59. From Blanket Forts to a Global Surf Community: 5 Years of COASL

What started as a mic under a blanket and a dream to tell authentic women’s surfing stories has grown into a thriving podcast and global community. This week, we’re celebrating 5 incredible years of Confessions of a Surf Lady: The First Women’s Surfing Podcast™.

In this special episode, I’m reflecting on how far we’ve come—from launching in 2020 to more than 60 episodes, 50,000 downloads, and the creation of The Surf Société, a space inspired by you, our amazing listeners. I’ll share the story behind the podcast, the challenges and joys of building this community, and what’s next as we embark on season six.

Join me for a heartfelt celebration of the power of women’s surf culture and the incredible connections we’ve made along the way.

Main Themes:

The Origin Story: “I started with zero podcasting experience, just a cheap mic under a blanket, but I had a passion for telling women’s surf stories.” – Laura Day

From Podcast to Community:“This podcast inspired The Surf Société, a place where women can connect, learn, and grow together.” – Laura Day

The Importance of Representation:“Your stories, your stoke, and your presence in the lineup make surfing better for everyone.” – Laura Day

Resources

• Join our global women’s surf community — The Surf Société — and start your free 7-day trial today. 🔗 Click here to join now
  Or learn more first → The Surf Société overview
• Visit Our Shop: Support the podcast with surf-inspired products and apparel. Shop at shop.surfsociete.com.
• Follow Us on Instagram: Stay connected at @confessionsofasurflady and @surfsociete.

Thank You for Being Part of This Journey

Every download, message, and connection you’ve made through this podcast has helped us grow into what we are today. Thank you for being part of this blossoming women’s surf culture. Here’s to celebrating 5 years and all the waves to come!

Send me a Message! Be sure to leave your contact info.

Support the show

Confessions of a Surf Lady, women's surfing podcast, is supported by The Surf Société, our unique digital women's surfing platform where we come together to Learn More. Surf Better. Live Happy. Learn more at Surfsociete.com

Episode Transcript

Laura Day (00:01):
Hey lady, welcome to Confessions of a surf lady, a
podcast by the surf society. Forso long, women have been
misrepresented by the surfindustry, only highlighting a
narrow and exclusive version ofa who a surf lady can be. But
you and I both know that thereis so much more to women surfing
than that this, this podcastright here, is a place to tell

(00:25):
our story how we want to tellit, at Confessions of a surf
lady. You'll meet everyday surfladies doing amazing things in
their local communities, as wellas pros, World Champs, big wave
riders and badass, livinglegends from women's surf
history, all sharing their stokeon this blossoming Global

(00:46):
Women's surf culture. What'seven more special, though, is
that you, yes, you will get achance to participate in the
conversation by leaving me yourconfessions. I'm your host,
Laura Day. Think of me as yournew favorite surf sister,
connecting you to your beautifulGlobal Women's surf community,
helping you boost yourconfidence before you head out

(01:07):
for your next surf, and evendropping a few surf tips from
the surf society along the way.
If you want to stay connectedwith me, find me on Instagram
that's at Confessions of a surflady. Kind of use that like my
personal account, and then goahead and follow at surf
society. That's s, u, r, F, S,O, C, i, e, t, e, there you'll
find a handful of free resourcesto help you through your surfing

(01:30):
journey. All right, lady, thanksagain for joining me here at
Confessions of a surf lady,where we're cultivating a global
women's surf culture throughthoughtful conversation. Let's
get to our episode. Yeah, fiveyears ago, on January 15, 2020,
we launched this podcast. Welaunched this podcast with the

(01:51):
intention of telling authenticstories of women who surf
because I really felt, and Iknow a lot of women also felt,
that we were beingmisrepresented more than 60
episodes later, and 50,000downloads and counting were
still telling that story. Hey,lady, I'm your host. Laura Day,

(02:11):
Welcome to season six ofConfessions of a surf. Lady, I
am just as stoked to have youhere, as I was on the first day,
the first launch in 2020 youwere such an important part of
the story, as a listener and assomebody that has soaked up the
episodes, connected with thewomen on the show, felt

