November 6, 2025 • 35 mins
Welcome to Good Luck With That, a weekly podcast about women and gender-expansive skateboarding, hosted by Ashley Rehfeld, Nora Vasconcellos, Alex White, and Mimi Knoop.
In our very first episode, we talk about why this space matters. We get into Exposure, the rise of the tween prodigies, and the absolutely unhinged things we’ve all done in the name of “opportunities,” and what it means to still love skateboarding after all of that.
Plus: questionable promises, at least three statements we’ll probably regret later, and some early hints at what’s to come on GLWT.
(Yes, including a debutante ball.)
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Good Luck with That is an iHeart women's sports production
in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hey everyone, welcome to Good Luck with That, a weekly
podcast all about women and gender expansive skateboarding. We created
this space because honestly, we kind of needed our own space,
a place to correct the record, predict the record, celebrate it.
We're going to be talking to skaters, artists, musicians, surfer snowboarders,
anyone that kind of makes skateboarding that much cooler. And
the name says it all good luck with that, because yeah,
(00:34):
when you tell people you're trying to change an industry
that wasn't always built for you, or just being a
pro skateboarder or trying to start a podcast, they're probably
going to say good luck with that, and yet we're
here doing it, So welcome aboard. We'll be here weekly
and wherever you get your podcasts, we're going to be talking,
laughing and sharing stories and shining light on skateboarding from
our own perspective.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
So all right, good luck with that.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
I'm Ashley Raefeld, a creative, a skateboarder, bit of a
meddler in the industry, just trying to push this whole
thing forward. I'm not alone in doing this. Here are
three legends you probably already know nor of Askancelos, a
pro skater, artist, surfer style icon. In twenty sixteen, she
became the first woman signed to Adidas Skateboarding twenty seventeen
World Vans Park Series champ, and she's here to make
(01:27):
you laugh, definitely at my expense. We also have Alex White,
pro skater turned commentator, industry pioneer. If there's an unspoken
role in skateboarding, Alex is definitely going to break it
and explain to all of us why it's so dumb
in the first place. Also joining us as Mimi Noop,
five time X Games medalist legend and quite the architect
behind women's skateboarding as we know it.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
From equal Pay to the Olympic stage.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
She's been leading the charge long before the spotlight even
showed up and together this is good luck with that.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
Hi, Hi, Hello, happy to be here, Ashley, You nailed
that intro. This podcast is gonna rip.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
I'm so excited for us, guys. This is it. This
is the end for us, you know, in the beginning here,
beginning of the end.
Speaker 5 (02:18):
I want to know how everybody's doing.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
I mean, you know, little little life updates. I love
to hear how's it going, Mimi. You're a little horse,
but I want to hear how's.
Speaker 6 (02:28):
Life with you?
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Mimi.
Speaker 7 (02:30):
It's good, lucky to have seen you guys this past weekend.
Just keeping things rolling, bopping around. Just got the soakw
from Australia and about to go back next week. So yeah,
jet setting around over here.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Yeah. For everyone that doesn't know, Mimi used to live
less than two miles from me, and now she lives
the farthest point away in Tasmania.
Speaker 5 (02:50):
You bothered her that much that she had to move
to Tasmania.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
It makes sense. I have that effect on people. I
think skateboarding right now, I think one of the main
and exciting things of whether if whether or not you're
like in skateboarding or just viewing it as an outsider
or like experiencing it for the first time. I think
one of the most exciting things is the women's in
gender expansive space. And I think in the last five
(03:13):
years we've seen crazy strides happen in all different ways,
whether it's creatively progressive wise. You know, my career just
continues to flourish and it is crazy. I'm like sometimes
I'm like, I forget there's a garden and it's just
still popping off. So I'm I'm excited to Yeah, I
get to share my experience and talk to a lot
(03:34):
of people that maybe we've had conversations with intimately. But
you know, there's so much and there's so many stories
that haven't been shared from our perspective. So yeah, I
think that's that's what I'm most looking forward to.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
It's time to take the mic back, Alex.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
We were just yeah, we were all at Exposure. Yeah
it was insane. Can you just kind of explain why
exposure matters? But also what did you witness?
Speaker 4 (04:00):
So Exposure is fourteen years running, it's the longest running
all women's skate contest in existence, and it had over
two hundred individual skaters from twenty one countries come out
and it broke records. That's like more numbers than the
men's parallel, which.
Speaker 5 (04:17):
Would be called like Tampa AM or Tampa Pro.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
That's as many or more contestants than the men's side.
So you just see this enormous growth on the women's side,
and everybody's like a tweeny they're all under fifteen years old,
and they all are so good and so driven. And
what I kind of hope in this podcast is to
talk to a lot of those skaters too, because oftentimes
we find ourselves in the parking lot after the comp
(04:41):
and we're kind of chatting it up and we have
a lot of knowledge to share with them, but there's
only so many spaces on the curb outside the parking
lot to share that knowledge with. So like Nora like
sharing her experiences with sponsors and how to film and
like how to get out there and get in the scene,
and Mini from her coaching background, competitive background like fighting
for equal pay, and Ashley too from her industry insight
(05:03):
and from getting people hooked up with sponsors and getting
them in the right position. I think we all have
so much important knowledge that we can share, and also
it's really entertaining too, and I think it transcends just skateboarding,
because I think a lot of women are up against
glass feelings in their work environment and their sports field,
Like whatever you're in, we have a lot of parallels
that we are fighting for and hopefully people can just
(05:24):
get like good information and some laughs about.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Cool kind of I haven't looking up to me me
since I was fifteen, and Meme started getting me like
skateboards when I still lived on the East Coast, and
that completely changed even like how I viewed myself as
a teenager. You know, I was like, Wow, someone cares
about what I'm doing. And it's somebody who I've you know,
seen footage of who's an actual skater, who's created this space.
(05:51):
And I think we forget how scarce that used to be.
And I think now young people have so many opportunities
to look up and identify, especially with the people in
the women's skate space, but that was so rare at
the time. So it's pretty insane that we're all still
doing it in different at this capacity. You know, we're
(06:13):
going to be on the.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Mic weekly with each other.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
We're going to be talking about what's happening from all
the way back in the past, stories that were maybe
told by other people, and we really want to like
tell the real story.
Speaker 7 (06:25):
I'm just going to add, it's amazing to have this
platform to be able to share some of these stories
that maybe only a few people know about, and to
bring in the new generation and sort of welcome them
and them in and make them one of our crew.
I mean, it's it's about community and keeping it going,
and it's not it's not up to us, it's up
to them and we gotta set a stage for them.
(06:46):
So it's an awesome platform for doing that.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
And what are you doing right now in skateboarding?
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Get everyone up to speed with your current twenty twenty five,
twenty six, what's going on?
Speaker 7 (06:54):
Yes, So for the past couple of years have sort
of been like a consulting role, sort of doing one thing.
I've helped a couple athletes with contract renewals and footwear deals,
but more recently I've gotten back involved sort of in
the sort of managing you.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Would say of sport.
Speaker 7 (07:12):
So I'm part time CEO of Surfing Tasmania right now,
which is the state organization that is responsible for surfing
in Tasmania for Australia. So we work under serving Australia
and then with my other hours that I've left in
the week, I'm also part time helping lead the skateboard
program for the US remotely in terms of operations and support.
(07:34):
So I've got my hands and all kinds of things.
Probably you know, be excited when it sort of levels
out eventually, But yeah, heading to Japan in a couple
of weeks for that for the next World Skate Tour
stop there.
Speaker 5 (07:45):
Yeah, and I'll be back back there too.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
I'll see you in Japan because I'll be doing the
broadcast on that too. Funny fact they kicked me off
the broadcast for about four years because.
Speaker 5 (07:55):
I complain because I didn't want to go to Dubai.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
I think, why didn't you air.
Speaker 5 (08:01):
Good to have value is Alex.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
We weren't even in like you know, do biproper. We
were in Charga. Did you end up going to char Ja?
