Wayward (2026) Movie Script

1
I would say that it
takes, like, a lot of
mental fortitude and courage
to be able to do stuff experimentally
to find out if you can do it.
And that's what, like, every
girl that came up up to now
in every sport has done.
In snowboarding and skateboarding,
and, like, action sports,
like, the stakes are a lot higher.
Essentially all the odds are against them,
and they have no reason to
believe that they could do it.
And I will tell you,
most of them probably don't
believe they can do it
but they're just hoping, you know?
Or they're like,
they wanna see what happens.
And you see someone do it,
suddenly it becomes very
possible for you to do it.
Whoa, whoa.
It's so fun to look back.
Is that good?
This is when snowboarding started.
Sherman Poppin created the Snurfer
for his two girls during Christmas.
They needed an activity, so he took a ski,
and he created, like, a snurferboard.
He created it on a
Christmas to get his daughters
out of the house and doing something,
So, yeah, I think you can say
the first modern snowboarders were women.
It was really a novelty,
but we were like, wow,
this could be a sport.
And then the Snurfer became the snowboard.
I think I had a lot to do
with helping push it along
and pioneering it.
But I think it would have happened anyway.
You know, evolution's
pretty, pretty unstoppable.
We see a much bigger market
over the next five years
This year, it hasn't really
been too difficult to promote.
The boards seem to sell themselves.
Everybody's really enthused.
At Burton,
Jake and I conceived of it as something
that you would do on the back hills,
but we were bringing a whole
new demographic to the resorts.
In the 80s was a time when kids
were kind of losing interest
in doing what their
parents were doing, skiing,
and snowboarding gave them an alternative.
My mom actually saw it first.
And so she came home, excited
to tell my brother and I,
like, "Hey, there's this
thing called a snowboard,
"and it's kind of like
skateboarding on snow."
There was just a few of us.
We had to start somewhere,
and we had a blast doing it.
We were doing something
different on the mountain,
and we weren't necessarily accepted,
so we all had to kind of band together.
It was kind of like
us against the skiers.
We were just considered, like, rugrats,
misfits heading to the mountains.
Nobody liked us.
There was real rivalry.
We were new, we were different,
and we were obnoxious.
You know, that's what was fun about it.
Some of them have had
a little bit to drink.
We'll kick 'em off, and
they'll just lip us off.
They run into people.
They're dangerous.
The only problems we have
are sometimes some of the ski areas
won't allow us on the lifts.
But I think that just will take time.
Do you see any
compromise in the future at all?
No.
Our rejection by skiers
brought us together.
The US Open was the event
to show up and do well at.
It was the core of snowboarding,
and it had so many spectators there.
People were climbing the trees.
Like, the crowds were massive.
And it had equal prize
money for men and women,
And, as the event went on,
it became one of the
biggest prize money purses
for snowboarding.
My first competition
really opened my eyes,
like, I saw snowboarders
from all over the world,
I met people that said, like,
"Yeah, I'm sponsored, and
they pay me to snowboard."
I was like (rolls lips).
It was like, that's how it's done,
that's how you get seen,
and that's how I can
continue snowboarding.
In the late 80s, early
90, as the sport grew,
we were pulling for both
employees and participants
from surf and skate,
which were pretty male-dominated.
In the early 90s,
there were no products
specifically geared for women.
The general perspective historically
has been that women
will buy men's products,
So all of these companies thought
that there wasn't the need.
Shannon and I were starting to do tricks
with spinning in the half pipe,
and Shannon's lugging
this big board around.
I've got this big Kemper board.
I was 100 pounds,
and the boards weren't made for me.
So I was pulling this extra weight.
So getting up in the
air or grabbing my board
was more challenging, maybe, than a guy.
My body weight wouldn't
even flex that board.
There was a need.
It was time that we really
went to our sponsors
and said, like, "Hey, if you
build me a smaller board,
"I can do better tricks."
My sponsor was Sims Snowboards,
and the marketing director, Gaylene Nagel,
asked me if I wanted to
have a women's pro model.
Her friend was Lisa Vinciguerra,
who had the first ever women's pro model,
But it was only sold in Europe,
and it really went unnoticed.
Freestyle snowboarding at that
time was really U.S-driven.
I had been winning
almost every half pipe
contest at that time,
So Gaylene was like,
"The market's ready for
a women's pro model,
"and I think we can do this together."
So this is my 1994
Sims sunflower board that I painted.
Did the graphics.
Gaylene Nagel presented the idea.
They were told that it wasn't gonna sell.
She turned my graphics
into the designers,
and they were too bold, too feminine,
but she totally believed
that this was gonna work.
She called key shops and asked them
if she could put the sunflower
board on consignment.
And she's like,
"I'll just take all the boards
back if they don't sell."
She had one ad left that season,
and she ran Shannon on
the back cover and said,
"First pro model."
And next thing I know,
the boards were just flying.
Shannon outsold all the men's boards.
And then it was game on.
If you didn't have product
for women, you were losing out.
And so every company jumped on.
And there was companies
specifically made for women.
As the gear got better
and equipment was designed
specifically for women,
the snowboarding got better.
You would see
more women on the hill.
I used to ski,
and then my friend got
me to try snowboarding,
and I got hooked.
Your heart just goes so fast.
It's better than anything.
That growth, I'm quite sure,
was because there were
more products for women.
You know, it was a real
legitimate business.
People were making great money.
I mean, I made a great living.
That's when it shifted.
Like, okay, I'm a
professional snowboarder,
and that meant something.
Other girls were coming
up to me and saying,
"I saw you in a snowboard magazine."
And that's when I knew that
I could snowboard, too.
Back then, it was a
magazine that came out
once a month or a few times a year.
There were magazines
that were dedicated to women snowboarders,
like "Fresh & Tasty."
And I remember when that came out,
I was like, "Oh, a place for us."
But then there was a feeling
like they had to put us over here
because we didn't fit in
with the main magazines.
We were hungry for those.
"Transworld,"
"ISM," "Snowboarder,"
and then "Blunt."
It kind of captured the rebellious nature
It was edgy and a little risque.
"Blunt" did influence me
and also probably made me a little harder.
Circe's hardcore.
Circe had style.
She skated, she knew tricks.
All I wanted to do was film video parts.
And you would dedicate,
like, your whole season
to stacking clips,
in hopes of actually getting
a Standard Films part
or a Fall Line Films part or a Mack Dawg.
Those are really kind of the main players.
And then you would have premieres,
and then you could buy them on VHS.
That started in skateboarding,
and then it was inevitably
adapted by snowboarders.
So much of skateboarding and snowboarding
is a direct parallel.
I loved Cara Beth's energy
because she came straight
from skateboarding.
She had that style in snowboarding
that was like a skateboarder.
And really, truly, that's
what we were after.
It was getting crowded in the ski areas,
so a few of us decided
to make a transition.
This could be one of my
favorite places of all time,
right here.
I had a
great lady to ride with,
Victoria Jealouse.
We did a lot of backcountry together.
And she was smart.
She was calm.
She was fluid.
And she just made it look so easy.
In the early 90s,
We were constantly exploring new terrain
that had never been ridden.
Everything was a first descent.
There wasn't a big
hype about backcountry,
so we were kind of like the guinea pigs.
There was no guides.
We were the guides.
My crew and I, we went to a
few different places in Alaska.
Like, we were the first
people to go up to Haines.
We would scope lines
for about 30 seconds from the heli
and then get dropped off right on top.
We were riding blind
before digital cameras,
and I thought to bring
an old Polaroid camera
so we could have a little print
of our line in our pockets.