(02:33):
empowered by anybody's storiesand took that out with you to
the lineup. And I just want totell you thank you so much for
tuning in and listening andbeing here five years later, I
want to take a moment to reallycelebrate that, because you
partaking in this episode justby listening, just by making
space for this beautiful women'ssurfing community, really

(02:56):
uplifts the vibe of the lineupout there. You might not realize
it, but it does you empoweringyourself by sharing your story
and listening to others makesthe lineup a better place, and I
am stoked to share it with you.
So really, my heartfelt thankyou goes out to you. Thank you

(03:17):
so much for tuning in andlistening to Confessions of a
surf lady. We are, like I alwayssay, just getting started, and
it's really exciting. Like Imentioned, this podcast started
in 2020 and I literally startedit recording with the cheapest
mic I could find, sitting undera blanket. Thankfully, some of
these microphones have become alot more affordable and a lot

(03:41):
better, and so I don't have tosit under a blanket anymore. I
can sit here at my desk, not ina studio in it or anything. But
I've really done this wholepodcast out of my home up until
recently, with our new sponsorscoming on board, like dip and a
few sponsors. They'll be joiningus here in the future, I have

(04:01):
pretty much produced thisepisode out of my pocket. I've
put in the time and the moneywith zero podcasting expertise.
Mind you, at all, especially atthe beginning, I was not a
Podcast Producer. I just wassomebody that wanted to tell a
story. And so here we are now,five years later, just moving in
different ways and growing indifferent ways that are really

(04:23):
exciting. What's still reallyimportant, though, is you the
listener, and there are a fewways that you can support the
show that would mean so much tome, and really would help us
keep growing as a podcast, andhelp us keep telling these
stories, and not even that, justthat, just expand the amount of
content that we can createthat's really genuine and
authentic. So one of the firstways that you can support this

(04:45):
show is to become a member ofthe surf society. You've heard
me talk about the surf society.
It is our digital women'ssurfing community where we get
together to learn more, surfbetter and live happy. And this
community is actually. Inspiredby this podcast. This podcast
had created such a community inmy DMs, in Instagram. From
Instagram, I just got so manymessages from you listeners that

(05:10):
I was connecting with you, thatI wanted to have a place where
you guys could connect with eachother, and in trying to figure
out what I wanted for thisspace, this community space. I
talked to a lot of women andasked like, what do you want out
of a community? And of course,everybody wants to get better at
surfing. So through kind of justfiguring out what the surf

(05:31):
society was going to be, itbecame this amazing digital
space. And actually, we do stuffin person too, where we get
together, and I invite onindustry mentors, experts. Some
of the women in our membershipare actually experts in their
field, and like sportspsychology or sports rehab,

(05:52):
different things that they bringto the table, but we put on
events and workshops andchallenges that are all there to
help you become a better surfer.
I also invite on mentors that Iconnect with. I think mentorship
in surfing is really thecultural way to get better at

(06:13):
surfing. I mean, you can likeread books, you can watch
YouTube videos, but really theway people got better at surfing
in the past was they had amentor. They had somebody that
grew up surfing and was able topass down that knowledge for
somebody like me who's not agenerational surfer. I always
felt there was that missinglink, right? So this surf

(06:34):
society is a place that you cancome to meet those like grandmas
and grandpas of surfing younever had. I love to bring on
people who love to share theirknowledge. So that's the first
way, if you want to support themaking of this content, to
become a member there. And youknow, you get so much out of it.
It really is a beautiful space.
It was inspired by you and thispodcast. And I promise, if you

(06:55):
love here, tuning into this, itis something you will absolutely
love and it's just a very femalecentric way to become a better
surfer, very cultural way. And Ilove it. It's such a beautiful
space. I'll put a link in theshow notes for you if you want
to try it out for free. Anotherway to support this show is we

