucky to have two beautiful children and a loving family. As an adult, I have always been driven to find a career path where I could express my compassion and care for others. As a nurse, this was somewhat easy as it was sort of built into the job description. I loved that about nursing and healthcare in general. As I transitioned into a company that was founded by my parents, I have had to find my place in a different way. I try to hold myself to the highest of standards so I can show my peers that hard work, love and kindness are not only important in the workplace, but also important to the culture that we are creating at Blue Sky and at the Saving Gracie Equine Healing Foundation. It doesn’t matter to me whether I am digging in the dirt at the farm, or managing on a higher level, I hope to demonstrate that teamwork and respect are of the utmost importance.
There are always struggles, and I think the main one for me has been navigating where and how I can have the most positive impact at Blue Sky. Going from health care into hospitality has allowed me to grow as a person and as an employee, but getting here has required me to be patient and flexible along the way.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I kind of touched on my career path in the previous question, but I think in general I have always been drawn to careers where I can express my care and compassion for others. As a nurse, it was rewarding to see my patients get well and feel healthy. At Blue Sky I love getting to express my creativity a bit more and creating experiences that our guests will love and remember. I love being a support person and assisting in communication with and for our staff members across the property. I think if I had to say I had a specialty it would be in effective communication. When I think about it, I had to be a clear communicator as a nurse and as an athlete. As a nurse, improper communication could result in medical errors. As a goalkeeper in soccer, my communication would at times make or break the way the team functioned together. This was a role that I played most of my young life, and I think it truly shaped me in many ways. I am most proud of the teams that I and Blue Sky have created over the years. When we talk or hear about why Blue Sky is such a special place to our guests, there is almost always someone in particular from the staff that made their experience unforgettable. I like to think that the culture that I have a small part in creating is the reason we have so many lovely people on our team. I think what sets me apart from others is my genuine desire for others to succeed and I like to think that that at the end of the day will be what will make me succeed and be fulfilled.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
With all of my talk about Blue Sky, I haven’t spoke about Saving Gracie Equine Healing Foundation! My role has become slightly hybrid in that I assist with the guest programming and adventures at Blue Sky, but I also recently took on the role of Executive Director of the Saving Gracie Equine Healing Foundation. The foundation was started in 2014 by my mother, Barb Phillips. Over the years, Barb has rescued many horses from neglectful situations. We have a 17 acre property that is 10 minutes away from the Lodge at Blue Sky where guests from the lodge or the community can come visit. We pride ourselves on the providing the highest standards of care for all of our horses that live at the foundation. Over the past year since I have been helping Barb, we have seen tremendous growth. We have big dreams and aspirations to continue the work we are doing as a non profit and we feel that we have only just begun. Just letting people know about the Lodge at Blue Sky and about the Saving Gracie Foundation is support in and of itself. I would work or collaborate with anyone who supports the same values as myself and our company. Those values being hard work, respect of land and people, love for the animals and fun!
Pricing:
- White Tail Trail Ride $395/guest
- Gracie’s Farm School $250/guest
- The Sporting Clay Experience $375/guest
- Rescue Horse Rehab at Gracie’s $250/guest
- Blue Sky Summit Hike $150/guest
Contact Info:
- Website: https://aubergeresorts.com/bluesky/ and https://www.savinggraciefoundation.org/
- Instagram: @blueskyauberge and @savingraciefoundation_
