If you are in NYC make sure you catch up with the Silly Girl Skate Team - they are out there ripping it up through October 17.  Here is the info on where they'll be - make sure you check them out!

Silly Girl rider Julz Lynn showing you how to do a tuck knee invert on The Ride Channel. I always love how Julz makes it so easy to understand and she is a badass.

Bryce Ava Wettstein throwing down a rad frontside air in the Oceanside bowl.  

*Thanks for the GN4LW love Bryce! 

 Photos: Jonathon Nuss, David Hiltbrandm Ari Chamasmany, Thayne Tuason

Super stoked to be able to profile longboarder Cindy Zhou on today's "Who's Rad". She's super smooth and stylish, and rides for Loaded - need I say more?  I'll let the photos do the talking about her riding and let Cindy's answers below, fill you in on the rest.  Trust me she's pretty bitchin'.

 

 Who's Rad (Full Name):  Cindy Zhou

Age: 20

Home: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

How Long Have You Been Skating?  4-5 years

Favorite place you've ever skated?  San Francisco, CA

Favorite Trick: Any type of manual variation

Sponsors:  Loaded Boards, Orangatang Wheels, Caliber Trucks, G-Form, Bern Helmets


Three Things You Don't Know About Me:


1.  I took ballet and jazz lessons for 3 years when I was a kid.

2.  I was the head of ping pong club in high school.

3.  Butterflies and sunflowers make me very uncomfortable.


Follow Cindy on Instagram at @cindyzskates  

I'm off to the espnW Summit this week. I'm stoked to have been invited along with many other women (and a few men) that are heavily involved in the sports industry and who are all interested in making this industry a better place for females in every sport imaginable, from high school teams to the Olympics.

Three whole days with inspiring people and also some rad action sports athletes you may already know of - like surfer Lakey Peterson, snowboarder Lindsey Jacobellis and skier Grete Eliassen.

I have always felt that if we all pull together we can change women's sports for the better,  and I think the espnW Summit is a great place to collectively work together on that!!

It's the second ASP Women's World Title for surfer Carissa Moore!  Read all about this weekends win HERE on Transworld Business

Love it when I see that more women in pro skateboarding are getting their own signature decks. It means we are progressing, and more girls are skating - that's a great thing!

Check out these two new rad pro models from Meow Skateboards. Amy Caron's "Beauty" and "Meow Mix" by Vanessa Torres.  Both of these awesome new decks are available HERE

 Photos: Lorrie Palmos, Michael Chantry, Morizen Foche, Roger Folsom


Katherine Folsom charges hard - every time I see photos of her she always looks like she is 100% going for it and never holding back. But on top of kicking ass wherever she skates, she is just flat out a cool girl. She genuinely loves this sport, the other girls in it, and strives to have fun while doing it. Totally my kind of girl.



Who's Rad:  Katherine Folsom

Age:    32

Home:   Folsom, California


How Long Have You Been Skating?   Well, I learned how to push around 12 years ago, then I quit, then I decided to skate again 3 years ago

Favorite place you've ever skated?    My backyard ramp, but it's gone now. I miss it! Besides that probably Washington Street in San Diego

Favorite Trick:   Frontside Bonelss One and Laybacks  (any kind, layback grind, rollout, Jay Smith style, all of them!)

Sponsors:  Embassy Skateboards, Surf & Skate Skateshop, and Chivaz Wear


Three Things You Don't Know About Me:

1.  My day job is teaching dance classes, mostly tap classes

2.  I have a pet tarantula

3.  My husband Roger is a skateboarder too. I started skating so I could hang out with him more.


Make sure you follow Katherine's sponsors:  Embassy Skateboards, Surf & Skate Skateshop, Chivaz Wear

If it looks good, don't just sit there, paddle over and get it!

Don't always judge the surf report. Get out there and judge the waves for yourself.

Trust your gut when it's time to bail

I discovered this really cute book "Everything I Know About Dating I Learned Through Surfing" recently. Authors Nancy Spooner & Tara Bouwer, both surfers themselves,  take surfing advice and relate it to dating. The result is a super fun read, and the illustrations (done by Tara), are absolutely beautiful.  It's definitely on my gift list for all my girlfriends.

You can buy your own copy HERE

I can't read it but I know just by the headline and the photos that I already love it!  Longboarding for Peace and the Longboard Girls Crew in 7 Sky Magazine - huge action sports magazine in Zurich.

Girls are taking over the world & making a difference - one skateboard at a time.

Peggy Oki is a true OG Dogtown girl. She skated on the Zephyr team back in the day and held her own with guys like Jay Adams & Tony Alva.  She is also the second female skateboarder to be inducted into the Skateboard Hall of Fame. Peggy is a skater, surfer, an extremely talented artist, and very involved with doing everything she can educate people about saving the whales. I'm stoked to have gotten to know her better these past few years - she is someone who is making a positive change in the world!

Check out how you can help save the whales by visiting The Origami Whales Project. 

Photos: Ian Logan

Thanks to Concrete Wave Magazine for the 5 page article in the Fall Issue that sheds light on the real behind the scenes look at what it was like to make the Cindy Whitehead x Dusters California collab "Girl is NOT a 4 Letter Word" Skateboard. Some of it may just surprise you!

You can read the full article HERE

 Photos: Nikki Breaux, Dick Knapp, Joanne Barratt, Nate McDonald

I first saw Spencer skate via photos on Facebook. Instantly I became a fan. She may be slight in build but she packs some height into every trick and I love that she can easily go from skating vert to street with out any hesitation at all. Can't wait to see where she goes from here!