This helped us a lot.
No one really did it
as good as Victoria.
She just made snowboarding look beautiful.
Her style is just timeless.
She was one of the best
female riders, I believe,
of all of it, through the decades.
The variable conditions
in the backcountry,
you just have to be watching all the time.
Fear is earned.
You have to earn it.
We were riding some big lines
with major exposure,
and there were definitely
some close calls.
It was important to me that
I understood the risks fully
before making decisions
in the big mountains.
When I was riding with her,
this is what made me feel secure.
And we talk about it,
"Hey, what do you think?
"Well, it looks like
that, looks like this.
"That looks okay."
And then that's when you radioed in,
and said, "Droppin' in five."
Woo!
So I'm riding a board
that's about 30 years old.
This was one of my pro models.
I called this Synergy.
It's got my name on the bottom there.
It's a little beat up.
It's a little worse for wear,
but so am I, and who cares?
We're still having fun.
Morgan was, like, the most
punk ass bitch of us all.
Like, she was so frickin' next level.
She was really super influential.
She really was an innovator,
being the first snowboarder
to be on major platforms.
Snowboarding was a zeitgeist,
and she was the queen.
Morgan Lafonte
is a 32-year-old professional snowboarder
and a self-proclaimed thrill-seeker.
Woo-hoo!
You know, she was just, like, fearless.
She was the first woman
I ever saw do a backflip.
Going upside down back
then, it wasn't very common.
Backflip,
and she lands it perfectly.
Do you ever
double-backflip on a snowboard?
Yeah, I was either
gonna make it or break it,
but I had to do it.
Couldn't have been
prouder of myself, really.
It was a personal best.
I remember watching
Morgan do double-backies.
And, you know, she would huck 'em off
of jumps in the back bowls of Vail.
Were there
men doing double-backies?
Not that I ever saw.
I had no knowledge of
anybody, male or female,
doing double backflips back then.
I just thought, well, this could be,
every sponsor could use this for an ad.
Crickets.
I felt like I just got
so swept under the rug,
and I didn't understand why.
Morgan was ahead of her time,
but the media landscape
was totally different then.
If your footage didn't
end up in the right video
or you didn't have
access to that VHS tape,
there wasn't a digital footprint,
so a lot of those accomplishments
by all of us in the '90s
weren't necessarily fully
seen or acknowledged.
I'd like to leave a mark in the sport
being a woman, being Morgan Lafonte.
I'd like to leave my mark.
The only way that I
would see women coming in
was through the competition scenes.
That's where you were seen.
That's where sponsors would approach you.
So the contest is where all
the progression happened.
Women's
half pipe competition
has come a long way in
just a few short years.
The first X Games in '97,
put the spotlight on progression
in a way that no other event had.
X Games had way more weight to it
than any other contest.
It was on mainstream TV.
There is not many other
outlets for these sports,
so it's like, that's
where everybody went to.
It was like, where do you
go to watch snowboarding?
Watch my X Games.
That was exposure at a level
that people knew that,
like, it was time to shine.
Barrett, the first woman
to spin off the big jump!
X Games kind of became that spot
where you have all of
the best people there
pushing it to the next level
'cause they have to if they wanna win.
We've all
heard that great things
come in small packages,
and Barrett Christy is no exception.
As soon as I see someone do it,
then I've gotta do it.
Man, did I get lucky
being in snowboarding at that moment.
I knew that that was significant
not only for my career
but for the sport as a whole,
being seen by a mainstream audience
on a whole different level,
being taken seriously.
We could be shown to the world.
And it created this big hype.
It wasn't, like, a fringe sport anymore.
I think the Olympics were
threatened by the X Games.
So they unilaterally came in and said,
"Okay, snowboarding is going
to be part of the Olympics.
"You're gonna fall under
the ski federation.
"You're gonna wear the
same uniform all year,
"and you're gonna have
the same coach all year
"and the same sponsors."
They wanted to run it
just like the ski team.
I think it's gonna
change the sport a lot,
and maybe not for the best,
It's maybe a little egoistic
to go there, I don't know,
I don't know if it's so
good for snowboarding.
Whatever noise was going on around me,
it felt like a good move for me.
It was still an opportunity
that nobody in their right mind
that had a chance to
compete in would give up.
Nicola Thost won that Olympics.
She always went big, and
she's, like, a full-on charger.
But it wasn't really shown on TV.
I remember going home
after winning a medal,
and not one question was
asked about the Olympics.
I had recorded it on a VHS tape,
this kind of crummy broadcast.
And I remember I watched it after school.
And I don't know if you realize
that you can make really
big life decisions
as a 14 year old.
I just said right then and there,
this is what I wanna do with my life.
It's really crazy.
Like, they have every item archived here.
Like, every kit, every binding,
everything you could imagine.
These were the Sochi Olympic uniforms.
And these corduroy,
they were, like, so nice
unless you, like, decked
out as much as I did,
because by the end of the
contest, mine were like,
smeared in blue dye from the half pipe.
Hey, this is my...
Yeah, this is my first Burton board.
My dad didn't really want me snowboarding.
And my mom bought it for me,
and I got it
on Christmas Day.
And Santa brought it,
so my dad couldn't, like,
you know, get rid of it.
My mom was, like, the real hero
in getting me into snowboarding
'cause I, my dad wasn't having it.
Kelly Clark was just,
like, this little tomboy
She was always, like, a total go-getter.
But nothing really came together for her,
I'd say, until the 2002 Olympics.
In Salt Lake, they really did it right.
They really built the courses right.
And it was a showcase for progression.
I just took it one run at a time.
And I knew if I landed on my feet,
I had a real shot at an Olympic medal.
You know, Kelly didn't play it safe.
I went bigger, faster,
bigger tricks than I'd ever done.
I remember watching her land that run
and just knowing right away
that that was the gold medal run.
That doesn't always happen.
It happened there.
It was so clear.
I got to the finish area,
I looked at my coach, and I did this,
because we both knew I'd just won,
and all we had to do
was wait for the scores.
It felt like, wow, we have
just progressed women's sports,
women's snowboarding a
couple of years ahead
in a single moment.
I think she knew she was trailblazing
and pioneering for women,
and that what mattered
more than the victory
was to progress the sport to her,
and I think that's what
makes her such an icon.
The 2002 Olympics was, like,
a really big turning point.
It just became such a massive
kind of cultural movement.
Snowboarding was everywhere.
It was, like, every single big company
wanted a snowboarder to
represent their brand.
This looks pretty steep.
It was Nike, it was Kellogg's.
I had Pop-Tarts, Apple Jacks boxes.
Snowboarding's changed.
Like, they were really shifting
to, like, almost like rock star status.
Letterman, Leno, Katie Couric.
Taught her how to snowboard.
It actually looks easy.
The lines between pro
snowboarder or celebrity
were definitely blurred.
We were really just, like, hanging out,
with Justin Timberlake or Pink
or Tommy Lee or whoever it might be.
So it was a pretty wild time.
It's just, like,
traveling around the world,
crazy parties, huge premieres.
It was like our own little mini Hollywood.
That was the Shaun White, like, era.
It was huge.
In the early 2000s,
there was a lot of money
thrown into snowboarding in
the contest side of things,
She has had the season
of a lifetime so far.
Last night, she won $10,000
Ladies and gentlemen, our
champion, Kelly Clark!
You could make a living
in the contest scene
with prize money.
10 Gs here, 20 Gs there,
or win a car.
The contests provided.
