Julie Saupe.

• Position: OFF THE CUFF - Interview

Julie Saupe has been the president and CEO of Visit Anchorage since 2007; she has worked to develop visitor industry opportunities in Alaska for more than twenty years, including positions at Explore Fairbanks, Travel Alaska, and the Mat-Su Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Alaska Business: What is your favorite pastime? Julie Saupe: Can I tell you what I like to say I do? [She laughs.] I like to think of myself as an avid hiker. I just don't get out as often as I should to really apply that to myself but when I do have spare time, 1 would like to be somewhere up in the mountains. My absolute favorite hike is Portage Pass Trail.

AB: Is there a skill you're currently developing or that you've always wanted to learn?

Saupe: I've always wanted to do watercolor, and then I always wished that I had more musical talent than I do.

AB: What is your go-to comfort food?

Saupe: Ice cream, if I'm at home, but I actually relish saltine crackers. I can't keep them in my desk.

AB: Other than your current career, if you were a child today, what would your dream job be?

Saupe: I am fascinated by heavy equipment and heavy equipment workers--the trucks with the tires that are taller than you. I think that would have been a fabulous career.

AB: What is your favorite way to exercise?

Saupe: I like classes... I like being in a group setting with music and other people.

AB: Dead or alive, who would you like to see perform live in concert?

Saupe: I'd love to see the Beatles in the middle of Beatlemania. If I could be sixteen years old again and in that moment, that would be fun.

AB: What's your greatest extravagance?

Saupe: Probably the recent addition of an apple-corer both at work and at home; I eat a lot of apples and using this little...