Meet Nathen McVittie

We had the good fortune of connecting with Nathen McVittie and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nathen, what role has risk played in your life or career?
Two main things come to mind about risk, and both are related. One is that nothing was ever certain, and the other is that I had nothing to fall back on. For me, any risk in actually doing something was always much less fear-inducing than the risk of not actually doing anything.

I grew up in a small town in Northern England with fewer than 20,000 people. Everybody knew everybody. My family had been there for 100 years, and for a number of reasons, it felt like there wasn’t anything for me there. I always wanted to leave. The fear was always that I wouldn’t get out of the place I came from and move forward with my life.

So I took risks, I did things, and I moved through spaces and places. But to me, that rarely felt like a risk. It always felt more like a path towards something I enjoyed more.

I look back now and realize that a lot of the things I did were full of risk, but the idea that I wouldn’t do them never really crossed my mind. Everything I ever did was looked at only through the lens of, “Am I going to enjoy doing this?”

I always think about a kind of “tree branch” motif: your life is a tree branch … You go down the branch, and there are branches, so you have to make a decision, and you keep going. Down every branch that you take, there’s another one and another one. When you zoom out, it’s a big branch that represents your whole life.

Every time I made a decision, there was a risk, but I always tried to take risks that would bring me closer to where I would find happiness.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’ve always endeavored to work in industries I’m interested in and passionate about.

When I have a particular interest and passion, that interest allows me to understand the problems in its associated industry in a very intimate way, because I’m not just working in it; I’m also a fan or a participant.

Being in that space and in those roles allows you to really live and breathe what makes it special. Whenever I enter a new area, business, or code of sport, what comes naturally to me is taking something from another place, space, or industry and applying it to the one I’m moving into.

Because what works in one industry may not have even been thought of or discovered in another place. What do European sports teams do badly that American sports teams do well? What could an esports team or a motor sports team benefit from that a 100-year-old soccer team has figured out?

I find insights across sectors, and take the benefit from one and apply it to another. I’ve always tried to do that, to be across all these different areas and widen the lens to see them all.

Seeing what each place, each sport, each company, or each community does, and being able to find common ground between them, I think, can be a superpower.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I have lived on the east side of Los Angeles since moving over here. I grew up in England with all of its charm and its rain, and the “European” city imprinted itself in my brain – walking, dropping in places on a whim, and I think there’s a certain energy on this side of town that allows you to capture some of that energy. But, to a visitor, I’d have to show a cross-section of what makes LA so special: the people, the history, nature, food, art, and, of course, sports.

The Angeles National Forest is a place so inclined to be shown off. Driving on the 2 and finding a path or trail is a must. As is driving up the PCH for all the views and old-school places to grab a bite. Depending on the time of year, and keeping it fairly local, we’d have to drive up to Big Bear. The cliché of being able to hit the beach, city, desert, and snow in the same day is a luxury my English brain couldn’t fathom until moving here.

I also think that Los Angeles might be the best food city in the Western hemisphere, so there’s gotta be lunches and dinners out of the house every day. Korean food – first on the list. Soowon Galbi is my favorite BBQ spot. Chinese food in the San Gabriel Valley.

There’s obviously too much art and culture to name, but The Huntington in Pasadena is amazing. Every time I go, it feels like a reset to the intensity of LA. I also love The Getty and The Peterson Automotive Museum.

You can’t leave LA without a trip to see the Dodgers, even if you’re not a baseball fan. $10 tickets in the top row may no longer be a thing (RIP), but to me, the Dodgers are the closest thing to a football/soccer experience because of just how deep the support runs in the city across generations and cultures. Even if someone visiting me doesn’t understand baseball, going to Dodger Stadium feels like seeing the fabric of the city on full display.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Subcultures, in general, deserve recognition. There’s nothing like a personal passion turned into a community to find a place of empowerment, belonging, and shared uplift. The more niche, the better. I’ve weaved through a lot over the years — sports and weird American soccer facts, emo music, vintage cars, film photography, and lots more — but subculture is the one thing that keeps me passionate, motivated, and on my toes. If we can all try to find ways to find more passion for things, we’ll be in a better place.

Website: https://tiger11sport.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nathenmcvittie

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathenmcvittie/

Image Credits
Credit Nathen McVittie