Night and day
I only want you when you're gone
I can't stop dreaming about
Let's even the score
I'll be a good girl
Good girl, good girl, good girl
I said I'll be a good girl baby
It was really fun to be a
part of, like, the golden age,
like, as I like to call
it, of snowboarding,
It was like we were the darlings,
because there was a youthfulness to it,
and I think that brands
inevitably were attracted to that.
Tara was their perfect girl
to, like, put on the billboards, right?
I mean, she had the attitude,
she had the look, she had the skills.
She became something bigger
than snowboarding for a while.
Tara won eight X Games medals.
She was rider of the year multiple times.
She was in the movie "Out Cold"
and was also in the movie "Chalet Girl."
Tara Dakides is Tara Dakides
in both of those movies.
- Yeah, that's Tara.
- Tara Dakides?
I think she just kind of
checked all those boxes,
that mainstream media was, like,
"This girl is a superstar."
She seemed so unattainable.
Like, she was such a badass.
And she had all the
credibility with all the guys.
Like, she was this woman that
just radiated progression.
We became friends before
we started shooting together.
And she is somebody who
really encouraged me
in my photography.
Wasting time again
Tara did not like being told
she couldn't do something.
She did every single sport
and arguably could have gone pro, I think,
at any of those sports.
Wasting time again
I'm wasting, I'm wasting time
- What's your name again?
- Tara.
Okay, and you're, like,
a national snowboarding champion, right?
Yeah.
Right on
... I know, I'm a snowboarder girl.
Okay, this is a lot
warmer than snowboarding.
Ready?
I almost feel like she was addicted
to pushing those limits.
Like, I'm like, Tara, everything
doesn't have to be a fight.
But I think she was so
used to just trailblazing,
that, like, she knew that was her calling.
She was such a great businesswoman.
And I don't think she was chasing fame.
I think she really made the most
of all of the opportunities.
In comparison, there was
riders like Janna Meyen.
This is one of my favorite photos I shot,
and it's Tara kicking dirt on Janna.
We went to an old ghost town,
and I thought it would be kind of fun
just to play up the drama
that X Games and everyone
built around those two.
Oh, yeah, here's a double flip off.
Janna is sleeping in Tara's,
we'll call it the I Love Me Room
with all Tara's trophies.
Oh, great.
So this is
what Janna wakes up to.
I hate that wall.
All those trophies taunting me.
They're just like, "You suck, you suck."
"You'll never own this many
trophies, ha-ha-ha-ha."
I think I have a wall
of shame at my house.
Freakin' Tara.
Janna did not enjoy being interviewed
or being in front of the
camera in an overt way.
She just wanted to snowboard.
Janna was a boss, dude.
She came on the scene,
just annihilated every girl.
And she had a really different demeanor.
She was pure, like, raw.
Sick style and going huge,
and just, like, had the respect of people.
Janna grew up as a pro snowboarder
She was 13 when she was sponsored,
When Janna Meyen dropped
in, she was charging it
and she had style, and people
were talking about her.
She brought a new-school energy
to women's snowboarding
that didn't exist yet.
She got robbed a little bit.
as far as just being able to
snowboard for the fun of it.
That was her job.
There was some heaviness around it.
And I think it was maybe
the expectations she felt,
it's like, all right, you have to ride
this dance monkey dance kind of vibe.
She saw so much through her career,
and the culture within
competitive snowboarding
changed so much during then.
It was a weird time.
There were certainly big-name companies
that came in that didn't get it,
that just wanted a piece of it
but didn't really grasp
what the culture was about.
It's a culture based in rebellion.
But then because of fucking
capitalism, it got hijacked.
There were different people in charge,
and they weren't snowboarders.
So it was, like, a battle.
A lot of it was exploitive
and irritating and goofy.
The more brands coming in
and spending on snowboarding
the better, right?
That means, you know, the
athletes can be better paid,
the events can be better.
But if they don't understand your culture
and they're not authentic to that culture,
then there can definitely be a downside.
You know, a woman may have
been sponsored by how she looks
and not necessarily on her riding.
You had to be pretty
and cute and fun and happy
and dancing.
And it was very different
from how men were
marketed in snowboarding.
I'm more being seen and known
as a model for these companies
rather than also having the
focus be of my snowboarding.
Roxy was on both sides of the coin.
It had, like, the perfect balance
of, like, you can be
beautiful, powerful, talented.
Like, you know, you can
travel the globe.
That's what I wanted,
I wanted all of that.
But you do have to be pretty.
It was like, this is
what you're supposed to be,
and if you're anything outside of it,
like, it's shocking,
and people will criticize
you and talk shit
and kind of like tear you down.
Like, "This is what you're for.
"You're for looking good
"and for us to sexualize you," you know?
There was definitely, like,
this sexualization of women.
That was everywhere in the industry.
Does it help sell snowboards
to have somebody in a bikini?
Like, not at all, actually.
But I did have bikini shoots.
I saw people say, "Well,
I love snowboarding,
"and this is an opportunity
that I have to take,"
because there wasn't a lot
of opportunity for women.
So if that was the
opportunity they were getting,
they would jump at it.
A lot of the top girls did do that,
and it did help their marketability.
It did help them, you
know, get more brand deals
And if they feel empowered,
then who am I to judge?
The saddest thing for me to watch
was some women with incredible talent
not getting opportunities.
Some of them were much better
at snowboarding than me.
It was time in the industry
for there to be another side of the story
and be like, yeah, there's
also this other girl
who we can put darker eyeliner on,
and she's like the bad girl.
Hadar was the living
example that I was able to see
where I didn't have to be feminine.
I could be loud.
I didn't have to conform.
And it's okay if people don't like you.
When I, like, saw Hadar and Des,
I was like, those girls are on my team.
Those are the fuckin' dirtbags
that aren't gonna bend
to this cultural expectation
that we, like, ride
good and look good, too.
All of that came about
because there were no voices
saying, like, "No, this is
what women's snowboarding is."
It was all dudes deciding
how women were gonna be
portrayed in snowboarding.
Like, I literally can't remember working
or talking to anyone else in
the industry who was a female,
except for Susie Floros.
"Snowboarder Magazine"
has been in circulation
for 20 years,
and Natasza Zurek was the first
female to ever get a cover.
And that was last year.
So as you can see, women--
- Seriously?
- Yeah.
Seriously,
that was a big thing
when she got that cover.
Yes, if it wasn't for me there,
the content would not have existed.
So we really had to fight
to make that happen.
Susie Floros, before she
was the Burton team manager,
she was working for
"Snowboarder Magazine,"
and she worked her way up to the top.
And that was a big deal back then.
Like, no women had that kind
of influence on the media.
Yeah, so I always had a
camera kind of on hand, so.
Yeah, here's Leanne.
I shot this photo of Leanne,
and wrote this column,
"The Ride Date."
Another, "You Know What In a Ski Town."
Working in snowboard media,
my first opportunity was
with Transworld Business,
and then I just started
working for all the magazines.
Some of the women I looked
up to were Melissa Larsen,
Jennifer Sherowski and Annie Fast.
Even with women at the
helm of "Transworld,"
one of the biggest snowboard
magazines at the time,
the women still didn't get
a ton of coverage in the magazine.
And I think there's many factors for that.
It's like if you look at the
roster of staff photographers,
how many female photographers
were on a staff of a magazine?
How many women owned companies?
How many women team managers are there,
how many women are sitting at the table
when decisions are being made?
That's the disparity.
In 2002, Jake and I were in a meeting
of all of our global directors
And there were 25 people
and there were two women in the room.
And I will always remember
when Jake turned to me and
said, "This isn't good.
