Location photos via Çaravan Outpost

Join us this Saturday night at Caravan Outpost in Ojai for DECKS FOR LIGHTS a fundraiser to help pay for the installation of lights at the Ojai Skatepark. There will be food trucks, Ojai Pixie Margaritas, Topa Topa Brewing Company, music, a skate movie and we will be there with the new "It's Not About Pretty" girls skateboard book doing a signing and donating 20% of the sale from each book to this awesome cause.

There will also be 50 decks designed by artists from around the country that will be auctioned off and there will be numerous other skate & surf items to bid on!

It will be a super fun night for everyone, so we hope to see you there!

Date:  Saturday, April 1

Time:  6:00 PM

Where:    Caravan Outpost
                317 Bryant Street
                Ojai, California

Nice to open the Pro-Tec catalog and see Pro skater Lizzie Armanto and AM skater Ryann Cannon   in it. It may seem like a small thing, but its a huge step that keeps us moving closer to women and girls in skateboarding being as accepted as guys in ads and media. Plus the skating pics are rad!

Congrats Lizzie and Ryann!

Leah, Zara, Vianez, Quinne, and Kala

The GN4LW crew

Quinne

Kat, Kyra, Zara, Quinne, Leah, and Vianez

Skating makes you thirsty!

Kyra, Leah, and Zara

Vianez, Kat, Quinne

Quinne

Thank you LA24!

 Photos Ian Logan

The Girl is NOT a 4 Letter Word crew had a great time taking over the streets of Los Angeles during the annual CicLAvia event this past Sunday. We were asked to be part of the LA2024 celebration and the girls wore LA24 angel tees, and four girls wore  specially made angel wings that were created in the LA24 colors. 

They skated 3.2 miles from Mar Vista to Venice Beach - straight down Venice Blvd. and had a blast! We stopped for lemonade along the way, took some pics in front of one of our fav stores Surfing Cowboys, and the girls cruised in and out of cyclists and down the middle of busy streets that cars are usually zipping down. When we got to Venice, we did a few photo ops with the LA24 social media team in front of the beautiful "Follow The Sun" mural they put up, and then the girls skated right into Venice Skatepark and started skating. A perfect way to end the session.

We'd like to thank LA24 for having us out, and a huge high five to the girls who participated yesterday.

Skaters are:  Zara Percy, Quinne Daniels, Kala Fernandez, Vianez Morales, Kyra Williams, Leah Ho, Lisa Kudra and Katheleen Folsom.

To learn more about LA24 and LA's bid for the 2024 Olympics - please visit their site HERE

 

We are super proud to say that we will be doing a book signing and talk at Hennessey & Ingalls Bookstore this Saturday (March 25) at 5 PM with special guest, pro skateboarder and X-Games medalist, Jordyn Barratt.

Hennessey & Ingalls isn't a typical bookstore, it is the largest art, architecture and design bookstore in the western United States, and probably the largest retail operation in the country dealing just with books on the visual arts. They have been around since 1963 and have recently moved into the Down Town LA Arts District where there is a thriving art community, great restaurants and more.

More on Hennessey & Ingalls:  Hennessey + Ingalls has become a landmark in the visual arts community. They are pleased to count many of the area's and the country's leading architectural firms as clients, along with museums, collectors, art galleries, students, interior designers, graphic design firms, and schools. They are the primary book supplier to three large academic art libraries in Southern California, as well as to smaller schools and corporate libraries around the country. They maintain especially strong and in-depth selections of books in art and art history, all phases of architecture, photography, interior design, graphic design, and landscaping. The broadness of the collections and the knowledge of the staff at Hennessey + Ingalls is an important reason why top art directors in film, television, and advertising shop with them.


Jordyn, Ian and I look forward to seeing you there for an amazing night and if anyone is up for dinner and drinks afterward please join us!! 


Please RSVP HERE as seating is limited and books may sell out.

