Words: Jamie Steel
Photos: Zack Teperman
Zack Pederman – for the love of marketing, PR & paddling
Now in his mid-thirties, entrepreneur, investor, best-selling author, speaker and PR agency owner Zack Teperman has led a successful, young life that proves to us all that you can live the life you want while still enjoying the things you like to do.
Zack, currently the President of the award-winning American public relations agency ZTPR (www.ZTPR.net), started his career as a radio disc jockey working in Miami, Florida, Bracebridge, Ontario and a special on-air gig at Mix 100FM in the capital city of Canada’s Northwest Territories, Yellowknife. For those who may not know about this hidden gem in the North, Yellowknife is home to some of Canada’s most scenic and natural lakes, including Great Slave Lake, Long Lake, Frame Lake, Reid Lake, the Lower Cameron River and the Tartan Rapids. It is also north of another bucket-list paddler’s dream, Banff, in Alberta.
While living and working in radio in his late teenage years, Zack described how beautiful Yellowknife and its lakes were. “I wasn’t in Yellowknife for too long, just one summer, but it was one of the most incredible summers there. Going down the Ingraham Trail and paddling in all the lakes was just mind-blowing. The water and air are just so fresh. You could just put your hand in the water and drink it out of your palm, and it tasted better than anything out of a bottle. Working on-air at the radio station on weekdays, I could spend my weekends just exploring all the nature around me… It was an experience I’ll never forget, and probably where I fell in love with being out on the water in just a canoe or kayak for some ‘me time’.”
Travelled back to Toronto
After hanging up his radio microphone and headphones in Yellowknife, Zack travelled back to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to continue his work in the radio industry while starting to tone his craft in marketing, sales and public relations. While living in Toronto, though, Zack tells us he was able to escape from his typical 9-5 work day by heading down to his family cottage near Algonquin Park to relax on the water. “Being able to work in the city and drive a few hours to relax my mind in nature was a real perk. I was never really a ‘city guy’, but that’s where work was, so I had to be there. But whenever I could get away, I would.”
His life in Toronto came to an end when he took a chance at a job opportunity in Hollywood, California. It was there that Zack took everything he had learned previously to work up the ranks in the public relations industry, starting his agency after a few years (in 2014) and taking it global with clients in entertainment, music, technology, fashion, sports, food, health and business.
What started as just an agency in Hollywood grew over the years to all parts of the United States and then finally back to Zack’s home country of Canada, where he was able to connect and help represent a company that fits in with his passion, paddling. That company was TRAK Kayaks (www.trakkayaks.com), makers of the top portable kayak, and with Zack’s expertise and guidance, TRAK has seen its kayaks take over the marketplace over the years.
“When I first spoke to [TRAK CEO] Nolin Veillard, I just knew they had something special. Being someone who likes to travel and kayak, I was blown away by everything TRAK had created and been doing. I had to get involved.”
Tennessee
With offices in Hollywood, Zack expanded his home base away from the California ocean four years ago by moving to the lakes of Tennessee, just outside of Nashville. He lives with his five-year-old daughter at his self-titled ‘Camp Teperman’ lake house. There, Zack has his own paddle boards and kayaks like the TRAK to get out on the water daily, blending a mix of nature with his hectic work schedule away from the water.
When not on the water in Tennessee, Zack travels wherever he can. Recent trips, he tells us, include paddling around in Lake Louise, Canada, Lake Arrowhead in California, Spencer Glacier in Alaska, where he kayaked around the ice and snow, and overseas from him in the clear hot seas surrounding the island of Bora Bora in French Polynesia.
“Being able to work, travel and do the things I love has been a blessing. Everything in my life, from my days being an intern getting people coffee at radio stations to being on-air myself, to working in PR for someone else, to now owning & expanding my firm, has happened for a reason. And through all the big life choices, I have always taken the time to think while on the water, whether on a jet ski, a kayak, or just simply sitting on a dock to zen myself and my thoughts.”
With ZTPR recently expanding its reach beyond North American waters to places like Australia, the UK, Singapore and Switzerland, the future for Zack looks bright. And with investments in health brands like Seoul Juice (https://seouljuice.com), kayak companies like TRAK, and others, all while innovating the PR industry daily and speaking at colleges in between promoting his best-selling book he wrote with Mark Cuban, David Meltzer and The Wolf of Wall Street Jordan Belfort entitled, ‘Enough of the Bull$hit’, Zack hasn’t stopped… and tells us he never will.
Being out on the water brings joy and so much more to so many people like Zack that it is a real treat to see how paddling, in general, has given him and others success and fulfilment in more ways than just tangible items.
Follow Zack’s life and adventures in full via Instagram at instagram.com/zackteperman or on his company website at http://www.ZTPR.net