"This does not bode well for our future."
We really were becoming
a male-dominated culture,
which we had never intended.
And your culture can
kind of get away from you
if you're not proactive.
Women are 35% of the snowboard market.
The question is, do you
want that to change?
I think the perception is
that, like, for a long time,
is that women didn't want to snowboard,
they weren't into action sports.
But sometimes the way that you get into it
and the way that the sport is marketed
doesn't scream available for you.
I straight-up used to
watch videos of, like,
guys who kind of looked like girls,
like, they were, like,
smaller guys with long hair, you know?
And I would, like, squint my eyes
and watch the whole part being like,
this is what it looks like,
a girl riding on this level.
And then the Marie, "Any
Means" part came out,
and that straight-up changed my life.
It was my first year filming,
I was not aware of how much
that could have made an impact at all.
For me, what John Cavan
did was life-changing,
like, as far as my snowboarding.
He had this meeting happen
with the whole team,
and he told all the guys,
"Marie's gonna have a full part.
"I expect you to show up for her
"and be as supportive as you can.
"And she's just as important
as every single one of you."
If it wasn't for this part,
like, you know, who knows
what would've happened?
Because it was really
what put me on the stage.
The women's rider of the year
is Marie-France Roy!
I was lucky, I was lucky that the team
generally was really supportive,
because for women, it was the usual
to feel that, at any moment,
you could be excluded.
It was like scratching tooth and nail,
trying to get into these
male-dominated film projects.
I had an experience where I was able
to film with one of those,
and my sponsors gave them money,
and I filmed all year, and I
was so stoked on getting shots.
And at the end of the
year, they were like,
"Oh, we didn't have time to
look through your footage,"
and I just didn't get footage in the film.
It was a slap in the face
We had all been given a
certain amount of opportunity.
We all had sponsor support,
we all had ability, we all had this dream.
But there was something missing.
And it's like,
are you waiting for an opportunity
to be presented to you,
or do you go and create an opportunity?
I want to be
a part of making women
in any type of alternative
sport more popular.
We're creating this market.
We got a taste of it
with "Hardly Angels,"
and the first all-womens films,
but Misschief really just
got the ball rolling.
Fabia and
Amber, who did Misschief,
set major tones for forward
progression for women.
Seeing "As If!"
really sparked my interest
to ride with the girls.
There was just more
opportunity to get more shots
and to put a full part together
and to ride what I wanted to ride.
I wouldn't necessarily be
tagging along with the guys,
I'd be riding with more of my peers.
So I think that was where
I kind of, like, matured into this filmer.
Like, I didn't always focus on contests.
Amber Stackhouse and
Fabia got really burnt out
after doing two films back to back,
and I remember looking
around and being like,
we gotta keep it going.
Leanne was able to
rally a bunch of money,
a bunch of support,
and we were able to make
the first Runway Films.
I was so motivated by
wanting more women to be seen.
That part that I filmed
in Leanne's project,
it was the first example
that I experienced
in resource sharing and acceptance
and camaraderie and inclusion.
I just felt so inspired that
I got to be in this world.
It felt like this bubble,
and I just never wanted it to pop.
The opening
bell is going to ring
in five seconds.
And to be honest with
you, we wish it wouldn't.
The Nasdaq,
everything and more
has been completely wiped out.
Traders say
this is the craziest day
they have ever seen in these markets.
There was all these things happening
outside our snowboard industry
that were precursors to
the financial collapse,
which, in turn, collapsed
the snowboard industry.
There's only so long
that companies can just
be dishin' out money
and dishin' out money
and havin' a good time,
but maybe those numbers
don't quite line up.
It's entertainment and
it's clothing and gear,
and that's probably what
people go away from first
when they're gonna save their money.
During the recession, unfortunately,
the women's side of things
was hit the hardest.
That's usually the first thing
that gets cut during economic downturns,
are any kind of diversity initiatives.
A company might say they
have a real commitment to it
until they've gotta, you
know, cut 10% of their budget.
They said, "Oh, this is just an extra
"feel good kind of thing."
And it's like, no, this is the
health of your organization
for the long term.
As Tara's friend,
it was hard to see the end of her career.
She lost some pretty
major sponsorship dollars.
Victoria got fired.
It was devastating.
I think it was a big loss
for the snowboard industry.
Tara or Victoria would've
had so much more to offer.
Seeing the most established
riders of our time
getting cut from brands
sent a message to everyone below that,
"You're disposable, "and, like,
"We don't care about you."
For the generation right
below me, it was very dire.
It almost seemed like their
dreams were cut short.
If there was, one girl on the team,
it usually was a full team.
Like, you couldn't get in
there if you were a woman.
It wasn't equal by any means.
Like, there wasn't five
guys and five girls,
there was 10 guys and one girl.
There's always more budget
for a 15th dude on the team,
but no, another girl, no,
there's no money for that.
Like, what?
I remember a point in time
where I approached a brand,
and then I heard they
had signed another girl,
and I was like, oh, there's
no point even asking.
It was, like, an assumption right there.
And most of the time, they were right.
There was no room for another one.
There was a lot of competition
in and amongst the women themselves
to try and get these opportunities
because they were so few and far between.
I remember feeling this sense of pride
that I was chosen to be
part of these film crews,
but it also did feel unfair
that we had to be put against each other
in a way that made us
competitive and hold our spot.
Those guys weren't just open
to anybody being part of their crew.
Like, they were very selective,
and I feel very lucky
that I was that person.
I was very territorial about that.
There was a lot of, like, gatekeeping.
It was survival.
Like, there was one spot for a girl,
and it was probably scary for them.
They wanted to hold on to their spots.
They didn't wanna help uplift
the younger generation.
I probably did it subconsciously, too,
where I didn't, like, facilitate
room for another woman.
You just feel so lucky
to just get your invite,
that you don't wanna invite
all your other friends
to the party.
You're walking on thin ice, you know?
Like, yeah, you're invited,
you're on the team,
but your place is so far
down the line that you're...
I never felt in the position
to bring someone else up with me.
I don't think guys
probably understand, like,
how much that affects the
psyche of, like, a woman
to, like, feel like you have
to, like, ration your self,
and it's like, "ration my bread,"
'cause, like, make sure, like,
I don't know if I'm gonna
get any more than this.
Put that on top of being
the only Black woman trying to do it,
it's just...
It's so much more effort and energy
that I think a lot of
people don't realize.
The place I wanted to be
was to ride with the guys.
I felt like there was a
different place of progression
when I was riding with them.
When you're out with a guy crew
and you're like, okay, they're
gonna do that crazy jump
or hit this huge cliff,
you're all, all right, maybe
gotta step it up a bit.
I wanna be with the people
that are doing better.
Like, I wanna learn through them.
So many times, I've been questioning,
like, should I do this?
I want to do it, but should I do it?
And I've had a guy be like,
"Yeah, you should do it.
"It's not that hard, just do it."
You know?
Like, they pushed me to do a lot of stuff
that I don't know if I
would've stepped to on my own.
It's just that shift in thinking
that guys have had forever.
I would not have the career I have now
without that time frame
that I got with them in the backcountry,
because they did choose to invest in me.
Although I was really grateful
and I am grateful for those opportunities
to film with male snowboarders,
ultimately, women inspire women.
And so by brands not investing
their time and money into women,
snowboarding kind of stayed
stagnant on the women's side.
The level stayed pretty low.
Like, I remember learning a cab 5,
and that was like my bread and butter
for, like, many years of winning events.
