From 2006 to 2015, Gunion was responsible for all communications and marketing for the Vail Recreation District, which operates the Vail Golf Club, Dobson Ice Arena, Vail Nature Center, Vail Gymnastics Center, youth and adult recreation leagues, youth sports and day camps, Vail's Imagination Station and Community Programming. As primarily a one-woman shop, her responsibilities included creation of and copy editing of all press releases, quarterly newsletters and e-mail notifications; collateral, including brochures, advertisements and online media; social media; coordination of commercials and photography databases; management of vailrec.com; coordination of media relations and monitoring; oversight of all marketing budgets; sponsorship and partnership recruitment; and oversight of the recreation district's overall brand identity.

In 2011, she co-founded 8150 Consulting where she worked with brands including HESTRA USA and Outdoor Tech, coordinating with each company to identify market trends and differentiate how to communicate new products to consumers and the media.

In addition, Gunion spent seven years as a member of the Vail Local Marketing District Advisory Council, a committee appointed by the Vail Town Council for oversight of Vail’s shoulder season marketing programs. This provided Gunion with an in-depth understanding of the importance of strategically targeting and testing where Vail’s visitors are coming from, communicating the right messages to them and avoid the “sea of sameness” that you see with many brands and marketing initiatives.