Our Mission
Our product design inspires and motivates people to live active and healthy lifestyles.
Our Mission
Our product design inspires and motivates people to live active and healthy lifestyles.
Philosophy
Keep the focus on creating honest and authentic user experiences. Approach each product design challenge holistically, and with a focus on crafting elegant solutions to honest problems.


Our Story
Kyle Ellison’s passion for design began as a child hiking in the mountains of California. Whether in the coastal Santa Cruz mountains or high above the tree line in the Sierra Nevadas, you could often hear excited conversation about the latest gear, and what could be done to make it even better. To this day we find that the most inspiring, innovative, and compelling product designs still come from time spent outside.
Trailside Creative, LLC was started in 2012 with the mission to get more people off the couch, and outside! To support this mission the focus at Trailside Creative is to share our passion for making the world a better place through the design of products that support active, outdoor lifestyles.
Meet our product design team
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Kyle Ellison
Principal & Founder
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Rob Strickler
Sr. Industrial Designer
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Michelle French
Senior Apparel Designer & Product Developer
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Andy Jones
Sr. Graphic Designer
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Rachel Benyola
Startup Support Team
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Paul Johnson
Business Development and Project Management
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Shawn McVey
Startup Support & Strategic Advisor
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Jaimi Jansen
Startup Support Team

Kyle Ellison
Principal & Founder
Kyle Ellison is an Industrial Designer, a Maker, a Builder, and an Artist. With an eye for detail, he obsesses over fit, finish, and form.
During his years designing products for the cycling industry, for brands like Giro and Bell Helmets, Kyle gained an expert understanding of fit and ergonomics, as well as both physical and digital sculpting techniques. His love for the outdoors and his attention to detail were a perfect match for his time at YETI Coolers where he helped to broaden the brands reach in both the soft and hard goods categories.
His constant focus on creating delightful and meaningful user experiences has allowed him to design products that have not only won numerous design awards, but more importantly recapture market share, create entirely new categories, build brand reputation, and surpass market projections.
Kyle began his career making helmets in the mountains of Santa Cruz, California and after years of consulting, officially founded Trailside Creative, LLC in Austin Texas in 2018. Trailside is a boutique design and user experience consultancy located in the Texas Hill Country.

Rob Strickler
Sr. Industrial Designer
Rob is an industrial designer with a passion for functional, durable, beautiful products that help make people’s lives better. He started his career as an intern at Whipsaw, working his way up through dozens of projects to become a senior designer, handling clients of all sizes, in fields ranging from consumer electronics to medical equipment.
After Whipsaw, he took a position doing ID and customer field research for a portable communications company servicing several major airlines, aircraft manufacturers, and fire departments.
His broad range of experience puts him in a great position to tackle any project.

Michelle French
Senior Apparel Designer & Product Developer
Michelle has worked in various apparel design and development roles for emerging and established women, children, and menswear brands. In her current position at the Fashion Incubator, she manages all of the Gerber technology and equipment, and collaborates with emerging design businesses to launch products that are meeting design, market, and cost requirements. Her expertise in creating product development and production systems came from her experience managing and working with sewn goods manufacturers. Her passion for sustainability sparked her interest in Supply Chain Management, which gave her greater awareness for the journey her designs would take and their global impact – from the materials used, the people manufacturing them, the people wearing them, and their effect on the environment at the end of their lifecycle. Supply chain has allowed her to hone in on her ability to purposefully design and support product goals, seeing them through from concept to fulfillment.
Michelle holds a Bachelor of Science in Textiles and Apparel Design from the University of Texas at Austin and a Business Foundations Certificate from the McCombs School of Business. She is a member of APICS and is a Certified Supply Chain Professional.

