Episode 17: Surfer Susie- Stoked on Aging However the Hell You Want

Welcome back to the Sisters in Stoke podcast! I’m so pumped to be kicking off the second half of this season with a guest who is a dose of fun, positivity and inspiration.

Susan Terry- aka Surfer Susie- was born in the good ol’ days in the sleepy beach community of Ventura, California. She was a total “tomboy” (and proud of it!) with a smart-ass mouth and was always the best friend to the most picked on kids. Some used to say she was intimidating but she was really just a confident kid who didn’t fall victim to all the bullshit. After seeing the original Gidget movie in 1959, she decided then and there she would be a surfer girl even though she knew zip about surfing and had never even met a surfer before.

Her first surf was at the south side Ventura pier all by herself, where she ate shit and freakin' loved it. After her school years she got married (to a guy who ran her ass down in the waves)  and had her son, Dave who’s now in his early 50’s and is also a surfer. She had an absolutely fantastic 30 plus year career in the fitness industry and still works out everyday. In her own words, “If I miss it I become a real ‘bitch’, ha!” She’s a self-described pain in the butt highly self-motivated girl who wouldn’t change a thing. In the 1980s, she gave her life to Jesus (“Yep, still a sinner and saved by grace!) and prays for whoever needs it.

Aging sometimes really makes her mad but the minute she throws her board in the water and turns it over to start paddling, she’s just another surfer and age doesn’t matter.

We talk about aging (disgracefully), how she became a surfer, what it was like being one of the only women in the water, how the surf scene has changed, how her Christian faith has shaped her, dealing with the challenges of aging, staying positive through hard times and injury, why doing what you love is so important, giving back to others and how the ocean and community can heal.

My face hurt from smiling after this interview and I know you’ll love it too!

You can find Susie here on Insta.

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Sisters in Stoke acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land where we live, work, play and love: the Boonwurrung & Bunurong People of the Kulin Nation. We pay our respects to their elders past present and emerging. We acknowledge that these lands are unceded and that the struggle for the lands and rights of Indigenous peoples around Australia is ongoing.