Speaker 6 (08:09):
Mimi?
Speaker 7 (08:09):
No, I've never been over there. I've been to Iraq
for demos, but I've never been any of them.
Speaker 5 (08:15):
Been to Iraq and Kuwait for demos.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
She's flew in like one of those giant like military planes.
Speaker 7 (08:21):
That about six of them actually, But yeah, that's what
we had to do back in the day to make
some money. Now, my dad there as he ran a
medical unit on the ground in Iraq, so it's sort
of a nod to him, you know. He he had
a really really high success rate of survival rate there,
both of Iraqi people and US soldiers. So I was like,
(08:43):
all right, I want to go do something just to
nod to my dad, but also it is one of
the only ways to make money.
Speaker 5 (08:47):
That summer, your summer job.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Yes, it's just the Bush era of skateboarding.
Speaker 5 (08:54):
Yeah, they used to quit.
Speaker 7 (08:55):
They didn't tell us anything, so I just got on
the plane and then all of a sudden, they're like, yeah,
you're gonna go between bases on C one thirties. There's
no windows, you have to wear body armor. We had
to have watch a tutorial about what to do if
we got shot down, you know, things like that. So
it helped cure my fear of flying. So when I
got back, I was able to get on those commercial
flights a lot easier. But no, I've not been to
(09:17):
any of the competitions in the Middle East.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
You've done your time. That's insane, Nora.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
I think your experience being a pro skater has been
so exciting to watch. It's been so fun. You've made
it fun. You've brought so many people into skateboarding that
weren't historically invited to the party.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
Can you tell us a.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Little bit about what's been going on in your world
and what's in the new year.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
I'm excited to wrap this here up. I have a
new video part coming out, which looks like it will
be pushed to another year, which is fine, but yeah,
I'm just sitting on like about four years of footage,
so that'll be with a Didas and Thrasher. Did you
pick a song yet? Yeah, that's like what we're waiting
on is music licensing. I have some I have options,
but do you tease some of them? No, I'm not
(10:03):
going to tease anything. No, No, because I don't.
Speaker 5 (10:05):
It's late.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Like we're waiting on that. We're waiting to know what
we're going to get, So doing that and just trying
to enjoy. I feel like November for a lot of
us as skaters, we're not traveling a ton like everyone's
kind of starts being more local. I'm like an hour
and a half, almost hour forty five from La, so
trying to get up there and skate a bit and
(10:29):
do some work stuff before everybody really winds down for
holiday season. Yeah, enjoying being at home, surfing, keeping up
with the cat's litter boxes, trying to paint. Everything's feeling
great and good. I skated today in some Oakley Meta glasses,
so uh, first time for everything.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Did you watch the footage?
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Yeah, it's decent.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Here's my question, does anybody want to watch that point
of view?
Speaker 6 (10:57):
You know what, Ashley?
Speaker 1 (10:58):
I don't know now. I don't really, but I have
a job to do and I'm gonna do it. I
just was testing it out and it was so easy
to work with. And this is as somebody who does
not film. I hate setting up selfie cam for myself.
I hate setting anything up like that, Like I am
pretty anti like I just have not wired like that,
(11:21):
and it was so easy to do. I'm more excited
to use it in like the art capacity, like using
it to paint and doing like start to finish paintings.
Wearing them I think is actually super sick and like
putting music and stuff to it. So that'll be probably
what I end up using them for the most. But
but I had fun today.
Speaker 4 (11:39):
If someone has sent me metaglasses, I would wear them
all the time.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
I would wear them and do other stuff too. We
could literally every episode talk about some bullshit we had
to do, thinking it was going to be an opportunity
for us skate wise, like the things that I have
done that I thought were things like opportunities is actually insane.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Yeah, and the taking of the crumbs, you know, just
the be thank.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
It wasn't real. It was like the craziest stuff, like
my mom's like I saw an ad for this thing
and they need a skater girl. And then you're like,
it's like twelve hours on like some crazy said, and
you get like food thrown at you. Like there are
stories upon stories, and we have all been there, Okay,
we have all shown up expecting it to be our
(12:29):
big break and it was not our big break. It
was a parking lot in downtown LA with ninety other people.
I have been in music video. I have been coerced
into music videos.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
You had to air over boy genius. That was a pleasure.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
That's of much that that is the opposite side of
the spectrum. Okay, no, no, no, no, no, you don't get to.
Speaker 8 (12:54):
That is that was after I made it. This is
before really days, these are their early days. These are
like working at pecsun in them all days.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Alex, You've come from a few different eras of skateboarding
and support for women's skateboarding.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
As a sex.
Speaker 5 (13:13):
It's the funny way of saying I'm old, Ashley.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
You know, good luck with that is a great name
for a podcast, because there was a lot of things
I needed some luck with.
Speaker 7 (13:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
In the early two thousands, I worked in reality television too,
around skateboarding after X Games, And it was funny because
I was working for not Mike Burnett, but Mark Burnett,
who used to do all those reality TV shows. I
don't know if you remember, but he wanted to do
one on girls skateboarding. So he had me follow like
all the chaotic lesbians and silver Lake around with a
camera all.
Speaker 5 (13:39):
The time, wait and what yeah, and try to get
them to fight.
Speaker 4 (13:42):
It was like it was like Vanessa and Sophie and
like Nugget and everybody. And I made these like sizzle
reels like they were gonna like make the running.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Back right now. I know, it's the best summer ever.
Speaker 5 (13:52):
Now. I think we could do it again, but.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
We know some people to call it crumbs.
Speaker 5 (13:58):
I know, can you guys fight?
Speaker 7 (14:01):
I get asked to be on Survivor like the mid
two thousands. I must have been on some like clickbait
thing and got seen somewhere.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Is this when you were living in the Bahamas?
Speaker 5 (14:11):
No, no, no, this is when I live notion side.
Speaker 7 (14:14):
And I got on a call with like the producer whoever,
and I was like, can I just ask a couple
of questions like what exactly? Like I don't really like cameras,
like kind of freak me out. I was like, well,
what can I bring? You know, like what are we
allowed to have? And they're like, you're allowed to have
two things, unlimited tampons and condoms.
Speaker 5 (14:30):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
And I was like, all right, show for me.
Speaker 7 (14:35):
It's like, no, thank you.
Speaker 5 (14:39):
So the opportunities were abundant.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
Speaking of being a middle aged woman, I got to
take a quick break and you guys do too.
Speaker 5 (14:48):
We'll be right back.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
I remember, you know, the era of trying to find
other girl skaters, one like through Lisa Whitaker's entire empire,
but through zines.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
You would somehow know where every.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Girl was located, Like if there was two in the
state of Washington and you knew who they were somehow
pre internet. But then when the Internet came on, if
you were to type in, you know, top ten girl skaters,
it would just be the hot girl skaters and not
really a reflection of what was going on. So what
is so exciting now is like we have such a bigger,
more bountiful access, the things you would have to do
(15:31):
to try to make it and make it work, and
there weren't many opportunities. You guys are talking about reality
TV and showing up to a casting call and typically
you'd just show up and skate and allow that to
speak for itself. Alex, like you had some sponsors, but
then it would dip off. Like you, Mimi, you've been
in the industry for so long as a pro.
Speaker 7 (15:49):
Skateboarder, I was working tem jobs and waiting tables at
the same time and skipping lunch, like could get thirty
minutes to skateboard. It got dark every day, and it's
just like until the contests started paying more. That's that's
how it was.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
For my memory.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Yeah, and then I feel like I was able to
do the contest stuff, get paid, use the contest, use
the occasional good result in a contest, which I was not.
