Everyone has a dream. For some people, that dream becomes a reality and they find themselves loving what they do, day in and day out. It's the passion behind these dreams that makes them come to life. If you've ever come across someone that's taken a dream and focused 100% on making it into a reality, there's nothing better than listening to them speak about their journey. Stories about overcoming any and all obstacles during their uphill battle often end up being quite motivating.

Now officially five years old, Dinosaurs Will Die has officially cemented its place inside a short list of rider owned and operated companies that are 100% backed by the riders themselves. Knowing how hard it is to run a snowboard company is one thing, but hearing how it all came together from one of the owners is a whole different story. I recently caught up with Jeff Keenan to speak about all things Dinosaurs Will Die and found out all the interesting info you're about to read. Enjoy.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but within the last few years you've been in school, working as a filmer during the winter, digging at camp in the summer and what's that other thing you do really well....oh yeah, running Dinosaurs Will Die with Sean Genovese. How were you able to have this many things going on and still function as a human being?
It's all about living location. I moved back down to North Vancouver from Whistler three years ago. This centralizes me right in the middle between the city and the local mountains. In the fall I went to Capilano University, so I could go to class and then go straight to the lift or vice versa. Then winter would roll around and I would start my filming job. DWD's factory and many of our distributors are overseas, so the time difference works out, as their days are our nights. So after filming or school, I would start to work on Dinos at night. Sometimes during exam weeks I wouldn't get to sleep much, but in the end it's all worth it.

But things have changed now. You're all graduated, snowboarding instead of filming and you've moved out of Whistler for good.
Filming and snowboarding have always been hand in hand for me. Back in the Skids' movie days, I was one of the main filmers as well as a main rider for the films. When Skids switched to Sandbox I filmed more in the first movie, and then rode more in the second film. I moved away from Sandbox really early in their movies. Since then I co-produced Runway films for two seasons, filmed for Standard Films and Monster Energy. All of this while DWD was in its infancy stage - we planted a seed and let it grow slowly. Sean and I were able to work on the side to help pay for our living costs. Now DWD is my main focus and I am very excited for what the future holds.

Being a professional shred dog yourself, was it hard to sit there filming people shredding the jumps that you wanted to be shredding?
Haha, this has been my life long battle: to film or be filmed! I love both of them; however, one pays better than the other. There have been many times in my life where filming was my only source of income and for this I am very thankful. To be out in the backcountry everyday, living and working within the surrounding environment is so surreal. You are out in the mountains from sunrise to sunset and I love every minute of it. The only downfall that I saw was that I never really accomplished what I set out to do when I was focusing on just snowboarding. When I was filming the other riders, I was really wishing it was me on the other side of the lens. With Standard I had good crews: one year with Dave Short and another with Matt Belzile. Both these guys are so talented that it was awesome to film them and spending time with these guys in the backcountry made me even more stoked to go ride.

How is city life treating you? What's different?
City life is amazing. I live at the bottom of Lonsdale in North Van; Seymour is 20 minutes away and downtown is a short seabus over the inlet. I went to high school down here and spent a large portion of my life on the North Shore; it is and always will be my home. Leanne [Pelosi] and I spend a lot of time down in Gastown checking out new spots. From a design aspect, it's super progressive and inspirational down there. Back in the Skids days we used to have a bum friend named Gassy Andy. He played the guitar and hung around Blood Alley area. These days, I visit Blood Ally and the area has physically completely changed from what it was ten years ago. The drug apartments and safe houses have evolved into fancy studios and high-class eateries, but the feel and aura of the area hasn't changed. Vancouver is a hard place to live because everything is expensive and there are few jobs. However, the snowboarding crew here is now generations deep and the people who want to be here figure out ways to make money and ride.

Who do you live with?
I live with my girlfriend Leanne Pelosi and our dog, Keita. We have lived together for about four years, since we moved from Whistler. At first it was really different for us here, living in the city and filming in Whistler. My family cabin is still up there though, so we have the best of both worlds. We can go up and stay months on end, living in winter wonderland, and then head back down and enjoy what Vancouver has to offer.

(keep reading for more on Jeff's 30cm rule and what's coming up for DWD)