More about Cindy, Ian, Jordyn and the event HERE

Nice interview with OG skater from the early 70's, Laura Thornhill Caswell, on Lenny.com today. Molly Schiot who just released her book on women's sports titled "Game Changers" conducted the interview and wrote the piece on Laura. We love that it captures Laura's free spirit and shares her stories of what it was like for her skateboarding back in the early years.

You can read the entire article HERE

Check out the new video from The Shins with Hoopla team rider Samarria Brevard and Meow team rider Savannah Headden.


Directed by Jon Sortland
Animations by Dillon Moore
Created by Jon Sortland and James Spencer

Kala Fernandez

 Photos Ian Logan

When we received a call from The Beach Reporter to see if some skater girls would like to skate the new Manhattan Beach Skatepark, we were all for it. We rounded up a small group of girls and headed over to skate the new park in private before it became open to the public this past Saturday. A private all girls session before a park opens is a rarity. We'd like to thank The Beach Reporter and the City of Manhattan Beach for making this happen.

Skaters are;  Kala Fernandez,  Stella Reynolds, Vianez Morales, Quinne Daniels, Kyra Williams, Leah Ho, and Minna Stess.

Hop over HERE to read the article and see the video by Daniella Segura from The Beach Reporter and see more photos from the day.

Looks like Samarria Brevard and Savannah Headdon are on a roll, Urban Outfitters, a spot for Etnies women's skate shoe collection and next up, a music video. Way to go!

photo via @thrashermag on instagram

Lizzie Armanto is on FIRE!  It was announced minutes ago that Lizzie has become PRO for Birdhouse (they are releasing her own PRO model board - see photo above) and she scored this month's cover of Thrasher Magazine. Pretty epic day and a huge plus for women's skateboarding. 

We love all that Lizzie does to help elevate girls skateboarding - this type of news and accomplishment opens the door for so many more female skaters!

Congrats Lizzie!!

 

Ellen Degeneres invites surfer/skateboarder Sabre Norris back to Hollywood again, this time to interview celebrities on the red carpet prior to the Kids Choice Awards. It's pretty hysterical!

She's an awesome young surfer, skateboarder and now TV personality - Go Sabre!

We are stoked to see 11-year-old skateboarder and Salt Rags team rider (how cool is her board?!) Vianez Morales in this new "This is Your World" campaign for Justice!

Congrats Vianez!!

The girls are ready to start signing books!

Heidi Lemmon getting books signed by Minna Stess, Stella Reynolds and Kala Fernandez

Legendary downhill ripper Amanda "Panda" Caloia

Minna Stess, Leah Ho and Stella Reynolds

Stella Reynolds, Quinne Daniels, Leah Ho & Minna Stess

Leah Ho and Minna Stess

Stella and Leah

Kimi and Cindy

Amanda, Briel, Stella, Leah, Quinne, and Minna

Briel, Stella, Leah, Quinne, Kala and Hannah

Minna adding the new It's Not About Pretty sticker to her board

Vianez and Amanda

Briel, Stella and Quinne - making art!

Yummy desserts by Flower Child for our launch party!

 Photos by Ian Logan

Saturday was the official book launch and party for the new

"It's Not About Pretty"

book hosted by our awesome partner

Flower Child Restaurant

in Santa Monica.  Skater girls turned up to celebrate and sign books for people, we had awesome desserts from Flower Child for our guests and it was a blast!

We'd like to thank everyone who came and purchased books, the skaters and their parents for bringing them, and of course

Flower Child

for hosting this awesome launch party!

Please check out

Flower Child's website

for the location near you  - their food is organic, yummy and they are huge supporters of girls skateboarding - pro skater Jordyn Barratt is their Del Mar store ambassador and Amanda Caloia is the Santa Monica store ambassador. We think that is pretty rad!

If you missed out on coming to the party, you can pick up a book via

Amazon.com

It's that time of year again and Skateboarding Hall of Fame announced the 2017 inductees in a new and innovative way this past Monday -  by using Facebook LIVE  they were able to share with the world this year's inductees in real time. We were in D.C. and were able to watch & hear the news live on our FB cell phone app - it was pretty cool to say the least.

The two female inductees for 2017 are Kim Cespedes and Vicki Vickers. Congrats girls!