Like my contest skating was hit or miss. I was
either going to get like sixth or last or whatever,
or I was gonna win, which happened very infrequently. But
(16:25):
I feel like I used that to leverage when I
started getting contracts, it was, you know, leveraging that with
Adidas leveraging that with whomever, because that's the only thing
that these guys saw for a little bit. And then
they're like, oh, you actually can film and put together
a video part and go to demos and interact like
(16:49):
a normal person and be tricked them. They're like, you
think you're gonna do the Olympics. I was like, yeah,
I'm gonna be there, and then it's like catfish.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
The Olympics itself is a big deal because I think
that when the when skateboarding got announced as an Olympic
event back in twenty sixteen, there was a mad scramble
from all the men to find Oh my gosh, we
have to have gender quality and all these we have
to have women coaches, women judges, women broadcasters.
Speaker 5 (17:20):
Everything.
Speaker 4 (17:21):
So they scrambled and they pulled us together and offered
us jobs for those of us that were, you know,
out of the pro skating part. And then you know, Nora,
you did skate an Olympic qualifier. I think you were
over it after the first run.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
I tried, I really, I put as little of an
effort as I could, and then I was like, oh,
you know what I'm gonna do, not this, And it
just worked out really well, but I also had aligned
myself with the right sponsors. I feel like my my
thing with wood skating, and like what I'm doing is
trying to obviously being like authentic to myself and creative
(17:57):
and true to myself, but also being like as a skater,
you kind of have to think about how good everyone
is and what they have to offer and if they're marketable,
but like make yourself irreplaceable, right, because that's that's essentially
what's gonna be the issue. His sponsors will replace you
(18:19):
with someone else one day. But I don't know. I
think it's so much about timing and the things you
choose to do the things you choose not to do.
All my embarrassing stuff happened like before I could have
had such a worse online footprint, but Instagram came around
in like twenty eleven. You know what I'm saying, Like
(18:41):
I just missed the cut and now I'm like purposely
pulling that stuff out because I'm like, see, I was
a dork too, and people are like, I don't want
to see this.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
I do you actually all want to?
Speaker 2 (18:52):
So also, if you're staying tuned follow us at good
Luck Pod, we'll be putting lots of highlights of Norah's earliest,
most embarrassing moments as a skateboarder. Alex, Ammi and myself,
we've all been skating since we were a kid, and
I kind of want to hear, like, what made it stick?
Why skateboarding? You could pick anything. Our whole entire lives
have been dictated around skateboarding, for better or worse, oftentimes worse.
(19:14):
You know, Alex, I met you at an era where
you had a really I knew who you were as
a skateboarder, but again, working the industry was absolutely not
even a dream that you could have because those jobs
were so sparse and let alone the idea of being
a woman working in that.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
You were a realtor. You know, you were selling slinging houses.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Your card, I have it like might be on. I
have like a pinboard behind my desktop and it might
be there. But trust me, realtor Alex was elite.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
You know, skate until you can't, and then you are
given probably the baton for an incredible job as a
brand manager or a team manager. You know, the industry
has been built full of these legendary skateboarders who helped
pave the way and make it incredible place. But it
really hasn't been historically the case for women in the industry.
Alex Yeah, like you've been around, Like what was why skateboarding?
Speaker 5 (20:08):
I mean it's for the lore. I just love this.
I love the people.
Speaker 4 (20:11):
I think that it's just the best group of misfits
and weirdos and like obsessive, like just interesting folks.
Speaker 5 (20:20):
From all over the world with weird nicknames and like quirks.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
And I've collected, you know, for what I don't have
in money, I've collected a lot of stories and I'm
looking forward to sharing those here because there's a lot
of interesting folks out there. I guess that's just I mean,
I was the kid that would read like Thrasher slap
like slam trans World cover to cover. I just like
love to know what Like these people are so strange
(20:45):
and and.
Speaker 9 (20:46):
Uh yeah, that's that's it. It's the lore doing it
for the plot. Straight up, Mimi, you've been doing it forever.
We're going to post some of those early photos so
you can see the proof. Mimi was cooler than all
of us before cool was cool. So how did this
become the through all the way to now?
Speaker 7 (21:01):
I just love the feeling that I had skateboarding as
a real, tiny little kid, like six seven years old.
I remember just the feeling just there's nothing else like it,
and it was just something that followed me throughout my childhood,
like sometimes I'd skate a lot, I'd go for months
at a time not skating, but it was just kind
of something I always came back to. And then I
just happened to end up in southern California after college
(21:23):
and landed in like the mecca for where transition skaters
live and the best in the world, started skating with
them and learned how things worked, and I honestly just
got lucky that I ended up out here on the
West Coast at the right time and had no idea
this existed out here prior to arriving. So and then
(21:44):
it became about wait a second, like this isn't right,
let's change some of this, And then that started motivating me.
It was just to create systematic change and getting some
winds that you kept that momentum going, and that all
led one thing to another, and it's just been a
domino effect.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Nora, you do it all, and you've played sports, traditional
sports in your life, But like, why was skateboarding the
thing that led you to having your own signature shoe
and helping open doors for so many women and gender
expansive people in skateboarding.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
I really wish I knew why skating clicked. I think
I think it just is this like obsessive thing. You know.
It's like, I'm not going to try anything as hard
as I try on my skateboard, And that was my
whole thing, even with like not going to college and
moving to California and trying to work in the industry.
It was, well, I know, I'm going to try and
(22:34):
I'm going to like put my best foot forward and
my best effort forward in this space. So so that's
that's all I can do. I really, yeah, I was
really just like I don't like anything as much as this.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
I'm with Nora, like I don't know why.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
I you know, I was like twelve thirteen, so it's
kind of hard to remember, like what in my brain
was like this is it?
Speaker 3 (22:56):
But it has all the things to do with like
not being told what to do.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
I love that skateboarding is just this whole entire universe
that you completely create and make so many sports like
you leave it on the field, you leave it at
the court. They have these rule books and their strategy
and this a beautiful, cool, competitive thing. And sometimes I'm like,
I wish skateboarding was a team sport because I do
love like aspects of the team part. But we make
up for that in skateboarding through community and friends and
(23:22):
just sitting at the spot. And skateboarding is just this
like amazing world that intersects are intersects music. It pushes
you to an unhealthy extreme and that is just like
the most thrilling experience, and you get to do it
in your own way, in your own creative space. And
somehow I just kept revolving as this thing that I
was like, I choose this. I choose this, every injury,
(23:43):
every dead end, I've chosen it again and again. And
at this point, once I started figuring out I could
work within the industry, it was all about, yeah, how
can I make this better for others?
Speaker 3 (23:52):
How can I make it easier.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
And make it more accessible and just make it what
it has always been about, the ethos that it's completely DIY,
it is completely for the counterculture. I'm really excited to
be here with you all in kind of rally support
around voices that haven't had the mic before. I'm excited
to learn from a lot of the stories the era
that didn't have the type of media outlets that you
(24:16):
could talk about things. I'm excited to Yeah, just see
what happens with us all. I think we've all had
a really cool journey to get here.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Skateboarding definitely pushed me way outside my comfort zone. Like
I think I would be like an agoraphobic homebody with
problems if I didn't skate. And this is at someone
who like literally like used to not be able to
fly on airplanes, used to have anxiety about driving in
(24:44):
cars with people Like I was pretty like not okay.
And then yeah, I think I think when you like
love something and you have community, it's you can heal
a lot of parts of yourself. I gotta go my
refrigerators running.
Speaker 6 (25:02):
But we were right back, Mimi, why did you create Hoopla?
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Like why was that what was going on in that
era of skateboarding for you and the need to create Hoopla.
Speaker 7 (25:21):
Yeah, I mean we created Hoopla because we wanted to
be able to get in the van and go on
trips and no one was sort of doing that for
girls and women at the time, Like it's all we
wanted to do. And so we're like, all right, if
we create this board company and create a marketing budget,
then we can have our own trips and get in
the van and go shoot content, make video parts whatever.
(25:43):
That was sort of why we created the company, And yeah,
I think it. I think it filled a void for
for a long time and we had a lot of fun. No,
Norah was there for the for the early part of it,
and I was Maria and Fobby.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
I feel like, I mean, yeah, the foster was insane, Nicole, Fobby, Breezy, Samaria, Alicia.
