Life During Lockdown: Vipe Desai

Vipe and I met in the late ’90s. My partner Pat Solomon and I were making action sports films. At that time, Vipe owned the successful H2O Surf and Snowboard shop in Seal Beach. He was very plugged in with pop culture, and he helped with us with music licensing for one of our motocross films. In fact, he opened up the Interscope Records catalogue for us. That included Death Row’s Greatest Hits, among other gems. Vipe and I have been friends and colleagues since then. We’re both passionate about environmental issues, entrepreneurship, technology and the outdoors. We talk often and run ideas by each other. Vipe is a great sounding board and brings tons of business and life experience to every discussion we have. Vipe now serves on a number of corporate and non-profit boards. He founded Vote the Ocean and is the Board Chairman of The Ocean Institute. He’s also done important advocacy work in Washington, D.C. and testified before congress about the importance of the ocean economy. I caught up with him to see how he’s doing during the pandemic.

1. Give me some highlights and lowlights from your first two months in lockdown mode

It’s been a rollercoaster of emotions — just absolutely surreal to see how things started out with the shelter-in-place order to the social justice movement that young people are driving — which I believe is long overdue.

For the most part I’ve been fortunate to be busy because most of my time now is spent serving on boards so there are daily meetings to ensure that the organizations and businesses are taking the best steps possible operate during and beyond the pandemic. The biggest highlight for me has been that I have a whole newfound respect for teachers — not that I didn’t I appreciate them before — but now that I’m in their shoes and we’re homeschooling our 9 y/o son I’m seeing things very differently. And I’m all in and it has been an absolute blast.

I’ve also been spending a lot of time outside, I think outdoor therapy has been very helpful. Just going on hikes, riding bikes with the family and even getting in the water for a surf has really helped me to keep my head on straight.

The lowlights are the uncertainty of what the future holds. Watching and reading the news can get overwhelming but it’s also important to pay attention to what’s going on and keep it in the back of your mind so I can make the best decision possible for personal and professional reasons. There is a lot at stake and I think getting through the election is going to be important to healing our country and communities.

Vipe and his son

2. How have you grown personally and professionally during this disruption?

I have a son who recently turned 9, so a good amount of my focus has been on him — his mental health and his education. He’s at the age where being social is critical to his development and the first couple of weeks was like vacation to him but I was putting together homeschool programs everyday and making sure that he continued some form of education at home. And there are a lot of great resources out there already so I had fun learning alongside him. But as the stay-at-home order continued, I could see it taking a toll on him — he really needed some social interaction beyond just my wife and me. The past month or so we’ve cautiously ventured out a bit more but still taking precautions very seriously — wearing masks, socially distancing, avoiding gatherings, etc.

But we go out for hikes and drives along the coast so that has helped as well. It’s like a picnic on the road where we pack up food and snacks and just drive and soaking in some views and getting out of the car when appropriate.

So I know your question is about my personal and professional growth and I don’t think I’ve had time to focus on myself as much as I maybe should. But I have been reading a ton and one book that has really made me think is a book by General Mark Hertling called Growing Physician Leaders. It addresses leadership from the military and health care sectors and I think it is a must read for anyone in leadership. I got the opportunity to meet Mark years ago and last year I reconnected with him to be a guest on my podcast. His book is definitely in my top 10 must reads of all time.

I’ve also been listening to a lot of podcasts and also talking to a lot more friends and colleagues — just making an effort to call people everyday who I might not have had a chance to before the stay at home order.

I’ve also launched a couple of new projects — one called Propaganda HQ that is a resource and news site for the action sports industry. I feel that writing and developing this website is a way to help others in an industry that I grew up and I feel its a good place for me to put my experience to good use aside from the board room.

The other project is called Vote The Ocean, which I’m stoked to have you part of, is to inspire people to take action to protect our ocean. I’m in the middle of launching a voter pledge with a couple of ambassadors and it’s shaping up to be a fun campaign.

Vipe and I at a softball event in Huntington Beach a few years ago

3. Has your relationship with your community changed as a result of having no events or meetings on the schedule?

Not really. Having had my own business for so long I’ve been use to working remotely and managing my projects remotely either over the phone and through email. I did have a lot of the people I work with jump on the Zoom video conferencing wagon but I tell you I can only take so much of that. Zoom fatigue is a real thing and if it’s a few meetings a week, I could handle it but it was getting close to several a day. So now it’s phone calls for the most part.

Most everything is still virtual, if I don’t have to meet anyone face-to-face then so be it but I do look forward to when we can start meeting in small groups.

I’ve also reconfigured the home office and its set up for video conferencing on a moment’s notice. But I’ve also just barged in on people with a phone call or video link to say hello. There’s something about random calls that I miss because everything now is so structured with calendar invites. If I have a thought and I want to reach out, I just call them and if I don’t get them, I just leave a message and let them know why I’m calling and for them to call me back when they’re free.

4. Can the environmental movement create positive change in the world during a crisis like this?

Absolutely. During the past few years our country has been rocked by divisive politics, and I think many were ready to write off 2020 but the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement has presented a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I feel that there are a lot of people ready for lasting change for a more equitable future.

If there’s one bright sign it’s that there’s this connection forming where protecting our environment is closely tied to bringing people of color into the process. I think the system has left them out for a number of reasons but I’m seeing a lot of discussions and some action starting to take place so as hard as the pandemic has been and the decades of injustice people in the African American community have been dealing with I feel like we’re having a big moment and that society is ready to take steps to address systemic change. It’s long overdue and I am very optimistic on this and I really hope the energy from all these young people doesn’t lose steam.

I know people are finding ways to take action but I’m focusing on getting people involved in the political process through Vote The Ocean. I’ve been involved with ocean conservation for more than 30 years, and I remember a time when people looked at you funny for using a reusable bag or bottle and refusing to use a plastic straw. Now, I see so many people engaged and involved around me and that gives me tremendous hope for the future. It’s now a badge of honor to want to protect our ocean and planet.