A lot of people, I think,
were kind of, like,
a little frustrated with how
easy it seemed for me to win
because I wasn't pushing the progression,
I was doing what felt comfortable for me,
and I was winning by a long
shot with pretty easy tricks.
And I think people started
to kinda talk shit a bit
on women snowboarding.
Oh, or like, "Oh, you won
again, congrats, ha ha."
Even my grandpa was like,
"When are you gonna do something else?"
And I was like...
Jamie could do her
tricks in any weather.
Like, I think what people don't realize
is doing a trick in a
contest is very different
than doing it on a
perfect jump in training.
She always could put down
her tricks, no matter what.
And also, she had really
good self-confidence.
Like, she knew she was gonna land,
and yeah, she did.
Do you
remember any specific events
or contests that you can tell me about
that did not have equal prize money?
Could talk about a lot.
The difference of pay was
kind of, like, staggering.
It was just like, why are
the girls getting paid less
and we're riding the same features?
The constant opinion that
was out there was like,
"Well, the level is not the same.
"The level is not up there."
And it even convinced us
that it was okay to say that.
I felt like when I was younger
that girls weren't worthy
of getting paid equal
because there's not as many girls,
and we're not doing as many big tricks.
Like, I was kind of
conditioned to think that way.
I can think of contests that I went to
where the prize was a jacket
versus $5,000 for the men's category.
In 2010, I won Hot Dawgz & Hand Rails.
That was, like, the biggest
rail contest at the time.
And I won $1,000.
But I think guys' first place was $10,000.
And they didn't even have a second
or third place for the girls.
Brands, they weren't
banking on potential.
You had to be the number one
before they picked you up.
But how are you supposed
to be the number one
if you don't have the
support to even get there?
Is this chick better
than the best in the world?
And I was like, well, no,
'cause they work at fucking Wendy's.
You had girls who were
top five consistently
who had to work jobs.
If you have athletes that
are supposed to be competing
at a world-class level,
but then they're having
to work on top of it
just to, like, be able
to get to the next event,
it's just, like, that's where
you start to see problems,
because now they're not training properly,
they're not taking care
of themselves properly.
I did landscaping,
I cleaned a dentist office after hours.
I worked at Hooters, did you know that?
I wore the shorts, I wore the tights,
I wore the shoes, the socks.
I don't want people to
think I'm a pro snowboarder
while I'm delivering fucking pizzas.
If you're not actually making money
and, like, how can you push it
to that, you know, next level?
I feel like a lot more men
were getting opportunities
to quit their jobs
and get paid
and actually focus on snowboarding at 100%
than the few female who ever
got that opportunity back then.
At the time, there
wasn't a lot of places
to put your footage as a female.
I remember team managers
trying to discourage me
from filming video parts
because girls didn't film video parts.
Even despite, like, all of the efforts
of Leanne and that generation,
like, at this time, it
just wasn't a thing.
The industry was doing so poorly,
there was not as much
support to fund films.
We were frustrated
to not have the ability
to be a part of a film.
So, like, you know, June and
Estee were just like, one day,
was just like, "Why don't
we just do it ourselves?"
That DIY era turned into women
taking projects upon themselves.
And that was "Peep Show."
"Peep Show" was grunge as fuck.
"Peep Show" was punk as fuck.
"Peep Show" was the start of that,
like, really underground
grassroots movement
where you didn't have to have
$16,000 to even start to film.
You just could send them your clips,
and they would put it in the movie.
It was kind of amazing.
The thing is to bring new
faces, like, new people.
Yeah, we don't need all these people
that are getting, like,
handouts all the time already.
You know what I mean?
They had some of the top,
like, rail, street riders
in one film that were all women.
It's never been done.
There was a lot of
traveling, a lot of shoveling,
a lot of bails.
I think, like, you gotta be
a little fucking wrong in the head
to film street video parts.
Okay, I was going too slow.
That takes, like, some kind of grit
and honestly, like, disregard
for your own life and safety,
like on a whole nother level.
Not to say the other stuff
isn't dangerous, like, it is,
but this is just like,
you are guaranteed to slam so bad
that, like, people wouldn't
even be able to watch it.
I broke my tailbone, I broke my back.
I had shoulder surgery.
I cracked my skull open.
Broke both collarbones, one twice.
My teeth hurt the most.
I've broken my back three times.
I've separated my AC joint.
Oh, I blew out my bicep once.
Wrists, arms, fingers, thumbs.
I cut open my liver, like, real bad.
Almost bled to death.
Some concussions for sure.
It all hurt.
It was all an injury to me.
We were hungry.
We were kids.
So there was anger and there was drive.
Like, we are gonna bleed for this shit,
we are gonna die for this shit.
I wanna do this so bad
that I'm willing to, like, die for it.
Look at me, look at me dying for it.
Look at me, watch me, you know?
And then out of that comes a video part.
Flying away with her
I shimmer
Through the day
I shimmer
Through the day
"Peep Show" facilitated an opportunity
for all of us to go to
who were not the box
check for the industry.
We were like the land of misfit toys.
The approach that Estee and June took
was so poetic.
It changed everything.
I think they really paved the way
for that formula to work.
After "Peep Show,"
Danyale started doing "Too Hard."
I remember somebody showing that to me
and me being attracted to it
because it was a little rebellious,
it was a little raunchy,
and it was just different.
It was edgy,
and they pushed, like, the limits
of what girls were supposed
to be doing or saying.
The way "Too Hard" was presented,
it was to show that girls
could be kind of crazy
and like, I don't know,
what were they smashing
bottles or drinking
or, like, just being a little wild.
But like, men had done that for so long
and it was okay,
so it was kind of like
a little bit rebellious
that maybe kind of needed to happen.
I think the most memorable
moment of "Too Hard"
is, like, someone throwing
a bloody tampon out, right?
Like that's always gonna be, like,
what comes to mind with "Too Hard."
It made a lot of people uncomfortable,
but that's why I was
powerful and why it was good.
And then the snowboarding was
also, like, next level, right?
Like, they were really
progressive and pushing things,
both from a societal standpoint
and from a snowboarding standpoint.
And Danyale didn't care
what the comments said.
"Too Hard" started in
the era of, like, YoBeat
and the YoBeat comment section.
Any, like, new stuff that
came out, or contest coverage,
it would be posted on these websites,
and YoBeat was one of those websites.
The comments on YoBeat really
were what kind of set YoBeat apart, right?
Because the other websites existed,
but people weren't really
interacting with them.
Where on YoBeat, we were really like,
oh, we want feedback and
we want people to comment.
We would, like, just
leave anything up there,
and so people went off.
The public comment
section was so inappropriate
and mean and awful.
"That chick makes me wanna rip my dick off
"and bury it somewhere
in a forest," that's one.
Another is, like, "She needs
to lose, like, 40 pounds."
So many of, like, "That
doesn't look like a sandwich."
You could gauge how well you did
by (chuckles) the number
of terrible comments.
Like, if there was only a few,
then you probably did okay.
And if there was a lot, then
you were like, "Ah, fuck."
The messaging for a long time
is like, "You guys can't do shit.
"If you do, it looks like shit.
"If you get somewhere,
"you sucked someone's dick to get there."
There was so much, like, misogynistic
just talk in the snowboard
industry at the time.
I'd be lying if I said it didn't affect me
and it didn't affect how
I viewed other women,
as well as myself,
and that it didn't affect the way I acted.
It almost made me being
a girl, being a woman,
not wanna surround
myself with other women,
because it almost felt like
it was gonna hold me back.
I never wanted to
associate with being a woman
because it was seen as being weak.