Speaker 7 (26:06):
The roster was insane because supporting them. So that's why
we had this crazy roster, you know. So it's almost
like that's proof that we needed it. We did that
for about ten years and like towards the end of it, Norah.
Speaker 5 (26:21):
Was one of the first.
Speaker 7 (26:22):
But it's like the legacy board brands. All of a sudden,
we're like, wait a second, like we want to add
some of these girls on our team, and so yeah,
one by one and get a call like, oh, you know,
so and so wants to sponsor me.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
I'd be like, Okay, I feel like Welcome was the
first one, Like I was like the first one to
leave and I had just moved here and it was
super hard and I had to take Mabe to dinner
and basically be like, I'm sorry, but it was like
a breakup.
Speaker 7 (26:49):
Excited for you, like I was sad, like I felt
like I had a loss, right, but that was so
excited for you because you're gonna be able to It's
so much more through Welcome at the time than what
we could do. And that was what I said to
everyone that called me over the year, is like Samaria
and Enjoy. I remember being so excited and she was set,
like she was like upset on the call, was like
(27:11):
I don't. I'm like, you need to run towards this
is amazing, Like I'll never be able to do for
you like I want to, but we're just a small brand,
you know. And hats off to George Powell actually, like
he facilitated that whole thing and he said yes to
any idea we brought to him, which no one else
is doing at the time. So it is pretty amazing
(27:32):
to have that support.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
Yeah, there's there are those opportunities.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
It's amazing, and but they're limited in that draft pick
is like one person per brand up to two and
the idea of three and now not just flow and
that means you know, just getting sent boards and the
hope to get into that paid position so you can
have the lifestyle. Making sure that you can skate every
(27:57):
day and get paid to skate and make that your
focus is so hard to break through and right now
those spots are few and far and if you're lucky
to secure one, you do everything in your real power
to keep it because everyone is starving for those opportunities.
And it's wild to me that there's such a great
business case for women in gender expensive skateboarding. It's actually
one of the bigger growing markets in skateboarding right now,
(28:20):
and it's.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
It has done for the last five years.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Yet you see that representation really missing the opportunity to
just add more to the roster because it's only going
to bring in more revenue for the company and be
good for that distribution all in all. And Alex, you
and I have both worked at two of the larger
distribution companies that really do like put some of the
biggest brands in skateboarding out there.
Speaker 4 (28:43):
The bigger brands have caught on enough to put the
best women's talent onto their board brands and shoe brands.
Speaker 5 (28:49):
Right there's a whole level of them.
Speaker 4 (28:51):
So there's like an elite force of fifteen year old girls.
There's like Haisi Lai Al Momijin, Nishiya, Chloe Govell, Arisa True.
They're all up there and they all they're all getting
their shine now the beginning of it.
Speaker 5 (29:02):
They're getting invested in.
Speaker 4 (29:04):
And then there's this whole level that we just saw
last week when we were on exposure of people coming
up under that.
Speaker 5 (29:08):
And then there's our generation.
Speaker 4 (29:10):
There's like me and Mimi who are been there, done that,
and Ashley a little younger than me though too coming
up after us. That's like Kristen is also your contemporary
too started skate like a girl.
Speaker 5 (29:21):
And then Nora below that too.
Speaker 4 (29:22):
Nora's of a generation where it's like Nora, Alexis, Sablone,
Samario Bravard, like those skaters came up. There's a big
gap right now in the talent pool because there's the
late twenties, early thirties right now that came up in
that wave about five six or five and six years ago.
And then there's the wave that's coming after them, and
those are the the Olympic skaters right now too. And
what we're gonna watch right now over the next couple
(29:43):
of years is those Olympic talents that grew up with
a lot of the infrastructure that we help make. Are
they going to be able to take advantage of it?
Are we going to be able to keep the door
open for them? Are they going to succeed in these
like very confusing landscape with a lot of you know,
voices and guidance around them.
Speaker 5 (30:00):
And what I hope that we can kind of predict or.
Speaker 4 (30:03):
Accomplish with this show is we can help guide that
next generation on a more mass level of being able
to help them get to the point that Nora is
with her career, with other skaters that are like Alexis
as well to like Leo Baker as well, you know,
that gap that next ten years of their life that's
going to be honestly their biggest earning years as far
(30:23):
as professional skateboarders too. And there's so much on the line,
and there's so much bad information out there and bad
guidance and bad roads you can take, you know, or
like the wrong kind of turn it'll be great for
the plot, but we want to make sure that they're
successful too, and that.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
You don't have to do it one way, like, Yeah,
it's okay to be a contest skater, it's okay to
be only a street skater.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
You can be an artist kind of skater.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
I'm excited to help show that this is just a
very new era for skateboarding and especially within our space.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
So yeah, get on the ride now.
Speaker 5 (30:58):
Truth, what do people have to look forward to on
the show?
Speaker 2 (31:03):
They have so much look forward to, because one, I'm
declaring right now, we are going to have our own awards.
We are going to have an amazing good luck with
that award ceremony and show that is going to be
somewhere exciting.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
We're gonna have a ball, Yes, I'm going to have
the first skateboarding what are they called? What are the
debutante debutante bla. We're gonna have a debutante ball and
we're gonna have a live red carpet and people are
(31:37):
gonna show up and get judged harshly and already happen.
I'm joking, Mimi, God damn it. We're gonna just have fun.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
We're gonna go hang out with Jill on the slopes.
We're gonna get weird with some of the people that
also influence the music, the skating.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
I think this is an exciting.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
We're gonna get out the cars.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
We are going to give out cars.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
We're gonna give out life insurance that too. We're gonna
help do a lingo. We're gonna learn, We're gonna teach.
We're gonna talk about the gestation of a dolphin. We're
gonna talk about our menstrual cycles. We're gonna talk about
those two are interla to how those two are essentially
the same thing.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Is there anything that you all want to make a
declaration over for the audience.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
To I declare some more, and I declare that.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
Oh, actually there will be a good luck with that
arm wrestling contest.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
Someone's arm is gonna get broken. I'm gonna make a
prediction that the finale of said arm wrestling will be
between Mimi and Alexis Sablogne. And I'm gonna like.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
Trek about Leticia right now.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
No, I'm not. It's gonna be mem An Alexis.
Speaker 3 (32:51):
We encourage sports betting on this program, Yeah, so we will.
Speaker 5 (32:55):
Encourage money, but not money.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
You have to do it for treasured objects, and yeah,
you have to do it for nostalgic things, specifically heirlooms
from your grandmother and your dad you don't talk to
anymore in his new family.
Speaker 3 (33:11):
And if you're searching for a family member, we will
help you find them.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Yeah, are you trying to find your doppelganger?
Speaker 2 (33:18):
MTV just got canceled. So what I'm trying to say
is this is what we are now going after. We're next,
We're next.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
Are you trying to pull a prank on your ex partner?
Speaker 3 (33:30):
Call us?
Speaker 1 (33:32):
Are you trying to find your doppelganger? Do you fl Slovakia?
Do you want to know why your mom has been
staying out late till all hours of the night. Are
you looking for a cat setter?
Speaker 3 (33:46):
Call us? Dm us, ride us. Let us know it's
gonna be good. We're here every week, like it or not.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
Do you want a pen pal?
Speaker 3 (33:57):
We could possibly be it.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
We could bell for nineteen ninety nine. I'm here for
you a week a letter. We could be your Ben Bell.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
We will be having different guests on the show. We
will have different co hosts coming in, so every week
will be different.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
But we will vote people off the island.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
Okay, stay tuned, look for us, invite us places. This
is going to be a traveling show. We're definitely gonna
have all different types of people on. It's about skateboarding,
but it's about life. So get on the ground floor.
Now find us on good Luck Pod.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
It's gonna be a good time.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
Good Luck with That is an iHeart women's sports production
in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment.
