Tag: vert
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Cara-Beth Burnside: Part One
Cara-Beth Burnside is a skateboarder of legendary status whose presence and perseverance within the subculture has transcended decades. She has witnessed the highs and lows of skateboarding as an industry, as well as the shifting attitudes towards female skaters, which she helped transform. Considering the impact of her story, this feature is in two-parts, beginning…
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Sue Hazel
Sue Hazel is the UK equivalent to Cara-beth Burnside considering her long-standing skateboarding career from 1977 to the present and her role in supporting the progression of female skaters in Britain. While brief interviews of Sue appeared in UK magazines Sk8Action and Skateboard! during the 1980s, a more thorough interview was conducted in 2010 by…
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Nathalie Richter
Nathalie Richter from Bonn was Germany’s amateur female skateboarding champion in the late 1980s, and thanks to the ‘zine Equal Time, edited by Lynn Kramer, her story isn’t lost! Nathalie began skateboarding in February 1986 and three years later, at age 19 she was riding for Vans, G&S, Venture, Speed Wheels, and Rector. Nathalie’s feature…
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Rhonda Doyle
In the early 1990s, when asked about other female skaters in the scene, Rhonda Doyle was given props by Cara-beth Burnside in her October 1991 interview for Thrasher. Burnside stated that, “My friend Rhonda Doyle skates vert and pools really well. She’s an aggro grinder girl” (47). Photos: Ethan Fox Rhonda was part of the…
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Lori Rigsbee
Lori Rigsbee* from Del Mar, California skated purely for the love of it and in the late 1980s and early 1990s she was one of the few female skaters in the mainstream skateboard industry limelight. Photo: Robert Beck Lori is recognized today for her iconic ads for Independent trucks (Thrasher June 1989) and Airwalk (1990),…
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Bonnie Blouin
Bonnie Blouin (RIP) and her younger brother Blaize (RIP) were powerhouse siblings in the east coast skateboarding community during the 1980s. While this entry does end tragically [*Warning*], the goal is to celebrate the life and contributions of Bonnie, whose presence in Thrasher was often the only positive portrayal of women, in contrast to ads…
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Cindy Whitehead
Cindy Whitehead was inducted into the Skateboarding Hall of Fame in 2016 for both her accomplishments as a professional skater and her relentless advocacy for women in skateboarding that continues today. She spearheads the skateboarding movement “Girl is NOT a 4 Letter Word,” which includes a website, archive, interviews, social media, and publications It’s Not…
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Peggy Turner
In The Florida Times (May 9, 1980), Peggy Turner shared that she had begun skateboarding at age 14 for fun. “It was a fad everybody seemed to be doing… Then I really started enjoying it and then I got good. Now I want to skate for a long time.” Peggy’s home skatepark was the legendary…
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Lisa Jak Wietzke
The skateboarder movie genre, with classic titles like Thrashin’ (1986) and Gleaming the Cube (1989), has tended to dismiss female roles as “the love interest” or just a sidekick or non-existent. This changed in 1990 with the release of a little-known student-made movie called Grinding to Win. It is set in West Vancouver, written and…
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Brenda Devine
Brenda Devine started out competing as an amateur in the spring of 1978, but soon became selected for the very first Powell skateboard team, as their first sponsored female rider. She rode for Powell for a year-and-a-half, just in time for her first pro event. Brenda came third in Women’s Pipe behind Terry Lawrence and…
Womxn Skateboard History 