Author: Natalie Porter
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Rebecca Griffiths
In 1978, a maze-like concrete skatepark was opened in Chester, UK by Geoffrey Blythin called the “Inner City Truckers Skateboard Park” on Sealand Road, on the former site of the city’s Royalty Theatre. According to a news article by Ian Callister called “What would Marie Lloyd have made of kick-flips?”, there was one young girl…
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hoopla Skateboards
Hoopla Skateboards was launched in 2008 by Mimi Knoop and Cara-beth Burnside (with support from George & Juli Powell, and Michael Furukawa at Skate One Corporation) to provide some of the leading female and non-binary skaters with a board sponsor and opportunities, such as having a signature board, support at contests, and going pro, just…
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Concrete Surfer comics
“The Concrete Surfer” comic series from the pages of Jinty teen mag in 1978 by Pat Mills (writer) and Christine Ellingham (illustrator) was compiled and re-released thanks to the Treasury of British Comics in 2020 and it is pure gold. If you love comics and have an ounce of nostalgia for skateboarding in the 1970s,…
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Cover Reveal
It’s cover reveal time for Girl Gangs, Zines, and Powerslides: a history of badass women skateboarders thanks to ECW Press. I enjoyed the design process, working with Jessica Albert and my editor Jen Sookfong Lee who were receptive to my feedback. And I’m just so stoked on the final graphic with a nod to Equal…
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Poot! and Foxy zine
In 1993, a clothing brand called Poot! was trademarked by Tod Swank of Foundation Skateboards intended for a female market thanks to a connection with Keva Marie Dine the previous year. Keva Marie would become the lead fashion designer and visionary behind Poot! and the Foxy fanzine. For PAPER magazine, Keva Marie explained that “It…
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Brigitta Dittmann
If you live in Europe, especially Germany, you’ll be well aware of the iconic skateboarding company, Titus Skateboards which is a family business based in Münster. You can read about the company history on their website and their evolution from starting a small shop importing skateboard products, producing a popular magazine, followed by a sponsored…
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Check it Out magazine
In the mid-1990s, a group of Brazilian girls came together with a unique vision that would evolve into the publication Check it Out, which would have a profound effect on women skaters internationally. Photo: the cover of the very first zine from 1995 next to the creator, Liza grinding a mini-ramp in 1999 It all…
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Isabelle Fried
With Mother’s Day approaching, I was reminded of Isabelle Fried (Caudle) who received some media attention in the early 2000s for her ability to juggle her love of skateboarding with raising a family and being a high school math teacher. Photo: Isabelle was featured in an advert for the female-focused skateboarding magazine called Push edited…
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Jill Viggiani
In the early 2000s, Jill Viggiani was a regular at the Talent indoor skatepark in Burlington, Vermont and had been vetted by members of the Burton snowboarding team as having potential for being sponsored by Emily Oliver’s skateboard company, Cherry Skateboards (2003-2009) which was a female-focused enterprise. Emily explained that she had connections at Burton…
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Beatriz Saens
Skateboarding in Mexico in the late 1970s was gaining in popularity among youth, with skateparks opening and companies like Pepsi sponsoring a local team, including a girl named Beatriz Saens. I had heard about Beatriz because Stephanie Fernández, who was the first Mexican girl’s National champion in 1979, mentioned skating with her. The two girls…
Womxn Skateboard History 