Speaker 4 (34:50):
We are your hosts Ashley Rayfield, Nora of Askenzelo's, Alex White,
and Mimi Nude. Our executive producer is Jesse Katz. Produced
by Tari Harrison, Daniel Goodman, and Great
Speaker 1 (35:01):
Listen to Good Luck with That, a skateboarding podcast on iHeartRadio, app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Good Luck with That is an iHeart women's sports production
in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Hey everyone, welcome to Good Luck with That, a weekly
podcast all about women and gender expansive skateboarding. We created
this space because honestly, we kind of needed our own space,
a place to correct the record, predict the record, celebrate it.
We're going to be talking to skaters, artists, musicians, surfer snowboarders,
anyone that kind of makes skateboarding that much cooler. And
the name says it all good luck with that, because yeah,
(00:34):
when you tell people you're trying to change an industry
that wasn't always built for you, or just being a
pro skateboarder or trying to start a podcast, they're probably
going to say good luck with that, and yet we're
here doing it, So welcome aboard. We'll be here weekly
and wherever you get your podcasts, we're going to be talking,
laughing and sharing stories and shining light on skateboarding from
our own perspective.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
So all right, good luck with that.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
I'm Ashley Raefeld, a creative, a skateboarder, bit of a
meddler in the industry, just trying to push this whole
thing forward. I'm not alone in doing this. Here are
three legends you probably already know nor of Askancelos, a
pro skater, artist, surfer style icon. In twenty sixteen, she
became the first woman signed to Adidas Skateboarding twenty seventeen
World Vans Park Series champ, and she's here to make
(01:27):
you laugh, definitely at my expense. We also have Alex White,
pro skater turned commentator, industry pioneer. If there's an unspoken
role in skateboarding, Alex is definitely going to break it
and explain to all of us why it's so dumb
in the first place. Also joining us as Mimi Noop,
five time X Games medalist legend and quite the architect
behind women's skateboarding as we know it.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
From equal Pay to the Olympic stage.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
She's been leading the charge long before the spotlight even
showed up and together this is good luck with that.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
Hi, Hi, Hello, happy to be here, Ashley, You nailed
that intro. This podcast is gonna rip.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
I'm so excited for us, guys. This is it. This
is the end for us, you know, in the beginning here,
beginning of the end.
Speaker 5 (02:18):
I want to know how everybody's doing.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
I mean, you know, little little life updates. I love
to hear how's it going, Mimi. You're a little horse,
but I want to hear how's.
Speaker 6 (02:28):
Life with you?
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Mimi.
Speaker 7 (02:30):
It's good, lucky to have seen you guys this past weekend.
Just keeping things rolling, bopping around. Just got the soakw
from Australia and about to go back next week. So yeah,
jet setting around over here.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Yeah. For everyone that doesn't know, Mimi used to live
less than two miles from me, and now she lives
the farthest point away in Tasmania.
Speaker 5 (02:50):
You bothered her that much that she had to move
to Tasmania.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
It makes sense. I have that effect on people. I
think skateboarding right now, I think one of the main
and exciting things of whether if whether or not you're
like in skateboarding or just viewing it as an outsider
or like experiencing it for the first time. I think
one of the most exciting things is the women's in
gender expansive space. And I think in the last five
(03:13):
years we've seen crazy strides happen in all different ways,
whether it's creatively progressive wise. You know, my career just
continues to flourish and it is crazy. I'm like sometimes
I'm like, I forget there's a garden and it's just
still popping off. So I'm I'm excited to Yeah, I
get to share my experience and talk to a lot
(03:34):
of people that maybe we've had conversations with intimately. But
you know, there's so much and there's so many stories
that haven't been shared from our perspective. So yeah, I
think that's that's what I'm most looking forward to.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
It's time to take the mic back, Alex.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
We were just yeah, we were all at Exposure. Yeah
it was insane. Can you just kind of explain why
exposure matters? But also what did you witness?
Speaker 4 (04:00):
So Exposure is fourteen years running, it's the longest running
all women's skate contest in existence, and it had over
two hundred individual skaters from twenty one countries come out
and it broke records. That's like more numbers than the
men's parallel, which.
Speaker 5 (04:17):
Would be called like Tampa AM or Tampa Pro.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
That's as many or more contestants than the men's side.
So you just see this enormous growth on the women's side,
and everybody's like a tweeny they're all under fifteen years old,
and they all are so good and so driven. And
what I kind of hope in this podcast is to
talk to a lot of those skaters too, because oftentimes
we find ourselves in the parking lot after the comp
(04:41):
and we're kind of chatting it up and we have
a lot of knowledge to share with them, but there's
only so many spaces on the curb outside the parking
lot to share that knowledge with. So like Nora like
sharing her experiences with sponsors and how to film and
like how to get out there and get in the scene,
and Mini from her coaching background, competitive background like fighting
for equal pay, and Ashley too from her industry insight
(05:03):
and from getting people hooked up with sponsors and getting
them in the right position. I think we all have
so much important knowledge that we can share, and also
it's really entertaining too, and I think it transcends just skateboarding,
because I think a lot of women are up against
glass feelings in their work environment and their sports field,
Like whatever you're in, we have a lot of parallels
that we are fighting for and hopefully people can just
(05:24):
get like good information and some laughs about.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Cool kind of I haven't looking up to me me
since I was fifteen, and Meme started getting me like
skateboards when I still lived on the East Coast, and
that completely changed even like how I viewed myself as
a teenager. You know, I was like, Wow, someone cares
about what I'm doing. And it's somebody who I've you know,
seen footage of who's an actual skater, who's created this space.
(05:51):
And I think we forget how scarce that used to be.
And I think now young people have so many opportunities
to look up and identify, especially with the people in
the women's skate space, but that was so rare at
the time. So it's pretty insane that we're all still
doing it in different at this capacity. You know, we're
(06:13):
going to be on the.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Mic weekly with each other.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
We're going to be talking about what's happening from all
the way back in the past, stories that were maybe
told by other people, and we really want to like
tell the real story.
Speaker 7 (06:25):
I'm just going to add, it's amazing to have this
platform to be able to share some of these stories
that maybe only a few people know about, and to
bring in the new generation and sort of welcome them
and them in and make them one of our crew.
I mean, it's it's about community and keeping it going,
and it's not it's not up to us, it's up
to them and we gotta set a stage for them.
(06:46):
So it's an awesome platform for doing that.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
And what are you doing right now in skateboarding?
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Get everyone up to speed with your current twenty twenty five,
twenty six, what's going on?
Speaker 7 (06:54):
Yes, So for the past couple of years have sort
of been like a consulting role, sort of doing one thing.
I've helped a couple athletes with contract renewals and footwear deals,
but more recently I've gotten back involved sort of in
the sort of managing you.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Would say of sport.
Speaker 7 (07:12):
So I'm part time CEO of Surfing Tasmania right now,
which is the state organization that is responsible for surfing
in Tasmania for Australia. So we work under serving Australia
and then with my other hours that I've left in
the week, I'm also part time helping lead the skateboard
program for the US remotely in terms of operations and support.
(07:34):
So I've got my hands and all kinds of things.
Probably you know, be excited when it sort of levels
out eventually, But yeah, heading to Japan in a couple
of weeks for that for the next World Skate Tour
stop there.
Speaker 5 (07:45):
Yeah, and I'll be back back there too.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
I'll see you in Japan because I'll be doing the
broadcast on that too. Funny fact they kicked me off
the broadcast for about four years because.
Speaker 5 (07:55):
I complain because I didn't want to go to Dubai.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
I think, why didn't you air.
Speaker 5 (08:01):
Good to have value is Alex.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
We weren't even in like you know, do biproper. We
were in Charga. Did you end up going to char Ja?
Speaker 6 (08:09):
Mimi?
Speaker 7 (08:09):
No, I've never been over there. I've been to Iraq
for demos, but I've never been any of them.
Speaker 5 (08:15):
Been to Iraq and Kuwait for demos.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
She's flew in like one of those giant like military planes.