It just felt like
women's snowboarding was,
it was impossible to be taken seriously.
It was a huge joke.
It was, like,
the belief was that we sucked,
and that was how we were presented.
And we couldn't, no matter what we did,
we couldn't, like, prove that wrong.
Yeah.
I believed that I sucked.
I don't know.
Is seeing a woman wreck
on a snowboard enjoyable?
Yes.
You're not supposed to grind
on your womanhood like that,
it's bad for the baby.
You know where that never happens, ladies?
The kitchen.
Come on, you know this one.
The bails that I've taken
and I've seen other girls take,
and we just keep going and keep going,
you'd think it would be inspiring.
But instead, people just wanna
focus on, like, the mistakes
and not the fact that,
like, we're getting back up
after those mistakes
and we're still going,
which is, like, pretty, I
don't know, badass.
Spite is a hell of a motivator,
and the spite drove me so much.
I did not want to be acknowledged
as being a snowboarder
because I was a girl.
And in my mind, I was
like, if I shave my head,
I'll be a little bit more boyish.
- Kiss it goodbye.
- Kiss it goodbye.
- No turning back.
- Shit!
Oh my God.
Oh, that's fucking crazy!
Oh my God, this is insane.
Oh, shit.
It was an act of rebellion.
It was me saying, I can be here,
and I do not have to
be what you think I am.
I thought it was so fucking sick.
The Britney Spears of snowboarding.
What made this happen?
I just wanted to do it.
Well, you look good.
Thanks, I'm a cute boy.
The underlying drive was that,
you're telling me I'm
a joke for being here,
or for trying to be here?
I will prove you wrong.
It just was a crazy time,
like, to be constantly told that you suck
and you're not good enough,
and you don't deserve to be at the events.
In 2002, X Games discontinued
the snowboard big air event
for both men and women.
Men's big air event came
back to X Games in 2009.
But for some reason,
the women's big air wasn't invited back.
Women weren't in big air.
And we only had slopestyles,
while boys were having big airs
for, like, I think 10 years.
And we were watching the big airs,
thinking that we could
also, like, hit the jump
and progress on there.
Front-side triple cork 1440.
Bring out the history books!
There were plenty of women
that could've hit those jumps,
but because it wasn't a category
that was at a lot of events,
they probably felt that
there wasn't enough women
to make a show out of it.
I always was dreaming about it.
I was even thinking,
if I could just get a
chance to ride for show.
I just remember there
was just a constant,
like, why can't we do this?
Like, we're riding the
same slopestyle course.
We're hitting the same jumps,
like, just let us ride.
Oh, and
a nice front-side 720.
A solid second run for Spencer.
It bothered me so much that,
like, men always had that,
and we always saw tricks
go down in big air
before we saw them in slopestyle.
And people were constantly like,
why aren't women as good as men?
Why, like, you guys are so far behind.
It's like, well, we have
half the opportunities.
Like, give us a chance.
Like, this is the event
that allows men to progress.
You see it every single year.
And we're not allowed to do it.
I remember X Games suddenly saying
that there's gonna be a big
air, and I was so excited.
I was like, oh!
Sure enough, the second
women were into big air,
we started to see this
massive uptick in new tricks.
And it still probably took a couple years
for those tricks to
come on into slopestyle,
but, like, that's where
they were always done first.
Oh my goodness,
ladies and gentlemen,
the youngest snowboarder at X Games 2017!
I think Hailey did the cab 10.
I think that was the first big air.
I mean, a
new trick, a new event.
Historic!
All the girls were riding so good,
and new tricks were happening.
Worlds firsts.
And, yeah, it was, like, kind
of the spark that took over.
That was when like,
I think progression really
started to catapult.
A 28!
Silje Norendal takes the overall lead!
- Oh my god!
- What?
I am screaming!
The progression
that the women have taken
over the past few years in big air,
it's so fun to watch
The contest scene seemed pretty stable,
but there was no light being
shed on backcountry women.
I was fully in the contest scene still,
but I always knew I loved
riding the mountains
and wanted to be in the backcountry,
but didn't really know how
to make that transition.
I was sitting in Whistler,
and I'm like, what if we all
came together and made a film?
It would be so impactful.
There had never been an
all-women's backcountry film.
This amazing project was born
from just a little idea that,
like, we could come together
and shed some light on
women's backcountry.
We pulled the best women in backcountry.
It was, like, the right time
to pull everybody together.
Those women really did,
like, open up the backcountry
for my generation.
Leanne called me and was
like, "We have an open spot.
"Do you wanna come?
"We're flying in two days."
And I was like, "Yes,
are you kidding me?"
Dropping in five.
I feel like "Full Moon"
was one of the first all-female film
that was celebrated and
accepted at a more legit level.
Women never had that before, really.
You know, it was always low-grade budget.
We ended up with this,
like, beautiful film
that really oozed just
community and connection.
That was the start of me
actually having the right kind of support
Travis Rice saw "Full Moon,"
and I think he felt like
I was up to the level
that he wanted to see from women.
And he was like, "Yeah, I was just, like,
"would you be interested in filming?"
And I literally could not speak.
I felt like I was given,
like, the keys to the kingdom,
but it came with a lot of pressure.
When I started filming,
I'm trying to keep up with
Brian, keep up with Austin.
keep up with Trav.
I landed nothing, and
I was disintegrating.
I was, like, full of, like, self-loathing.
I was just crying.
Like, you can't even understand
what the pressure feels like
for this to be, like, the first time
that a woman's gonna be
in a Travis Rice movie,
and I'm not killing it.
And Austin was like,
"You know, you just need
"to start snowboarding like yourself.
"People are here to watch Robin Van Gyn,
"they're not here to watch Robin Van Gyn
"try and ride like Travis.
"They're here to watch you
because you ride like you."
And I was just like, okay,
I just need to, like, ride like a girl,
ride like the girl that I am
And in the end, when I watch "Depth" now,
it's so beautiful 'cause
it's, like, 100% who I am
and where I was at.
I wasn't trying to be anybody
else, I was just myself.
And then to be celebrated for that, like,
I don't know, the craziest
experience of my life.
Robin Van Gyn being in that film
gave us a louder voice as
women in the backcountry.
She's somebody that has had
such a long, beautiful career,
that has shown us all
that we can stay in the
sport as long as we want.
So, yeah, does
anybody have questions?
What would you say to
some expecting mothers
for their upcoming snowboard season?
Trust your body and enjoy the ride
and create space.
Your whole body has changed,
so give it the time that
it needs to change back.
I was already on the path
of, like, filming video parts
when I got pregnant with Tao.
There was no one, at least that I knew of,
that was snowboarding and being a mom
and, like, trying to film
I was like,
I remember my first, like,
six months of my pregnancy,
I was hiding it.
I definitely thought, like,
if you have kids as a
snowboarder, like, you're done.
Normally she would retire,
like, "Yep, you know, my career is over,
"I'm going to raise a family."
And we never ask that of men.
I mean, basically every sports company
looked at it as a disability.
Pregnancy, because of the time frame
it takes you to be pregnant,
could fall under the
same clause as an injury.
Because if you can't be
on snow for six months,
you could be terminated with no pay.
And that doesn't even go
into what I need postpartum,
and how I'm gonna navigate my
career after I have the baby,
how quickly I'm gonna return to sport.
Technically, it could take me a year.
When I found out I was pregnant,
I actually didn't say anything right away.
And I had to become pretty
courageous to speak up to Donna,
because there was actually
no way to protect myself
from being dropped from a sponsor
if I didn't have my verbiage
changed in contracts
to support me.
