Skateboard for that Feeling of Freedom

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yogi_wondersoul aka Irene shares this photo from Italy

Currently she’s in Guatemala missing her board.  In addition to skating she enjoys yoga.  She thinks skating and yoga complement each other

because they’re so different but at the same time they have something in common which is balance. Skating and practicing yoga provide the practitioner different experience for instance, while skating makes you feel the adrenaline running through your veins yoga is more about stillness and awareness. But they complement each other because of their diversity and allow people to be both still like a yogi and free like a skater

I absolutely agree, it’s all about the balance.  Take time to do the things in life that give you balance.  For me it’s skating, yoga, and writing.  What keeps you balanced and does skateboarding make you feel free?

More girls skateboard when they see girls skating so take the time to share why skateboarding is good for you.

Like a Girl

Like a Girl is a non-profit that offers self development and empowerment program and activities for girls & young women.

I first found out about Like a Girl when I saw this video.

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It’s captioned

@kellessekate teaching a boy the basics of balance on and off the skateboard.

Empowered girls aren’t afraid to work with boys and teach others what they know.  We are all stronger when we work together and teach each other.  The student as well as the teacher learn together.

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Tons of rad pictures on their IG, hope you check them out & yes they have a store too!

Sunday Cruises

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Jordan Daisy shares this photo of a Sunday Cruise.  I love her bio

When you can’t find the sunshine, be the sunshine!

Skating is just one of the ways she enjoys life.

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Girls who seek adventure and take time to enjoy the view are stylish on & off the board.  How and where are you keeping it stylish?  More girls skate and follow their passions when they see girls taking chances & following their hearts.

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Above a video of Jordan Daisy’s 2016 summer adventure in Biarritz, France.

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Archeologist & Skater Girl

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When you see an amazing shot like this you have to learn more.

The picture is on Nina Eklof’s IG she’s an archaeologist at the Maritime Museum Sweden, who loves to surf & skateboard.  She’s definitely a girl that sets an inspiring example for other girls.

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The picture above is of 37 girls at Highvalley Skate WorldNina says they have girl skate every Wednesday.

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Thanks Nina for sharing this from the suburbs of Stockholm Sweden.  More girls skate when they see girls skateboarding!  Below some more shots from Nina’s IG.

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Skateboarding with Mom

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Ana00love aka Anastasia shares this video of skateboarding with her mom.

If Ana looks familiar you have a good memory back to May 31, 2015.

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Love to see girls that keep skateboarding & keep sharing it with others.

Below Ana with her shadow at the Girls Only Skate Camp GOSC4

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a few more from the camp

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Always more room for pictures because more girls skateboard when they see girls skateboarding.

 

Hannah Skateboarding in Tampa

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Above a video from Hannah.   Below a more recent video of Hannah.

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Sometimes posts get delayed in the cue.  I’m sorry about that.  I am thankful for friends like Austin.

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He helps me find skaters that have pictures and stories to share and then makes sure I don’t mess it up.

More girls skate when they see girls skateboarding and get encouragement from wonderful people like Austin – his IG name is right on @inspiration_motivation1

Few more pictures of Hannah who’s keeping it stylish on & off the board in Tampa Florida.  She’s been skateboarding for four years.  She finds skateboarding fun and loves that you can be creative with it.

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Poseiden Foundation’s 8th Annual Ladies Day at the Berrics

On Saturday, November 12th the Ladies came to the Berrics thanks to the open invite from Poseiden Foundation.

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In addition to skateboarding with friends, there was a chance to win best trick, mingle with potential sponsors and help those in need.  Everyone who came to skate was asked to bring a donation of canned food, skate equipment new or used, or cash to help feed the LA homeless and build homes with Techo of Latin America.

New this year was an early session for skaters 14-under, which included a skate clinic.  Also new this year was the “Refer-A-Friend” contest.

For more information on the history of Poseiden Foundation Ladies Day at the Berrics see my October 7th post.  Now let’s see some highlights from the day.  Most of the pictures will take you to the IG of the contributor and many of them are videos so be sure to click!

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The day was possible because of all the volunteers.  Above colorfulirises & _sk8.and.cry_ started their morning off by checking girls in.

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vianezsk8 was one of the girls who participated in the 10am – 11:30 Open Session for Ladies under 14.

dailynnskates_ was one of the ladies who won a fabulous prize.  She won a triple8nyc helmet.  Huge thank you to all the sponsors and supporters who donated product for the day and for the mission.

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Poseiden Ladies Day at the Berrics is more than just one day.  The food and skate equipment they collected also goes to help those in need.