Speaker 7 (08:21):
That about six of them actually, But yeah, that's what
we had to do back in the day to make
some money. Now, my dad there as he ran a
medical unit on the ground in Iraq, so it's sort
of a nod to him, you know. He he had
a really really high success rate of survival rate there,
both of Iraqi people and US soldiers. So I was like,
(08:43):
all right, I want to go do something just to
nod to my dad, but also it is one of
the only ways to make money.
Speaker 5 (08:47):
That summer, your summer job.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Yes, it's just the Bush era of skateboarding.
Speaker 5 (08:54):
Yeah, they used to quit.
Speaker 7 (08:55):
They didn't tell us anything, so I just got on
the plane and then all of a sudden, they're like, yeah,
you're gonna go between bases on C one thirties. There's
no windows, you have to wear body armor. We had
to have watch a tutorial about what to do if
we got shot down, you know, things like that. So
it helped cure my fear of flying. So when I
got back, I was able to get on those commercial
flights a lot easier. But no, I've not been to
(09:17):
any of the competitions in the Middle East.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
You've done your time. That's insane, Nora.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
I think your experience being a pro skater has been
so exciting to watch. It's been so fun. You've made
it fun. You've brought so many people into skateboarding that
weren't historically invited to the party.
Speaker 3 (09:36):
Can you tell us a.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Little bit about what's been going on in your world
and what's in the new year.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
I'm excited to wrap this here up. I have a
new video part coming out, which looks like it will
be pushed to another year, which is fine, but yeah,
I'm just sitting on like about four years of footage,
so that'll be with a Didas and Thrasher. Did you
pick a song yet? Yeah, that's like what we're waiting
on is music licensing. I have some I have options,
but do you tease some of them? No, I'm not
(10:03):
going to tease anything. No, No, because I don't.
Speaker 5 (10:05):
It's late.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Like we're waiting on that. We're waiting to know what
we're going to get, So doing that and just trying
to enjoy. I feel like November for a lot of
us as skaters, we're not traveling a ton like everyone's
kind of starts being more local. I'm like an hour
and a half, almost hour forty five from La, so
trying to get up there and skate a bit and
(10:29):
do some work stuff before everybody really winds down for
holiday season. Yeah, enjoying being at home, surfing, keeping up
with the cat's litter boxes, trying to paint. Everything's feeling
great and good. I skated today in some Oakley Meta glasses,
so uh, first time for everything.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Did you watch the footage?
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Yeah, it's decent.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Here's my question, does anybody want to watch that point
of view?
Speaker 6 (10:57):
You know what, Ashley?
Speaker 1 (10:58):
I don't know now. I don't really, but I have
a job to do and I'm gonna do it. I
just was testing it out and it was so easy
to work with. And this is as somebody who does
not film. I hate setting up selfie cam for myself.
I hate setting anything up like that, Like I am
pretty anti like I just have not wired like that,
(11:21):
and it was so easy to do. I'm more excited
to use it in like the art capacity, like using
it to paint and doing like start to finish paintings.
Wearing them I think is actually super sick and like
putting music and stuff to it. So that'll be probably
what I end up using them for the most. But
but I had fun today.
Speaker 4 (11:39):
If someone has sent me metaglasses, I would wear them
all the time.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
I would wear them and do other stuff too. We
could literally every episode talk about some bullshit we had
to do, thinking it was going to be an opportunity
for us skate wise, like the things that I have
done that I thought were things like opportunities is actually insane.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Yeah, and the taking of the crumbs, you know, just
the be thank.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
It wasn't real. It was like the craziest stuff, like
my mom's like I saw an ad for this thing
and they need a skater girl. And then you're like,
it's like twelve hours on like some crazy said, and
you get like food thrown at you. Like there are
stories upon stories, and we have all been there, Okay,
we have all shown up expecting it to be our
(12:29):
big break and it was not our big break. It
was a parking lot in downtown LA with ninety other people.
I have been in music video. I have been coerced
into music videos.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
You had to air over boy genius. That was a pleasure.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
That's of much that that is the opposite side of
the spectrum. Okay, no, no, no, no, no, you don't get to.
Speaker 8 (12:54):
That is that was after I made it. This is
before really days, these are their early days. These are
like working at pecsun in them all days.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Alex, You've come from a few different eras of skateboarding
and support for women's skateboarding.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
As a sex.
Speaker 5 (13:13):
It's the funny way of saying I'm old, Ashley.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
You know, good luck with that is a great name
for a podcast, because there was a lot of things
I needed some luck with.
Speaker 7 (13:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
In the early two thousands, I worked in reality television too,
around skateboarding after X Games, And it was funny because
I was working for not Mike Burnett, but Mark Burnett,
who used to do all those reality TV shows. I
don't know if you remember, but he wanted to do
one on girls skateboarding. So he had me follow like
all the chaotic lesbians and silver Lake around with a
camera all.
Speaker 5 (13:39):
The time, wait and what yeah, and try to get
them to fight.
Speaker 4 (13:42):
It was like it was like Vanessa and Sophie and
like Nugget and everybody. And I made these like sizzle
reels like they were gonna like make the running.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Back right now. I know, it's the best summer ever.
Speaker 5 (13:52):
Now. I think we could do it again, but.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
We know some people to call it crumbs.
Speaker 5 (13:58):
I know, can you guys fight?
Speaker 7 (14:01):
I get asked to be on Survivor like the mid
two thousands. I must have been on some like clickbait
thing and got seen somewhere.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Is this when you were living in the Bahamas?
Speaker 5 (14:11):
No, no, no, this is when I live notion side.
Speaker 7 (14:14):
And I got on a call with like the producer whoever,
and I was like, can I just ask a couple
of questions like what exactly? Like I don't really like cameras,
like kind of freak me out. I was like, well,
what can I bring? You know, like what are we
allowed to have? And they're like, you're allowed to have
two things, unlimited tampons and condoms.
Speaker 5 (14:30):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
And I was like, all right, show for me.
Speaker 7 (14:35):
It's like, no, thank you.
Speaker 5 (14:39):
So the opportunities were abundant.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
Speaking of being a middle aged woman, I got to
take a quick break and you guys do too.
Speaker 5 (14:48):
We'll be right back.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
I remember, you know, the era of trying to find
other girl skaters, one like through Lisa Whitaker's entire empire,
but through zines.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
You would somehow know where every.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Girl was located, Like if there was two in the
state of Washington and you knew who they were somehow
pre internet. But then when the Internet came on, if
you were to type in, you know, top ten girl skaters,
it would just be the hot girl skaters and not
really a reflection of what was going on. So what
is so exciting now is like we have such a bigger,
more bountiful access, the things you would have to do
(15:31):
to try to make it and make it work, and
there weren't many opportunities. You guys are talking about reality
TV and showing up to a casting call and typically
you'd just show up and skate and allow that to
speak for itself. Alex, like you had some sponsors, but
then it would dip off. Like you, Mimi, you've been
in the industry for so long as a pro.
Speaker 7 (15:49):
Skateboarder, I was working tem jobs and waiting tables at
the same time and skipping lunch, like could get thirty
minutes to skateboard. It got dark every day, and it's
just like until the contests started paying more. That's that's
how it was.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
For my memory.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Yeah, and then I feel like I was able to
do the contest stuff, get paid, use the contest, use
the occasional good result in a contest, which I was not.
Like my contest skating was hit or miss. I was
either going to get like sixth or last or whatever,
or I was gonna win, which happened very infrequently. But
(16:25):
I feel like I used that to leverage when I
started getting contracts, it was, you know, leveraging that with
Adidas leveraging that with whomever, because that's the only thing
that these guys saw for a little bit. And then
they're like, oh, you actually can film and put together
a video part and go to demos and interact like
(16:49):
a normal person and be tricked them. They're like, you
think you're gonna do the Olympics. I was like, yeah,
I'm gonna be there, and then it's like catfish.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
The Olympics itself is a big deal because I think
that when the when skateboarding got announced as an Olympic
event back in twenty sixteen, there was a mad scramble
from all the men to find Oh my gosh, we
have to have gender quality and all these we have
to have women coaches, women judges, women broadcasters.