I remember Kimmy calling me.
And, you know, we're pretty close friends,
and she was kind of,
I felt like, she's got something to say,
and she's not saying it. And
then all of a sudden I go,
"Oh my God, Kimmy, you're pregnant."
And she said, "Yes, and my
contract's up in two months."
My first reaction was,
let's pioneer this together.
We changed my contract.
We included companions to travel with me,
a very big leniency on
when I return to sport
based on my recovery.
We did everything.
Donna was so incredible
and really helped me create verbiage
that supported what I felt like
was gonna be the best return
to sport plan that I could.
It then became a standard part
of our contracts with female athletes
that we will support them
through maternity and post-maternity.
Donna actually changed all verbage
for all females on the team,
and also represented that contract
in a bullet point way on the Burton blog
so that other people could
see what was changed.
That way, they could adapt
it into their contracts.
We were the first sport
to offer maternity leave,
not the first, like,
company in snowboarding,
like, the first sport.
Nike followed us.
It was this huge,
pivotal moment, I felt
like, in snowboarding,
for women to not be aged out.
Let's go snowboarding!
You watch Jamie Anderson, Leanne Pelosi,
Torah Bright, navigating parenthood
and how much more vibrant
it makes us as individuals
and how much more opportunity
we bring to the sport
by showing other families
that they can also be part of our sport.
It's great to see things changing,
because women should have the opportunity
to, like, have families
and not feel like you have to choose.
I was a snowboarder because
it was, like, my life passion.
And I was, like, identified
as a snowboarder.
There was, like, no question
that I was gonna give that
up and stop doing that,
even though I was pregnant.
Hi, baby girl.
Hey!
Hi, hey, it's me, your mom.
In sports, in athletics,
it's just, like, you sacrifice
yourself for greatness.
And in motherhood, you sacrifice
yourself for someone else.
Yeah?
Hey!
Are you so happy?
One reason Kelly Clark
has been so impactful
is because she's taken it upon herself
to mentor the next generation to come up.
When Kelly did the 1080,
I remember everyone being like,
"Okay, here we go, that's the bar up."
The 1080 really kinda
separated the generations.
Like, not a lot of my peers
ever were able to do that trick.
But it was the next generation
that actually followed up
and actually did it as a standard.
Kelly Clark was pushing it
and pushing it and pushing it.
And then the newer generations,
like Chloe Kim when she came on,
and just, like, taking it
even to the next level.
Chloe is hands down,
like, one of the most talented
snowboarders I've ever seen.
Chloe, it's so good to see you.
Good to see you, too.
Well, you've been everywhere.
You've been all over the
world in the last month.
Oh my god, like,
literally a month straight,
I think we had three comps each weekend,
and it was just, like, ridiculous.
The minute I started getting
on podiums when I was 13,
like, everyone kind of pinned me
and Kelly against each
other as, like, rivals.
If Chloe
Kim is the princess,
Kelly Clark is the queen.
Chloe Kim wants the throne.
That wasn't how I actually felt.
Being able to compete with Kelly
was just an honor in itself.
I learned so much from her
and also just, like, admired the way
in which she was able to handle pressure,
like, deal with being the best.
And she was always so kind to me.
I never felt this, like,
hyper-competitive edge with her.
Maddie and Chloe,
I had all of this influence,
and they needed me.
And so I just knew I had
something left to give.
When you're a mentor,
when you're someone who
they had posters of you
on their wall growing up,
you're not really a threat anymore.
Kelly really took me under her wing
and helped me out with a lot of tricks.
Like, I would ask her for tips
when I was learning my front 10,
and she was happy to share.
All of a sudden, I
remember standing there,
and Chloe lands back to back 1080s,
and that was, like, on my
hit list forever, you know?
And I got to stand there and
genuinely congratulate her
at the bottom of the pipe
when I saw her do that.
I was like, hey, that was my dream,
that's what I wanted to do.
But I just got to celebrate it
more than be threatened by it
at that point in my career.
That's one moment that I'll remember
for the rest of my life
I knew that she was genuinely happy for me
and also, like, could relate
as to what something
like that could feel like
as the first woman to do a frontside 1080.
There is something about
progressing the sport
where you're showing the next generation,
like, what is possible.
When I saw Kelly do a frontside
1080 for the first time,
I immediately was like,
that's something I can do now
because Kelly did it.
And if she can do it, then I
think I might be able to do it,
because I'm seeing it happen in real time.
I was really afraid of 1080s.
I was like, what can I do
that I'm more excited about?
Everyone was like, girls
can't do double corks.
And I was like, I'm gonna
fucking do a double cork.
These initial, like,
"You guys will never be able to do that"
sparks a fire.
And oftentimes that turns into support
from those same people.
As soon as I was like,
"I'm gonna do this,"
everyone kind of rallied behind me.
I'm ready for
it, are you guys ready for it?
Here we go, one, two!
Oh!
And that is what it's about!
I would say that's
probably, like, for me,
one of the proudest moments I've ever had.
That was one of the moments
that really opened my
eyes to the possibility
of, like, girls doing
doubles in the halfpipe.
When I was trying to get, like,
a double crippler on lock,
Scotty James stood at
the top of this halfpipe,
looked at me and said,
"Do you trust yourself?"
I said, "Yeah," like, "of course I do."
He's like, "Then go do it."
And I was like, okay, I
trust myself, I can do this.
What do we got
here? The double crippler!
She stomps it down!
Making history, Brando.
Into the method!
Oh my goodness!
But I think if we all
had more of that attitude
of, like, "Do you trust yourself?",
yes, you can do anything then.
I heard a lot of times
that women are not strong
enough to do a triple,
and I think it kind of
sparked a fire in myself
because I was like, why?
On the day I did it, I didn't tell anyone.
I didn't want people to doubt, you know?
I didn't need that at that moment.
I didn't want people to tell me,
"Are you sure you want to try it?"
I knew I was ready.
Like, you feel it inside yourself.
And when you get the gut feeling,
I think the best is to listen to it
Like, I'm scared, but at the same time,
I'm ready and I'm capable to do this,
and I'm gonna do this now.
Oh-ho-ho!
I didn't do it to prove all those people
that doubted me at the end,
but it was a nice satisfaction
when it worked out.
Anna's incredible.
She sets her mind to something,
and she is gonna get it done.
I've never seen a woman quite like her.
She's, like, an example of, like,
trusting your, like,
ability and working hard
and, like, seeing it come to fruition.
At that time.
I saw brands getting
more involved with girls.
I saw more opportunities,
in general more women riders,
and if it had anything
to do with the triple,
that's maybe the biggest
achievement in my whole career.
Watching Anna do that triple cork
was definitely a moment that it was like,
we can do anything.
Kind of feels like it's limitless
to the possibilities of
the tricks that we can do.
It's exciting to be a part of it.
Just seeing the new wave of talent
and, like, those who are gonna continue
progressing the sport after, you know, me
and I guess the oldies now,
like, it's gonna be really cool.
Zoi is probably one of the
best riders I've ever seen.
She is just really committed,
to being the best snowboarder
that she possibly can be.
And stylistically, I think hands down
the best snowboarder in the
world, regardless of gender.
I think what I like
about this next generation
of female snowboarders
is they're bringing back the punk rock.
Mia Brookes comes in with a new force.
I feel like she's just so stylish.
Mia!
Little gangster.
I met her actually quite a few years ago,
when she was, like, 12 or 13.
I got a call from the
BBC, and they were like,
we're gonna do some filming,
and Jamie Anderson's gonna be there.
And I just, like, threw my books down.
