Category: BIPOC
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Yuki Kuwabara
Yuki Kuwabara was a skateboarder at Wild Wheels skateboard park in Covina, California in the late 1970s. She was featured in an article called “Surfers with wheels: skateboard parks banking on safety to keep their customers rolling in” by Mike Ward. The article was published by the Los Angeles Times in the October 9, 1977…
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Minh Duc (Jasmin) Tran
In the very first issue of Skateboard! (Britain’s first skateboard magazine), which came out in August 1977, there’s a photo and short blurb on a skater named Minh Duc Tran in the “Who’s Hot” section. The feature shared that Minh was 17, had been skating less than a year and was from the Kensington neighbourhood…
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Lauri Kuulei Wong
Ladies Skateworld was a ‘zine that launched on April 15, 1986 highlighting the scene at Del Mar Skate Ranch, and was possibly the first skateboarding ‘zine written by and for female skaters. The DIY publication was signed by an elusive skater named “Lauri” or simply “L.K.W.” Some clues to her identity included reference to Hawaiian…
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Gina Esperanza
Gina [Esparza?] Esperanza appeared to be a prodigy skateboarder in the late 1970s, based out of San Diego with her home skatepark being “Skateboard Heaven” in Spring Valley. She was a competitor in both Freestyle and Pool and would pick up a sponsorship from Hobie. Skateboard Heaven had a variety of bowls, snake run, clover…
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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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Ramdasha Bikceem
In 1990, when Ramdasha Bikceem (they/them) from Basking Ridge, New Jersey was 15 years old they started an all-girl skater gang and band, both called Gunk. Ramdasha taught themself to play guitar without formal training, and the band’s early shows were held in the basement of a friend’s parent’s place. The following year Ramdasha launched…
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Judi Oyama
Judi Oyama’s history as both a pioneer for women skateboarders in the 1970s and for her current accomplishments in her sixties, as she continues to compete in slalom and downhill to this day, demands respect! You can listen to her story here on YouTube, launched on International Women’s Day 2023 for Santa Cruz: It all…
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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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Julie Cheng
Julie Cheng appears briefly but successfully in a handful of contest results in the late 1970s. She is listed in August 1978 as a Pro Rider from Citrus Heights, CA by the International Skateboard Association, riding for Cal. Pro. In the November 1977 issue of the National Skateboard Review, Cheng places first at the California…
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Marie-France Gravel
Marie-France was an Indigenous skateboarder who took up skateboarding in her early thirties as a single mom in Montréal and was part of the original Skirtboarders crew. She had begun skateboarding in 1994 but had to put her life on hold to care for her daughter Arielle, who was born paralyzed and wheelchair-bound with cerebral…
Womxn Skateboard History 