(07:17):
do have a shop. It'sshop.surfsociety.com I have
products on there that I had hadfrom when I started the podcast
Ira surf. Those are surf wearrash guards, bikini bottoms, T
shirts, that's all there, and acouple of products from the
podcast. That's a way thatalways comes back to us and also

(07:38):
supporting oursponsors. So if you ever hear an
episode here and there's aproduct that you like, you love
the story, you know, Kate'sstory about creating dip, or
Emily's story about creatingpeach surf hats on anybody else
in the future that you hear, Imean, you should know I like
really, really take my time tochoose the people that we work

(08:00):
with, and it makes it moredifficult. A lot of times, those
brands are smaller brands, andtheir sponsorships aren't, like,
really big sponsorships oranything, but it is support. And
I am really passionate aboutaligning myself and aligning our
podcast and our community withpeople who, like, really are
genuine, authentic and care. AndI mean, that's just another way

(08:21):
to support us. If you supportthem, it really comes back to us
in just different ways, whetherit's financial to help run the
podcast or energetic wise,that's all that matters. But
yeah, supporting our sponsors islike a really great way to
support the show as well. So Iknow those are all kind of like
monetary things, and absolutely,I won't be shy about it. It

(08:43):
does, you know, cost money torun this show. It costs
resources to run this show. Andwe want to grow this show so
that we can get it out, and getthat message out, and share more
authentic stories with women whoserve but the last couple of
things you can do to support theshow is to leave a review.
Whatever platform you're on.

(09:04):
Leaving us a review just showsthat people love it, and that
when people stumble upon it,they're like, Hey, okay, people
have this review that love thisshow, I'm gonna give it a shot.
So leaving a review, you canleave a message in there too. I
love to see those, and it's justa super easy way and doesn't
cost anything to support theshow. And last is share the show

(09:25):
with a friend. Put it onInstagram. You can take a
snapshot. You can tell a friendabout it when you go out for
your next surf. Thoseconnections, those in person,
connections, are so important toour growing community, and you
being a part of confessions ofsurf lady is so important, and
you are part of like, just this,what I call a blossoming woman's

(09:49):
surf culture. And I am sograteful to have you here. Okay,
so I want us to get on to ourlaunch of the sixth season, so I
won't hold you for much longer.
It's. Thank you so much forbeing a listener here at
Confessions of a surf lady. Weare not going anywhere anytime
soon. And I always say, I thinkI said this last year, like
we're just hitting our stride,like I said, I was not a Podcast

(10:11):
Producer when I started this,but apparently I have become
one, and I now know how to run apodcast. And for that, it's
going to be like a really greatseason, and we're going to be
going in a really greatdirection. So thank you so much
happy sixth season and the waysthat you can support us. Join
the surf society. I would loveto see you there shop at our

(10:31):
shop, which isshop.surfsociety.com Support our
sponsors, because they supportus and thus support you in the
women's surfing community, leavea review Spotify Apple, wherever
it is you like to listen andshare with a friend. Last note,
one of our main goals this yearis to reach 100,000 downloads.

(10:54):
So those reviews and shares witha friend are so helpful and
they're free, right? Let's moveon to the launch of season six
of Confessions of a surf. Lady,I'll see you on our next
episode. All right. Lady, we'vecome to the end of our episode,
but not the end of theconversation after listening. I

(11:15):
hope that you feel represented,empowered and even better
connected to your surf sistersin our beautiful surf lady
community, let's stay connectedbefore our next episode. Follow
me on Instagram at Confessionsof a surf lady and follow our
amazing women's surf community,where we get together to learn

(11:36):
more surf better and live happythat is at surf society, spelled
s, O, C, i, e, t, e, last butnot least, join us in our
exclusive surf society platform.
Join us for your first week freeby clicking the link at the top
of the show notes. Thank you somuch for bringing your unique

(11:58):
and beautiful self to our lineupat Confessions of a surf lady,
I'll see you on our nextepisode. Your host, Laura Day,
you.