Speaker 5 (17:20):
Everything.
Speaker 4 (17:21):
So they scrambled and they pulled us together and offered
us jobs for those of us that were, you know,
out of the pro skating part. And then you know, Nora,
you did skate an Olympic qualifier. I think you were
over it after the first run.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
I tried, I really, I put as little of an
effort as I could, and then I was like, oh,
you know what I'm gonna do, not this, And it
just worked out really well, but I also had aligned
myself with the right sponsors. I feel like my my
thing with wood skating, and like what I'm doing is
trying to obviously being like authentic to myself and creative
(17:57):
and true to myself, but also being like as a skater,
you kind of have to think about how good everyone
is and what they have to offer and if they're marketable,
but like make yourself irreplaceable, right, because that's that's essentially
what's gonna be the issue. His sponsors will replace you
(18:19):
with someone else one day. But I don't know. I
think it's so much about timing and the things you
choose to do the things you choose not to do.
All my embarrassing stuff happened like before I could have
had such a worse online footprint, but Instagram came around
in like twenty eleven. You know what I'm saying, Like
(18:41):
I just missed the cut and now I'm like purposely
pulling that stuff out because I'm like, see, I was
a dork too, and people are like, I don't want
to see this.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
I do you actually all want to?
Speaker 2 (18:52):
So also, if you're staying tuned follow us at good
Luck Pod, we'll be putting lots of highlights of Norah's earliest,
most embarrassing moments as a skateboarder. Alex, Ammi and myself,
we've all been skating since we were a kid, and
I kind of want to hear, like, what made it stick?
Why skateboarding? You could pick anything. Our whole entire lives
have been dictated around skateboarding, for better or worse, oftentimes worse.
(19:14):
You know, Alex, I met you at an era where
you had a really I knew who you were as
a skateboarder, but again, working the industry was absolutely not
even a dream that you could have because those jobs
were so sparse and let alone the idea of being
a woman working in that.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
You were a realtor. You know, you were selling slinging houses.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Your card, I have it like might be on. I
have like a pinboard behind my desktop and it might
be there. But trust me, realtor Alex was elite.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
You know, skate until you can't, and then you are
given probably the baton for an incredible job as a
brand manager or a team manager. You know, the industry
has been built full of these legendary skateboarders who helped
pave the way and make it incredible place. But it
really hasn't been historically the case for women in the industry.
Alex Yeah, like you've been around, Like what was why skateboarding?
Speaker 5 (20:08):
I mean it's for the lore. I just love this.
I love the people.
Speaker 4 (20:11):
I think that it's just the best group of misfits
and weirdos and like obsessive, like just interesting folks.
Speaker 5 (20:20):
From all over the world with weird nicknames and like quirks.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
And I've collected, you know, for what I don't have
in money, I've collected a lot of stories and I'm
looking forward to sharing those here because there's a lot
of interesting folks out there. I guess that's just I mean,
I was the kid that would read like Thrasher slap
like slam trans World cover to cover. I just like
love to know what Like these people are so strange
(20:45):
and and.
Speaker 9 (20:46):
Uh yeah, that's that's it. It's the lore doing it
for the plot. Straight up, Mimi, you've been doing it forever.
We're going to post some of those early photos so
you can see the proof. Mimi was cooler than all
of us before cool was cool. So how did this
become the through all the way to now?
Speaker 7 (21:01):
I just love the feeling that I had skateboarding as
a real, tiny little kid, like six seven years old.
I remember just the feeling just there's nothing else like it,
and it was just something that followed me throughout my childhood,
like sometimes I'd skate a lot, I'd go for months
at a time not skating, but it was just kind
of something I always came back to. And then I
just happened to end up in southern California after college
(21:23):
and landed in like the mecca for where transition skaters
live and the best in the world, started skating with
them and learned how things worked, and I honestly just
got lucky that I ended up out here on the
West Coast at the right time and had no idea
this existed out here prior to arriving. So and then
(21:44):
it became about wait a second, like this isn't right,
let's change some of this, And then that started motivating me.
It was just to create systematic change and getting some
winds that you kept that momentum going, and that all
led one thing to another, and it's just been a
domino effect.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Nora, you do it all, and you've played sports, traditional
sports in your life, But like, why was skateboarding the
thing that led you to having your own signature shoe
and helping open doors for so many women and gender
expansive people in skateboarding.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
I really wish I knew why skating clicked. I think
I think it just is this like obsessive thing. You know.
It's like, I'm not going to try anything as hard
as I try on my skateboard, And that was my
whole thing, even with like not going to college and
moving to California and trying to work in the industry.
It was, well, I know, I'm going to try and
(22:34):
I'm going to like put my best foot forward and
my best effort forward in this space. So so that's
that's all I can do. I really, yeah, I was
really just like I don't like anything as much as this.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
I'm with Nora, like I don't know why.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
I you know, I was like twelve thirteen, so it's
kind of hard to remember, like what in my brain
was like this is it?
Speaker 3 (22:56):
But it has all the things to do with like
not being told what to do.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
I love that skateboarding is just this whole entire universe
that you completely create and make so many sports like
you leave it on the field, you leave it at
the court. They have these rule books and their strategy
and this a beautiful, cool, competitive thing. And sometimes I'm like,
I wish skateboarding was a team sport because I do
love like aspects of the team part. But we make
up for that in skateboarding through community and friends and
(23:22):
just sitting at the spot. And skateboarding is just this
like amazing world that intersects are intersects music. It pushes
you to an unhealthy extreme and that is just like
the most thrilling experience, and you get to do it
in your own way, in your own creative space. And
somehow I just kept revolving as this thing that I
was like, I choose this. I choose this, every injury,
(23:43):
every dead end, I've chosen it again and again. And
at this point, once I started figuring out I could
work within the industry, it was all about, yeah, how
can I make this better for others?
Speaker 3 (23:52):
How can I make it easier.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
And make it more accessible and just make it what
it has always been about, the ethos that it's completely DIY,
it is completely for the counterculture. I'm really excited to
be here with you all in kind of rally support
around voices that haven't had the mic before. I'm excited
to learn from a lot of the stories the era
that didn't have the type of media outlets that you
(24:16):
could talk about things. I'm excited to Yeah, just see
what happens with us all. I think we've all had
a really cool journey to get here.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
Skateboarding definitely pushed me way outside my comfort zone. Like
I think I would be like an agoraphobic homebody with
problems if I didn't skate. And this is at someone
who like literally like used to not be able to
fly on airplanes, used to have anxiety about driving in
(24:44):
cars with people Like I was pretty like not okay.
And then yeah, I think I think when you like
love something and you have community, it's you can heal
a lot of parts of yourself. I gotta go my
refrigerators running.
Speaker 6 (25:02):
But we were right back, Mimi, why did you create Hoopla?
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Like why was that what was going on in that
era of skateboarding for you and the need to create Hoopla.
Speaker 7 (25:21):
Yeah, I mean we created Hoopla because we wanted to
be able to get in the van and go on
trips and no one was sort of doing that for
girls and women at the time, Like it's all we
wanted to do. And so we're like, all right, if
we create this board company and create a marketing budget,
then we can have our own trips and get in
the van and go shoot content, make video parts whatever.
(25:43):
That was sort of why we created the company, And yeah,
I think it. I think it filled a void for
for a long time and we had a lot of fun. No,
Norah was there for the for the early part of it,
and I was Maria and Fobby.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
I feel like, I mean, yeah, the foster was insane, Nicole, Fobby, Breezy, Samaria, Alicia.
Speaker 7 (26:06):
The roster was insane because supporting them. So that's why
we had this crazy roster, you know. So it's almost
like that's proof that we needed it. We did that
for about ten years and like towards the end of it, Norah.
Speaker 5 (26:21):
Was one of the first.