 Here is a complete list of male and female 2017 inductees (photo via SHOF)

The 8th Annual Skateboarding Hall of Fame and Icon Awards Ceremony presented by House of Vans will be held at the City National Grove of Anaheim, California on May 12, 2017.

You can get your tickets HERE

In case you missed the instagram announcement on Skateistan's page - the newest Citizen of Skateistan is 8-year-old skateboarder Sky Brown. Sky will be traveling to Skateistan's locations to help and encourage girls to skate. 

If you are not familiar with Skateistan, please check out their website to learn how they help children in South Africa, Afghanistan and Cambodia to receive an education and learn to skate in a safe environment.

Congrats to Sky for being an important part of the Skateistan mission.

Photo concept by Elise Crigar

 

Flower Child in Santa Monica is throwing us a launch party this Saturday to celebrate our new book "It's Not About Pretty: A Book About Radical Skater Girls"! 

Come join us and score a book at 20% off at this event only.

Make sure you order some food from downstairs while hanging us, because Flower Child has the best food around - so grab some lunch, met some of the skater girls in the book and celebrate with us!

You can check out Flower Child's menu HERE

See you there!

Check out our friend Kala dancing in the Target commercial - Kala is a skater but ended up doing a rad dance on set, which target loved.  We also spy Relz and Peta from the Pink Helmet Posse and "Miss Lucy In The Skye" aka Luzila Skye Ashley-Castillo who is a rad little WCMX girl.

Nice job Target, we like seeing these rad young girls in your ads.

 Photos by RJ Shaughnessy for Urban Outfitters

Nice to see some of the Meow team and LA Girls Skate Sesh crew  (Yeah Jazzmen!!)  in this new lookbook for Urban Outfitters.

When you're done watching Steve Berra's video head on over  HERE to see more pics from the shoot.

We're super stoked that both TEEN VOGUE and SWEETY HIGH did articles on our new book, "It's Not About Pretty: A Book About Radical Skater Girls" this week.  You can read the articles by clicking on the links below each photo.

If you haven't ordered your copy you can yet, you can get it in our online shop  or at Amazon

Great quote from the Humans of NY series  - they went to Brazil for this one and we love it. Get out there and SKATE, don't let any obstacles (or people) get in the way of what you love.  You never know who else you may inspire to do the same.

Poppy Starr Olsen

Aimee Massie

Hayley Wilson

Charlotte Heath

Taniah Meyers

Haylie Powell

Poppy Starr Olsen

Sari Simpson

Shanae Collins

Izy Mutu

Ruby Trew

Shanae Collins

Poppy Starr Olsen

Hayley Wilson

Taniah Meyers

Podium Poppy, Shanae, Taniah

Photos by Tiffany Williams for Girl is NOT a 4 Letter Word

Thursday (in Australia) kicked off the Women's Division of the Vans Park Series Continental Championships in Manly Beach, Australia, and so many girls signed up to compete, knowing that the girl who takes first place will be eligible to compete at the Vans Park Series Women's World Championships in September in the USA - that is HUGE!

The 14 girls who competed were:

Sari Simpson, Gracie Earl, Poppy Starr Olsen, Shanae Collins, Izy Mutu, Ruby Trew, Shari Lawson
Taniah Meyers, Charlotte Heath, Aimee Massie, Amir Hadid, Haylie Powell, Aimee Massie & Hayley Wilson.


VPS Oceania Continental Championships – RESULTS



1. Poppy Starr Olsen – Advancing to VPS Women’s World Championships
2. Shanae Collins
3. Taniah Meyers

4. Aimee Massie
5. Ruby Rockstar Trew
6. Sari Simpson
7. Izy Mutu
8. Hayley Wilson


Congrats to all the girls for showing up, skating hard and kicking ass!

Thanks to Vans for having us, Shout out to The Board Boys for running a great event.  Big ups to our photographer Tiffany Williams for capturing these shots, and big thanks to Poppy's mom for broadcasting the entire contest LIVE on Poppy's FB page!