As for what the ladies are saying

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_kiki_kiara was excited to heelflip the five stairs – if you have a video of her doing it, she’d love if you shared it – above she’s with some friends and if you check out her IG you’ll see a better shot of her beautiful hair.

lionheartproject called the day

true bliss to be back here @berrics I knew I’d find my way back some day but I will be forever grateful that @poseidenfoundation invited me back so soon

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Below quinneforreal shares her picture with Leticia Bufoni who came and a picture from the Poseiden Foundation archives of Leticia at the 2nd annual Ladies Day at the Berrics back in 2010.

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Some of the local Silly Girl Crew were at Ladies Day.  Below sarahshreds, brielsk8grl & jenniferbrubaker97.

Before moving on huge congrats to Sarah for her recently released signature pro model & Briel for 1st place “overall Award” for Girls Street CASL Competition.

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Always time on this blog to say congrats, thanks, and where did you get that I love it!

Below natashalajolie shares a video of

skateboarding with big girls

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It’s always more fun when things are all ages & inclusive.  I’m not about the “carding” life.

Snoopdogg3043 shares this video.

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She absolutely flew over those stairs!  Focus on the amazing and more amazing things will happen.

Now a video from christianasmith – people get in her way, she keeps going!

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Just keep going is a huge lesson you can learn from skateboarding.

Tara shares a video of “double trouble” minnask8 & seekendrask8te

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Now an edit from iris.snakes her edits don’t suck so go watch the video.

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I didn’t see him, but Elvis was in the house or at least he’s in ali_stevens video below.

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Militant_23 aka Amanda who took home 1st shares that she had a blast & that

best of all I shared a lot of laughs with friends all day

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I totally agree with Amanda.  It was a fun day because you spent it with friends.

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Thank you to all the sponsors like Active Ride Shop above who had a tent and some sock game that I absolutely could not win, while Michelle & Minna just kept winning.  Nikita Clothing who gave us the rad pins below & always supports active, creative & collaborative girls

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and all the other sponsors and supporters.  Without sponsors, supporters, and volunteers events like this wouldn’t happen.

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Plus a huge thank you to Micaela Ramirez, Founder of Poseiden Foundation & Steve Berra for opening the doors and keeping the doors open.

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Below group shot from Active Ride Shop who has more great stuff on their IG story.

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If you want to add to this post or have your own post, please do.  More girls skateboard when they see girls skateboarding and get encouragement, to share your pictures & stories just tag, DM, or email me.

Till next time, keep it stylish on & off the board!

Skate Rising November 12th #NeverTooPretty

The November Skate Rising event welcomed Cary Williams, Olympic level certified boxing coach, former competitive boxer, cover model, speaker, owner of Stables Boxing Club and founder of Too Pretty.  Cary’s message was simple and powerful:

Girls and women of all ages should be encouraged to feel confident, powerful, beautiful and intelligent, no matter what their passions are in life.

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Cary shared her story of becoming an athlete and entrepreneur without sacrificing her femininity.  She also shared that fear is natural and it’s up to each of us to take the chance and try something new and give it a chance.

Most people aren’t immediately good at whatever they try,  success is found by not giving up.  If you’re passionate about something, it’s worth working for.

Each of the girls had the opportunity to make a sign of what they are #NeverTooPretty to do/be.  With over 50 girls participating, we ran out of table space.

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That didn’t stop the girls.  Each made a sign and then had their picture taken – a photo directory of all the signs is coming soon.

Below the group shot as seen on the Too Pretty IG

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When I originally did the #NeverTooPretty challenge, I wrote WRITE.  I’m dyslexic so learning to read and write were a challenge.

Until recently, I was hesitant to talk about my dyslexia because of all the teasing and bad memories.  Being in a group of strong girls like this gives me the courage to share that the struggle to write was real but my passion to write was stronger.

Cary was a strong force in my being able to say I’m dyslexic, while not being ashamed or fearing what others think.  I thank her for that and for constantly taking the time to encourage girls to believe in themselves and achieve their passions.

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After the signs it was time to skate.  I love that Skate Rising gives girls a chance to skate with other girls plus I love all the people who come to help girls learn.

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Above Neal Mims from Academy, a pro who’s taught me a thing or two both on and off the board.  Below Mike, also from Academy Skate Park and Bryan from SkateXS.

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Plus a huge shout out to the parents who help and the vendors like Phive Bar –  their support makes events like Skate Rising happen.  Skate Rising is run by parent volunteer Calli and welcomes all parents and organizations who’d like to be involved in

lifting up the next generation of girls through learning, serving, and skating

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Till next time keep it stylish on & off the board.

To find out why I’m wearing the “fancy” dress be following the blog for the series on the travels of my homecoming dress including it’s eventual donation so another girl can enjoy it for prom.