Andy Jones
Sr. Graphic Designer
With over 20 years of experience, Andy has spent time working with and for top Action Sports Brands and industry-leading designers, including brands such as Fox Racing, RockShox, O’Neill, and Bell Helmets. Andy’s background includes product CMF design and direction, creating communication presentations for marketing teams, and branding style guides. He is passionate about color, materials, and finishes as they range from fashion to architecture to consumer products, and he is extremely knowledgeable about the production processes for various textiles, paints, and plastics.
Andy has helped develop everything from early conceptual ideas to full season product launches. As a team oriented and collaborative individual, he excels at managing relationships with clients, sub-contractors and suppliers. And he has an in-depth knowledge of the manufacturing processes required to bring designs to life.
With his background and work ethic, Andy is an asset to any team.

Rachel Benyola
Startup Support Team
Rachel is a part of the Trailside Creative Startup Support Team.
Rachel can assist with:
- Startup coaching
- Pitchdeck build and review
- Pitch Presentation coach and review
- Business Strategy consulting
Rachel coaches leaders and startup founders to business plan, negotiate contracts and equity positions, design for manufacturability, hack regulatory standards, increase team efficiency, lean operations, fundraising, emerging talent development and remediate low performance and team conflict. She combines her decade of professional coaching expertise with her experience as a CEO and founder to coach startups comprehensively. You need someone who can advise your startup team to avoid all of the major pitfalls and mistakes that founders make. As she puts it: “I have made many mistakes and still thrived. Learn from the missteps of those before you to set yourself up for success.”

Paul Johnson
Business Development and Project Management
Paul has over 10 years of relationship management and relationship sales, with another 5 years of Program management, Project management and Business development. Paul’s experience in public-speaking, coaching and teaching comes into play in multiple facets when providing salient team input. With the heart of a teacher, Paul firmly believes that “there isn’t anything you can’t do, only things that you haven’t learned how to do.”

Shawn McVey
Startup Support & Strategic Advisor
Shawn McVey is an advisor, wilderness athlete, and product /brand builder. His approach is based on people and industry connections, both on the operative and athlete sides of the outdoor industry. With a degree in Business Management and as a strategic advisor Shawn provides insight to company founders, operations, and creatives. Shawn’s approach reviews capital investments, ROE in product, and evaluates long-term customer growth through product design, ambassador roles, and content strategy. Specializing in operations, product, ambassador content, and scalability, Shawn brings a unique position to companies as a brand stakeholder. He and his teams are constantly field testing and can provide feedback on what works and what does not meet expectations in the field. Shawn delivers vital insight on product development and design while bringing in teams to prototype, implement, and drive design in a variety of outdoor verticals. Land, sea, water, mountain, jungle.
With years of experience in the industry, as a brand builder, taking an athlete-first approach. He has a passion for family, sustainability, and developing the outdoors industry for American business. As an advisor, he brings a wealth of real-world knowledge and practical experience to all product development and business decisions. Shawn’s friends and community continue to push the narrative of what’s possible in the world of outdoor adventure. When he’s not in the office or planning his next expedition, Shawn enjoys spending time with his wife and two kids.

Jaimi Jansen
Startup Support Team
Jaimi can assist with:
- Startup coaching
- Business Systems Management
- Team Management Training
- Business Strategy consulting
- Health and Wellness Industry
Jaimi Jansen is Founder & CEO of Santa Cruz CORE Fitness + Rehab. As a result of a bike accident 10 years ago, she started as an early adopter of the integrative wellness model. She now runs 3 locations that have evolved into a medical company and practice management company. She provides business consulting, management education, marketing solutions, leadership skills, practitioner education, and workplace wellness services.
As a wellness advocate, Jaimi has been recognized nationally as Entrepreneur of the Year (2013 USASBE) and has started consulting, bringing her talents to the wellness industry and beyond. She is currently working with physicians, other medical and business professionals to improve their marketing, business development and organizational skills. Jaimi helps fellow visionaries leverage their time and talent to achieve their goals, and she finds that the greatest healing has come when individuals reach their highest potential.