Bethany Hway

Bethany is the founder of the Lake Minnetonka Klondike Dog Derby and serves as the Vice President of the Board of Directors and the Race Director. She owns Grayscale Business and Brand Building, a strategy-driven design company. Bethany works as a brand consultant, graphic designer, and visionary with a passion for helping small businesses and organizations succeed and grow.  

Growing up in the woods of Northern Minnesota, Bethany was born into mushing. With her mother and her father, Joyce and Stan Passananti, she raised and raced sled dogs for many years, competing in her own races and handling for her dad’s races in the Midwest, Maine, and Alaska.  

Bethany lived in the Twin Cities for twenty years and recently moved from Excelsior to her hometown of Ely, Minnesota with her husband and their three children. She is an avid outdoor adventurer, and loves trail running, gravel biking, open water swimming, hiking, downhill and cross-country skiing. She also enjoys dreaming up crazy new ideas — like the Klondike!