 

 

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Stop 2 on the #skatingfashionista dress tour

Stop 2 on the #skatingfashionista dress tour was 11/12/16 at Skate Rising.  A monthly event held at the Encinitas Community Park

dedicated to lifting up the next generation of girls through learning, serving, and skating

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Cary the founder of Too Pretty was the guest speaker and she challenged all the girls to share what they are #NeverTooPretty to do.  I had taken the challenge before so I shared with the group how I’m #NeverTooPretty to WRITE.

I started the skatingfashionista blog because I love to write and I thought if I shared pictures & stories of girls skateboarding more girls would skate.  Plus I wasted to share that there’s no uniform in skateboarding – you can wear what you want and skate.

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After helping the girls write what they’re #NeverTooPretty to do and a group shot.

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it was time to get ready to skate.

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As I mentioned in a previous post, the beading on my MacDuggal dress is as heavy as it is beautiful so mostly I cruised.

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As of this post, Prince Charming has still not appeared but the dress is still magical.

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Hope you check out my posts on how The Princess Project is one option for recycling your princess dress so someone else can also enjoy it and my post on the entire November Skate Rising.

Till next time keep it stylish on & off the board & be on the lookout for Stop 3!

 

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Princess Project a Way to Build Self-Confidence Through Fashion

On October 27th I started a series on my homecoming dress.

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In the first post I said I’d be donating the dress to charity so someone else could enjoy it for prom.  This post is about The Princess Project, one option for donating your dress.

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The Princess Project has several chapters and for this post, I got to interview the San Francisco Chapter.  I worked with Julia Mathis and Lisa Fettner.

There are numerous ways to check out the Princess Project.  In addition to the link above many of the chapters have their own web page.  This is the link to the SF Princess Project.

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The Princess Project believes that giving a girl a prom dress is a way to make a girl feel special & build self-confidence.

Yes I know it’s the person not the clothes that are unique and special.  However, prom is a huge right of passage.  For better or worse in our society it has been build up to be this special day.  We have all watched Pretty in Pink.

Why should the special day be only for those with money?  I think it should be for anyone who wants it.  Would I be devastated if I didn’t go to prom?

Yes, I’d be devastated if I wanted to go and the only reason I couldn’t go is because I couldn’t afford a dress.  Note if I wanted to go and didn’t want to wear a dress, that’s not a problem.  A dress is not a requirement for prom, but having a dress if you want one and can’t afford it is a problem.  I’m happy there are organizations like Project Princess to solve it.

Plus what happens to all those homecoming and prom dresses.  I’m doing a series of posts on wearing my homecoming dress several times, but I think most are worn once and forgotten.

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Above a picture from The Princess Project, San Francisco IG.  In addition to dresses, which can be former prom dresses, formal gowns, fancy party dresses, or homecoming dresses, they collect jewelry and shoes.

They do ask that all items be in excellent condition, current (within the last 5 years), and clean.  Depending on the chapter, there are year round donation spots and seasonal donation spots.  You don’t need to make an appointment to donate, just follow the web instructions.

The major collection drive starts in January and runs through the end of February/early March when The Princess Project begins their give away days.  So yes holiday dresses have a place to go in the new year.

Below is The Project Princess SF invitation if you need a dress.

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I love that picking out a dress is a special event, just like it would be if you were going to the store.  As for how many dresses are donated and find homes – lots and that’s good because the need is great.

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It’s amazing how many girls out there need prom dresses.  Where you live determines so much of how you think the world is.  According to the National Center for Children in Poverty

about 15 million children in the United States – 21% of all children – live in families with incomes below the federal poverty threshold

In January 2015 the Washington Post reported

For the first time in at least 50 years, a majority of US public school students come from low-income families . . . 51% of students in per-kindergarten through 12th grade in the 2012-2013 school year were eligible for the federal program that provides free and reduced-price lunches. . .

Now some stats from The Princess Project SF

  • Founded in 2002 & became a non-profit in 2005
  • Volunteer run & donation based
    • In 2015 there were 751 volunteers & 80 sponsors
    • In 2015 over 3,500 dresses were collected
  • Over 20,000 teens from 15 Bay Area Schools have received dresses
  • Dresses have ranged in sizes 0-28 and in all colors of the rainbow
  • 5 year round donation sites and 57 seasonal donation sites in the Bay area

Below these are just a few of the girls who received a dress in past years from The Princess Project SF.

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Below the current leadership team of The Princess Project SF.

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In addition to IG, you can also follow The Princess Project SF on Twitter

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Facebook

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Pinterest

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If you have a dress that meets the requirements for The Princess Project, I encourage you to take the time to donate it because there is a girl out there that needs it.

Be on the look out for the next post.  After some delays, I think the dress is really headed for YMCA Clairemont Skate Park.

 

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