There’s a certain kind of place that only reveals itself to those willing to work for it: tucked past the last direct flight, down a road that keeps going long after you’ve stopped checking the map. For Genumark’s Johanna Gottlieb, that was the first clue Rupt Summer Camp would be different.
“I know that the most beautiful places in the world are hard to get to,” Jo says. “When I knew it was going to be two flights and then a two-hour car ride to this event, I knew something magical was coming.” She’d also known Rupt’s Jason for years, and that history gave her a head start on what to expect. “I knew his brain power would be working with his team to pull off something really epic and special. The setting, the structure, and the content all clicked so well in this special environment.”
That environment was Moab, Utah; Red rock, wide-open sky, and a long way from anywhere Jo would normally find herself.
Jo has built a career around prospecting, sales, and business development, and that’s usually where her talks live. This time, she went somewhere else entirely.
“I’m actually always talking about prospecting, sales, and business development, and I decided to completely pivot,” she explains. Instead, she found herself pulled toward a bigger question: how differently our minds work. “I’ve really been thinking about how all of our minds operate in such a different manner, and that it’s important to recognize that not everyone interprets information in the same way.” The result was as much a personal exploration as a presentation.
I had a lot of fun going down a rabbit hole with my own brain about how to talk about how we need to understand humans.
Ask Jo to describe the atmosphere, and one word comes up before anything else: gratitude.
“The vibe was a lot of gratitude to be there, and a lot of people felt honored to have been able to attend the first summer camp for Rupt,” she says. The energy in the room felt natural, not forced. “The vibes were relaxed, and the feeling of being with good people who were looking to learn and expand their minds” set the tone for the whole camp.
Beyond the atmosphere, Jo walked away with a clearer read on where promo is going.
“I learned a lot about print on demand as well as activations, and I feel that’s not the future of promo; it’s happening now,” she says. For Jo, that’s a call to action as much as an observation. “We need to jump on board so we can better service our clients.”
If the sessions gave Jo new ideas, Moab itself gave her something else entirely: a reset.
“Going to Moab is like going to Mars. There’s nothing like it,” she says. “The atmosphere is absolutely breathtaking everywhere you look.” Between sessions, campers scattered across the landscape. “We had time to network in the arches and hike. Some others took Hummer rides where they got to drive around in Hummers, and some of us also were able to go on a boat ride down the Colorado River to see the sights while listening to a band on a boat.”
For a self-described “big city girl,” the whole experience landed somewhere deeper than novelty. “It was such a chill and relaxed environment with beautiful backdrops and a deep appreciation for nature,” Jo says. “Going to a place like Moab is always a treat for me, and something that my body and mind physically need. I found it was just the perfect recipe for a good experience.”
For all the desert magic, Jo keeps coming back to the people who made it run — the Rupt team on the ground.
“The Rupt team was so good at rolling up their sleeves and getting the work done,” she says. Rupt team members were on-site, and attendees were organized into color-coded groups, each paired with a counselor. “I loved how you could see the counselors really getting down and dirty to get jobs done.”
One detail stuck with her more than any session or sunset. “Our counselors picked us up from the airport (two hours each way!) in vans to shuttle us back and forth, and that touch alone was such a great, rare moment that you don’t see a lot,” Jo says. “I loved how hard they worked without complaints, and how they were just there with a smile to assist and have all attendees experience something magical.”
Ask Jo for a single favorite moment, and she doesn’t hesitate: the opening keynote.
“My favorite part of the event was listening to the keynote speaker, James, who gave an inspiring talk about creativity and the human touch,” she says. “I loved his energy in kicking off the event.” It set the tone for everything that followed: a camp built around ideas and connection as much as the desert itself.
Looking back, Jo’s takeaway isn’t a single insight or session; it’s the whole of it.
“I want to share how deeply appreciative and honored I am to have spoken at this event,” she says. “I’ve had some really impactful and meaningful conversations since the event and have met so many like-minded people who are curious and eager to see this industry continue to move forward.”
Two flights. A two-hour drive. And a first-ever Rupt Summer Camp that, by every account, delivered exactly the kind of magic Jo suspected was waiting for her in Moab.
