Outsider to Insider: Rachael Burnside on Bikes, Belonging & Finding Your People
There's a specific kind of feeling you get when you show up somewhere new — new kit, new job, new industry — and immediately wonder if you made a terrible mistake. Rachael Burnside knows that feeling well. She applied for a job at a cycling marketing agency after the deadline had already closed, attached photos from the Rio Olympics to her email, and somehow got the job. Then she showed up and realized she had no idea what she was doing.
Nine years later, she's head of PR and Social at Shift Active Media, working with 25 cycling and outdoor brands across the globe, and she founded Uplift — a mentoring program for women in the cycling industry who didn't have women in senior positions to look up to. She still has moments where she's not sure she belongs.
We recorded this one live at Sea Otter, and it went a lot of places!
The Ride That Started It All
Rachael's entry into cycling wasn't glamorous. She grew up with a budget mountain bike that never saw a mountain, commuted on a bike with a basket on the front, and didn't buy her first road bike until her mid-twenties. When she landed at Shift, she was surrounded by people who clipped in, wore Lycra, and talked about components she'd never heard of.
On doubt:
"I got there and I was like, oh my god, I am not into this like these people. I didn't wear lycra, I didn't clip in."
Within six months, she was all in. But feeling like a cyclist and feeling like she belonged in the industry were two very different things.
No Drop. Except It Was.
If you've spent any time in the cycling world, you've seen it advertised: the “no-drop” ride. It means nobody gets left behind. Except sometimes they do.
Rachael showed up for an industry ride, and five minutes in, the group split at a traffic light. The faster riders made it through. She didn't. Nobody waited.
"I never want someone to feel like that made me feel."
It's a small moment that stuck with her. Not because it was malicious — it wasn't — but because it was preventable. And because it's the kind of thing that makes people not come back.
We talked a lot about what it actually means to create inclusive spaces versus just calling them that. There's a difference between a no-drop ride and a pace-matched ride, and being honest about which one you're hosting matters more than we give it credit for.
Building the Community You Wish Existed
When Rachael first joined the cycling industry, there were very few women in senior positions. So she did what a lot of people do when they can't find their people, she created a space for them.
Uplift started as a mentoring program connecting women who were early in their cycling industry careers with women who had been around long enough to have some answers. Two and a half years in, it's grown into something bigger — a network of women who show up for each other at events, on rides, and in the quiet moments when imposter syndrome gets loud.
"I left thinking, that was really great. I've learned some new things from these women and I know that I can come to them if I need some help."
That's the thing about finding your people. It doesn't always look like a perfectly curated community. Sometimes it looks like twenty women having beers at Sea Otter, talking shop, and leaving feeling like they can do the thing.
On Solo Riding & Giving Yourself Permission
Not everything in this episode is about community. Some of it is about the opposite — the value of doing things alone, on your own terms, without anyone waiting for you or needing you to keep up.
Rachael is a self-described solo rider. She loves getting on her bike and going somewhere without a plan, stopping when she wants, turning around when she's done. No group, no pressure, no pace to match.
"If I want to stop and have cake after 10 minutes, I can stop and have cake after 10 minutes."
We talked about how that kind of solo time gets misread as antisocial or selfish, and how letting go of the pressure to always be doing things with people has actually made both of us better at showing up when it counts.
This conversation reminded me that finding your people isn't a destination, it's something you keep doing, over and over, every time you show up somewhere new and wonder if you belong. Rachael has been in this industry for nine years, and she's still figuring it out. So are the rest of us. The difference is she stopped waiting to feel ready before she showed up. That's the whole thing.
Links & Love
Connect with Rachael:
Shift Active Media: shiftactivemedia.com
Shift on Instagram: @shift_active_media
Uplift on Instagram: @uplift.mentoring.networking
Connect with the pod:
Follow the podcast: @tarin.it.up.podcast
Newsletter: tarinitup.myflodesk.com
Support the pod: buymeacoffee.com/tarinitup