Category: 2000s
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Elisabeth “Eli” Meyers
Elisabeth “Eli” Meyers (RIP) was from Schoten, a town in Antwerp, Belgium and is considered the country’s first ripping female skater. Meyers was introduced to skateboarding by her brother and friends, and she consistently skateboarded into her fifties. “In those days, there were no videos – we had to wait for Skateboarder Magazine to come…
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Michelle Pezel (and Antisocial)
For skateboarders living in Vancouver, Canada, and the countless skaters who have visited the city and made their way to Antisocial skateshop (or even found refuge on her couch), Michelle Pezel is a legend. She is the co-owner of Antisocial with Rick McCrank, and has relentlessly offered community-building, launch parties, creative outlets, and even activist-activity…
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Georgina Matthews
Georgina Matthews of Tauranga, Aotearoa (New Zealand) is regarded as a Wahine toa—a heroine! While there were female skateboarders in New Zealand since the 1970s, Georgina is the first in her country to be sponsored and compete internationally, and she’s still skating hard over 20 years later. Born in 1987, Georgina had always pursued action…
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Ianire Elorriaga
Ianire Elorriaga is from the town of Bakio and is the first female skateboarder from the Basque country to gain international attention for her impressive selection of tricks, contest results as six-time European Champion, and for going pro. Photo: Roxy ad featuring Ianire in the March 2003 issue of Beach Brother magazine in France. Ianire…
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Alexis Sablone
Alexis Sablone first exploded into the consciousness of skateboarding at age 15 with her part for the Coliseum skateshop video P.J. Ladd’s Wonderful Horrible Life (2002) based out of Boston. The video was creative, ground-breaking, and hugely popular, and Sablone’s one-minute-long part was an absolute gamechanger for women in skateboarding. Alexis, filmed by Dave Korden,…
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The Skate Witches
For most skateboarders today, when you hear mention of “The Skate Witches,” you might associate the reference to The Skate Witches zines by Kristin Ebeling and Shari White or the Bronx-based skate crew The Brujas, which both emerged simultaneously in 2014, or even The No Comply Coven that formed in 2018 in Johannesburg, South Africa.…
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Mary Mills
The title of an article from Textured Waves website asks, “Do you know Mary Mills? Well you should.” And it’s true! Mary Mills, as an African American surfer has been raising awareness about diversity in subcultures like surfing and skateboarding, and her Instagram byline describes herself as a “middle aged nonconformist.” The photo that triggered…
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Denise Fleming
Denise Fleming is a skateboarder who went pro back in 1976 and continues to skate! These days she has many tattoos, vibrant dyed hair, a rad style, and epitomizes true commitment to skateboarding especially considering the ordeal she went through after a random drive-by shooting incident in 2004. Denise first appeared in the Long Beach…
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Steffi Weiss
Steffi Weiss (Wolter) was a competitive skateboarder in the early 2000s who received significant attention after a series of solid contest results and was even described as the “German Elissa Steamer.” Obviously, a huge compliment and while German skaters like Nathalie Richter came before her, Weiss was the first pro female skateboarder in Germany, so…
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Cherry Skateboards
Cherry skateboards was a female-run board company sponsoring women riders, founded by Emily Oliver in February 2003 to April 2009 with support and product design by Shodie Lyon. They were based out of Breckenridge, Colorado and filled a void in a time when mainstream skateboard companies were still hesitant and resistant to consider developing diverse…
Womxn Skateboard History 