Episode Details

Wendy Corr

Well, hey folks, welcome to The Roundup! We are a Cowboy State Daily podcast, and I'm your host, Wendy Corr. And as those of you who have been tuning into our podcasts know, we focus on interesting people here in the Cowboy State. And the Cowboy State is so, so much. It's an attractant for tourists, people flock to Wyoming. This is a bucket list trip for so many people. And so for Wyoming people, we rely on the Wyoming Office of Tourism, to tell everyone in the rest of the country, the rest of the world, about us. So today, we get to talk to the woman who is at the top of that organization, who leads the team that helps us get our voice out there. We've got Diane Shober on The Roundup today. And I'm tickled, I've known Diane for so many years, and I'm always so pleased to talk to her. And especially today, where we kind of get to deep dive into this Wyoming native who has just made it her life's work to tell others about our great state. Diane Shober, welcome to The Roundup!

Diane Shober:

Thank you so much, Wendy, I'm so excited to be here with you today.

Wendy Corr:

Well, we are so glad to have you with us as well. This has been on my list, by the way, for quite a while.

Diane Shober:

I hope it's the good list.

Wendy Corr:

Oh, no, you've been on list of, who can we get? You have been on my list from the very beginning. We've got to get Diane Shober on! But we wanted to get you on when it's closer to tourism season. Well, we are now getting started in tourism season. And does that just kind of get your blood going every time it gets closer to summer?

Diane Shober:

It does. You know this has been, as you alluded to, I've been doing this for many years, it's been really, all of my career has been somewhat in the travel and tourism industry. And I love it. And I love when I see visitors come, and we hear about, you know, their experiences in Wyoming, because, as you well know, visitors and residents enjoy the same things, the appreciation for the wonder of Wyoming. And the people that are here, I think is really allowing us to bring the best of Wyoming forward through the visitor economy. And I couldn't be more proud to be a part of it, and to have been a part of it for a period of time, a long period of time.

Wendy Corr:

A period of time. Yes. We're talking 2003. So 21 years, Diane?

Diane Shober:

Yes, yes, I was living in Chicago, and working for the Chicago Convention and Visitors Bureau, to Chicago. And Dave Freudenthal had just been elected as the governor of Wyoming, and he was - through the industry and their input to him - he was interested in establishing the Office of Tourism as a cabinet level agency. And so I was contacted by some friends, people that are well known across the state from the annals of history - Gene Bryan, Lynn Birleffi, some of those folks who've been such, you know, prominent leaders - and asked me if I would be interested in it.

It was just an opportunity to come home and to get to do something as powerful and as impactful as lead, really, the efforts for driving the tourism economy for Wyoming. It's been a gift. It's been a challenge. But it has been rewarding, really, at every step of the way. And it gets me to meet people like you, establish friendships. So those are, really, the payoffs of this work.

Wendy Corr:

I agree! That has been one of the gifts for me being a part of the tourism industry in previous iterations, and current, too, because I do a music show that I've done for, oh, my gosh, we're in year 20, now, for our music show.