Who's Rad:  Spencer Breaux

Age:    10

Home:   Denver, Colorado

How Long Have You Been Skating?   4 years

Favorite place you've ever skated?     Memorial Skatepark in Colorado Springs!

Favorite Trick:   Caballerial

Sponsors:  Public Eye Skateshop, Termite Skateboards, Triple 8 NYC, Indigrip, Woodward at Copper, Helmets in Hands, GRO

Three Things You Don't Know About Me:

1.  I got to a school for the highly gifted

2.  I want to finish high school by age 16

3. I do stand up comedy and have a "princess from Brooklyn" character that is KILLER!!!


Make sure you follow Spencer on instagram  @smoothierox  and on Facebook  

 images via Glamour Magazine Spain

** This post was originally created for my fashion blog "It's Not About Pretty". When I was writing it way back when,  I started to realize that instead of bitching about what I wasn't stoked on, that maybe I should  think about starting a blog about girls skateboarding and post a "Who's Rad" every week to create the content I thought there should be more of.  Sometime your biggest pet peeves have a way of giving you forward momentum...

This reminds me of back in the day. But not in the way you might think…

You had to hunt and hunt to find girls profiled in skateboarding magazines. I craved those photos, I studied them and cut them out and thumb-tacked them to my wall for inspiration. I don’t think I could have filled all the walls in my teenage bedroom with female skate photos even if I had tried – there just weren’t enough of them. But there were always photos of girls in cute outfits watching the boys skate…

Which brings me to this editorial spread. Don’t get me wrong, I love that skateboarding is featured here in a very 70′s California way, BUT I’d really be digging it if the girl was the one skating and maybe the boys were the ones watching. I’m waiting for the year that happens, and in the meantime, I am still tacking up photos of rad girls, with the hope that one day my walls will be filled.

I believe it’s time for a new ending to the same old story. What about you?

Here's to bitchin' week!

Patti McGee needs no introduction to most of you. She is an icon in the skateboard world.
Patti paved the way for all of us - because really, how many girls do you think took a chance & skateboarded back in the 1960's?  Not many.

Patti is the first woman to be inducted into the Skateboard Hall of Fame and she is also the only female skater (that I am aware of) to have 2 major magazine covers in one year - Life Magazine & Skateboarder Magazine both in 1965.

But most of all, she is a pretty amazing lady and one I am proud to call a friend. So next time you see her at an event, please make sure to go up and introduce yourself and thank her for her contributions to women's skateboarding.    xx

 Nylon Magazine  /  Photos: Valerie Phillips

A little love to our friends at Van's in the recent issue of Nylon Magazine. Skate fashion is here to stay.

 Photos: Ken Hada, Crispin Stichart, Mike & Michelle Thomas

Madi Thomas is a skater who always seems to be happy & smiling. Almost every picture I have seen of her gives me the impression that she is 100% stoked to be skating - no matter if it's a contest, an afternoon session with friends, or just waiting for her run.  Her tricks are getting more diverse and her airs bigger and bigger, and I think it's only a matter of time before we start hearing her name more & more. I'm telling you, Madi is definitely one to watch.

Who's Rad:  Madi Thomas

Age:      13

Home:  Kettle Falls, WA

How Long Have You Been Skating?    4-5 years

Favorite place you've ever skated?    I've skated a lot of cool places so it's hard to choose. I really like Colorado Springs and Fontana, CA but I think my favorite is my home park in Kettle Falls, WA

Favorite Trick:  Blunt to fakie

Sponsors:    GRO

Three Things You Don't Know About Me:

1.  I dress up as the school mascot at High School football games

2.  My favorite music to listen to when I skate is Danielle Bradbery, Hannah Montana and Tyga

3. I've gotten to meet a lot of my idols in skateboarding and evn got to skate at Ryan Schecklers private park.


Make sure you follow Madi on Facebook and at @madithomas8833 on instagram       

 images via Teen Vogue, Radar online, Nylon, This is Fashion


 Skateboarding x Fashion?!?  WTF?

Maybe you've noticed it too?  Traditional skate labels like Vans, Supreme, Vision Street Wear, and more, are showing up in fashion magazines from Vogue to Seventeen to Nylon. You see candid shots in the NY Times and via online sites of models running from show to show during fashion week in NYC, Paris & London - many of them embracing the skater look.

I had a chance to speak about this very subject at The Smithsonian National Museum of American History's  Innoskate event this summer - and my take is this; what we as skaters have known forever, is now being discovered by the fashion crowd.  Just like punk rock, geek chic, & surfing. Those looks too have been taken into the fashion world and been embraced on many levels.

So what does this mean? Should we be pissed or flattered?  Is it bad that our look & core brands are being embraced in this way?  Or, is it cool to be have the look that the world is watching and trying to emulate?

I'm thinking it's pretty damn flattering. We as a group have always been innovators, we create looks that are iconic, we wear these labels not to just be fashionable, but to also support various brands we skate for or because we happen to love them. It's who we are. Now others are wanting to look like us.

Crazy huh?

An awesome tutorial on "How to do a Layback Roll-Out to Tail " from Silly Girl Team rider Julz Lynn on The Ride Channel.

Great, easy to follow instructions with pro skater Julz Lynn showing you "how to" every step of the way. 

Way to go Julz and The Ride Channel!