Speaker 7 (26:22):
But it's like the legacy board brands. All of a sudden,
we're like, wait a second, like we want to add
some of these girls on our team, and so yeah,
one by one and get a call like, oh, you know,
so and so wants to sponsor me.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
I'd be like, Okay, I feel like Welcome was the
first one, Like I was like the first one to
leave and I had just moved here and it was
super hard and I had to take Mabe to dinner
and basically be like, I'm sorry, but it was like
a breakup.
Speaker 7 (26:49):
Excited for you, like I was sad, like I felt
like I had a loss, right, but that was so
excited for you because you're gonna be able to It's
so much more through Welcome at the time than what
we could do. And that was what I said to
everyone that called me over the year, is like Samaria
and Enjoy. I remember being so excited and she was set,
like she was like upset on the call, was like
(27:11):
I don't. I'm like, you need to run towards this
is amazing, Like I'll never be able to do for
you like I want to, but we're just a small brand,
you know. And hats off to George Powell actually, like
he facilitated that whole thing and he said yes to
any idea we brought to him, which no one else
is doing at the time. So it is pretty amazing
(27:32):
to have that support.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
Yeah, there's there are those opportunities.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
It's amazing, and but they're limited in that draft pick
is like one person per brand up to two and
the idea of three and now not just flow and
that means you know, just getting sent boards and the
hope to get into that paid position so you can
have the lifestyle. Making sure that you can skate every
(27:57):
day and get paid to skate and make that your
focus is so hard to break through and right now
those spots are few and far and if you're lucky
to secure one, you do everything in your real power
to keep it because everyone is starving for those opportunities.
And it's wild to me that there's such a great
business case for women in gender expensive skateboarding. It's actually
one of the bigger growing markets in skateboarding right now,
(28:20):
and it's.
Speaker 1 (28:20):
It has done for the last five years.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Yet you see that representation really missing the opportunity to
just add more to the roster because it's only going
to bring in more revenue for the company and be
good for that distribution all in all. And Alex, you
and I have both worked at two of the larger
distribution companies that really do like put some of the
biggest brands in skateboarding out there.
Speaker 4 (28:43):
The bigger brands have caught on enough to put the
best women's talent onto their board brands and shoe brands.
Speaker 5 (28:49):
Right there's a whole level of them.
Speaker 4 (28:51):
So there's like an elite force of fifteen year old girls.
There's like Haisi Lai Al Momijin, Nishiya, Chloe Govell, Arisa True.
They're all up there and they all they're all getting
their shine now the beginning of it.
Speaker 5 (29:02):
They're getting invested in.
Speaker 4 (29:04):
And then there's this whole level that we just saw
last week when we were on exposure of people coming
up under that.
Speaker 5 (29:08):
And then there's our generation.
Speaker 4 (29:10):
There's like me and Mimi who are been there, done that,
and Ashley a little younger than me though too coming
up after us. That's like Kristen is also your contemporary
too started skate like a girl.
Speaker 5 (29:21):
And then Nora below that too.
Speaker 4 (29:22):
Nora's of a generation where it's like Nora, Alexis, Sablone,
Samario Bravard, like those skaters came up. There's a big
gap right now in the talent pool because there's the
late twenties, early thirties right now that came up in
that wave about five six or five and six years ago.
And then there's the wave that's coming after them, and
those are the the Olympic skaters right now too. And
what we're gonna watch right now over the next couple
(29:43):
of years is those Olympic talents that grew up with
a lot of the infrastructure that we help make. Are
they going to be able to take advantage of it?
Are we going to be able to keep the door
open for them? Are they going to succeed in these
like very confusing landscape with a lot of you know,
voices and guidance around them.
Speaker 5 (30:00):
And what I hope that we can kind of predict or.
Speaker 4 (30:03):
Accomplish with this show is we can help guide that
next generation on a more mass level of being able
to help them get to the point that Nora is
with her career, with other skaters that are like Alexis
as well to like Leo Baker as well, you know,
that gap that next ten years of their life that's
going to be honestly their biggest earning years as far
(30:23):
as professional skateboarders too. And there's so much on the line,
and there's so much bad information out there and bad
guidance and bad roads you can take, you know, or
like the wrong kind of turn it'll be great for
the plot, but we want to make sure that they're
successful too, and that.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
You don't have to do it one way, like, Yeah,
it's okay to be a contest skater, it's okay to
be only a street skater.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
You can be an artist kind of skater.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
I'm excited to help show that this is just a
very new era for skateboarding and especially within our space.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
So yeah, get on the ride now.
Speaker 5 (30:58):
Truth, what do people have to look forward to on
the show?
Speaker 2 (31:03):
They have so much look forward to, because one, I'm
declaring right now, we are going to have our own awards.
We are going to have an amazing good luck with
that award ceremony and show that is going to be
somewhere exciting.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
We're gonna have a ball, Yes, I'm going to have
the first skateboarding what are they called? What are the
debutante debutante bla. We're gonna have a debutante ball and
we're gonna have a live red carpet and people are
(31:37):
gonna show up and get judged harshly and already happen.
I'm joking, Mimi, God damn it. We're gonna just have fun.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
We're gonna go hang out with Jill on the slopes.
We're gonna get weird with some of the people that
also influence the music, the skating.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
I think this is an exciting.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
We're gonna get out the cars.
Speaker 3 (31:58):
We are going to give out cars.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
We're gonna give out life insurance that too. We're gonna
help do a lingo. We're gonna learn, We're gonna teach.
We're gonna talk about the gestation of a dolphin. We're
gonna talk about our menstrual cycles. We're gonna talk about
those two are interla to how those two are essentially
the same thing.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Is there anything that you all want to make a
declaration over for the audience.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
To I declare some more, and I declare that.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
Oh, actually there will be a good luck with that
arm wrestling contest.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
Someone's arm is gonna get broken. I'm gonna make a
prediction that the finale of said arm wrestling will be
between Mimi and Alexis Sablogne. And I'm gonna like.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
Trek about Leticia right now.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
No, I'm not. It's gonna be mem An Alexis.
Speaker 3 (32:51):
We encourage sports betting on this program, Yeah, so we will.
Speaker 5 (32:55):
Encourage money, but not money.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
You have to do it for treasured objects, and yeah,
you have to do it for nostalgic things, specifically heirlooms
from your grandmother and your dad you don't talk to
anymore in his new family.
Speaker 3 (33:11):
And if you're searching for a family member, we will
help you find them.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Yeah, are you trying to find your doppelganger?
Speaker 2 (33:18):
MTV just got canceled. So what I'm trying to say
is this is what we are now going after. We're next,
We're next.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
Are you trying to pull a prank on your ex partner?
Speaker 3 (33:30):
Call us?
Speaker 1 (33:32):
Are you trying to find your doppelganger? Do you fl Slovakia?
Do you want to know why your mom has been
staying out late till all hours of the night. Are
you looking for a cat setter?
Speaker 3 (33:46):
Call us? Dm us, ride us. Let us know it's
gonna be good. We're here every week, like it or not.
Speaker 1 (33:54):
Do you want a pen pal?
Speaker 3 (33:57):
We could possibly be it.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
We could bell for nineteen ninety nine. I'm here for
you a week a letter. We could be your Ben Bell.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
We will be having different guests on the show. We
will have different co hosts coming in, so every week
will be different.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
But we will vote people off the island.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
Okay, stay tuned, look for us, invite us places. This
is going to be a traveling show. We're definitely gonna
have all different types of people on. It's about skateboarding,
but it's about life. So get on the ground floor.
Now find us on good Luck Pod.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
It's gonna be a good time.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
Good Luck with That is an iHeart women's sports production
in partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment.
Speaker 4 (34:50):
We are your hosts Ashley Rayfield, Nora of Askenzelo's, Alex White,
and Mimi Nude. Our executive producer is Jesse Katz. Produced
by Tari Harrison, Daniel Goodman, and Great
Speaker 1 (35:01):
Listen to Good Luck with That, a skateboarding podcast on iHeartRadio, app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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