Girl is NOT a 4 Letter Word Skateboarding Initiative

Getting more girls and womxn skateboarding. That comes from having events, meet-ups, and getting more female and non-binary people together on skateboards as well as those who may not be able to afford the gear and creating an environment that feels safe when learning or skating at the skatepark. If this is not possible during the COVID timeline - we feel that virtual meetups via zoom have been a good way to have meet-ups and even discuss techniques and encourage skaters. Girls usually drop out of skateboarding in their late teens as they can not pursue a career as a skater - like boys can - due to lack of financial support. We feel that the more girls are out there skating, the more skate companies - and others will start changing that financial landscape. If you want to skate for fun, we love it - if you want to pursue it at the pro or Olympic level we feel that the support should be there for the women too.

If COVID does not allow in-person strategies, we plan on continuing visual support through multiple social media channels, interviews on the website, donation of our “It's Not About Pretty” skateboard book to libraries and schools that can not afford them. IF ALLOWED we'd also add in - Monthly meet-ups and skill-building / learn to skate groups, events and contests. Also identifying and donating gear to communities where female and non-binary skaters live and play.

Expand existing project, program, or initiative

We will have more gender equality at community skateparks through Los Angeles County. Girls and womxn will feel safer and more confident going out to skate at these skateparks if there are more girls skating. By creating a larger network of female and non-binary skaters it assures the skaters that they can go skate and are not alone in a male-dominated atmosphere. This equals a thriving skate scene that is not all about the boys as it has been since the beginning.

We have been the co-chair, along with our fiscal sponsor, of the Venice Ladies Skate Jam for 4 years and each year more and more girls and womxn come out, take over Venice Skatepark, make new friends, and skate - our goal continues to be to have it grow every single year. While we are dealing with COVID we have shifted our focus to more social media representation and website coverage. A hardback book we self-published continues to show these young womxn that there are many other female skaters out there - they are not alone. Visual representation is key. We'd like to continue our interviews with these skaters on our website as we know from past web traffic - those interviews are a big source of inspiration. We also do collaborations and create products that give back financially to womxn in skate.