I was like, "Mum, we've
gotta go right now.
"Like, we're going to meet Jamie."
And I remember she came
riding with me for the day,
and I was just losing it.
She gave me a note, and it was like,
you know, "Keep following your dreams"
and, like, "Be grateful for everything,
"and it will all go your way."
I put it above my bed for, like, a year.
I kind of followed them things
that she said without realizing.
Look at this!
I need to see the replay!
16 years old,
cab 14, are you kidding me?
These kids are doing these
tricks before they're even 18.
So it's just a different flock.
It's a different time.
And to be honest, it feels
like a different sport.
There was so much more, like,
talent coming out of the woodwork,
that I was like, where did
these chicks come from?
I was basically at, like,
the pinnacle of my career.
I had won every award,
like, three times over,
and I was like, man, I should, like,
really enable and help these people
that could actually take my job.
There was all that messaging,
there's only room for one
or there isn't room for all.
But I was just like, fuck
it, let's see what happens.
I can't even begin to explain
how much of an impact Jess
Kimura has had on my life.
Like, watching her video parts
from age 10 up until now,
and now being involved with someone
who is so willing to mentor me
and guide me through this industry,
is just honestly the most
incredible experience ever.
Things started to change
when we were able to begin
supporting each other.
For a really long time,
that phrase, like "women's snowboarding,"
it was so negative.
That changed for me around that time.
I shifted my thinking to,
women's snowboarding is sick.
It's like these girls,
as soon as they got put on,
everybody wanted one.
They saw like, oh, these are
rad humans that are individuals
that can benefit our brand in this way.
The opportunities just became greater.
It was awesome.
I was able to put in
endless amount of work
on my snowboarding,
mentally, physically, just time.
I owe a lot to social media, as well.
It really aided me in my success.
If it wasn't for social media,
my snowboarding would
never even have been seen.
All of a sudden, I get
invited to one event,
and everything exploded
from there.
Social media has given women
and people who didn't have the space
a lot more room to have their voice.
It just made it so
that was in our own hands
how we wanted to portray ourselves.
So it gave us actually, like,
a lot of& power in that sense.
The era of Instagram and social media
has given athletes bigger
platforms than some of the brands.
And so, it's given snowboarders
a chance to speak out.
These problems that were so buried
were able to be blasted in your face.
Because of the MeToo movement,
we had a direct response within
the snowboarding industry.
When we actually use our voice
and we start speaking up for things,
it can change the whole
landscape of the industry.
After, you know, George Floyd,
different conversations were happening,
but then it wound up shifting
into the worlds of
entertainment, into sports.
You know, I think that,
like, had a trickle effect on everything.
All of a sudden, like,
people were calling out
all kinds of causes.
Companies are all of a sudden like,
"Shit, we're gonna get canceled
"if we don't make the right call."
And so, like, companies are
scared to do the wrong thing,
so they're kind of being forced
into doing the right thing.
I don't want them to change
because of fear of repercussions,
I want them to change because
they suddenly realize why.
A lot of brands were
making it very important
to put money towards women's programs.
Like, from a business standpoint,
there's an enormous market out there
just waiting to, like, buy your shit.
I think we always
knew from the beginning
that we needed both gender
and racial diversity
to be sustainable in the long term.
You're not gonna be
sustainable and growing
if you don't have diversity
and participation.
It was so great to see these big brands
kind of come behind women and be like,
"You're here, you're
riding the same course.
"You deserve to be paid
the same amount of money."
It's been amazing to see so
many women in the industry.
Mary Walsh really stepped up.
Like, Mary's become the face and the voice
of snowboarding media.
We have women on covers,
we have women-supported
films and competitions,
and, you know, just events.
We have multiple women on teams.
I realized, like, wow, we haven't had this
for how many years?
And I think from there,
it's just been like a spiral effect.
Just the fact that we finally
have a little bit of support
is one of the reasons
why women's snowboarding
is gotten to the level where
it's gotten this rapidly.
It always has been about
the opportunity to try.
I've never had a better opportunity
to give opportunity, to bring people in.
And that's how R&D was created.
Let's meet the women where they're at
and give them the opportunity
to be who they are
in whatever form they show up in.
And, like, they'll show us.
They'll show us that
they're, like, fully capable.
There's so many women-specific
events that are happening,
that are being supported by brands,
that are being believed
in, the media is there.
There are so many more women
now being seen in our sport.
Girls are looking good!
I'm just so happy to
have all the girls here.
It's really been, like, a good vibe event.
And I think that's, like, what
the intention of enJOY is.
When I started the "Uninvited" films,
I was like, I need to
make my own girls movie,
because there's all these
girls, and they're so sick.
And then, I was thinking
like, what's next?
Like, what do they need?
Everyone
is stoked to be here
for the Uninvited Invitational.
First ever!
It is a massive day,
the second annual Uninvited
Invitational going down.
That's how the whole
contest series came about
was to just, like, be like,
what if we just gave away
a fuck off amount of money
and, like, gave them an opportunity?
Like, what if you tailor the experience
to show the girls in
their absolute best light?
Welcome to the 2025 Uninvited Invitational
This is your event, this event is for you.
You guys are the main event.
Jess brought on so many
riders in the industry.
And like, if it wasn't for Uninvited,
like, I'm trying to think of how many
would not have a career right now.
Go!
Jess kind of built the
most profound opportunity
for people to actually
have a reason to progress,
because they're celebrated now.
The Uninvited demonstrated
what was missing.
If you give these girls
opportunities and support them,
this is what they'll do,
and they'll do more
if you continue to give
opportunity and support.
Being a female snowboarder today
is a lot different than 10 years ago.
I mean, mainly because of
the opportunities we get.
Imagine what we can do as athletes
when you have resources behind you.
It's psychological.
When you're built up to
be able to do something,
it's expected.
Yes, the guys are crazy,
but it's not like they're
that far ahead of us.
I think it is more than possible.
It's achievable to close that gap.
I think we can close that
gap very easily, actually.
I do wanna obviously close the the gap
between men and women,
but at the same time,
like, we've kind of got
our own thing going on
that's as good as the guys.
Women's snowboarding
grows in a lot of ways
because of women, but also because of men.
And what I see is this generation of guys
wants to see women succeed.
I'm just blown away
by the level right now.
I was actually, you know,
tearing up during the awards.
It's just doesn't even
matter what the gender is.
You're just fucking
ripping, and it's beautiful.
Going in!
Mela Stalker!
Mela!
Yeah!
Good job, Mela!
I feel like the new
generation is really fearless.
They don't see the gap in
between men and women anymore,
they think they can do everything,
and that's the best thing that
could happen to snowboarding.
We're supporting each other
and we're, like, immediately friends,
not the tension, not the jealousy.
There's space for all
of us at the same time.
Who would have thought?
I do feel like I have been very supported
from the beginning.
A lot of other women had to fight
for their space in this industry.
They have so much more
potential and are reaching it
and, like, are progressing so quickly
because they don't have
that baggage that we did.
It makes me really excited
and hopeful for women,
not just in snowboarding,
but women in sports,
because I think we're just really starting
to see the reins come off.
You say everything
It should be a place
where everybody is accepted
and brought into this
community that is snowboarding.
That's what makes it so beautiful,
is like it came out of a place
of not being accepted on any mountain.
We were the rebellious ones.
And, you know, skiing had
such an exclusivity to it.
And I would just hate to
see snowboarding have that.
By celebrating authenticity in everyone
and allowing people to be their own person
within this space,
it's making snowboarding more accessible
to a lot more people.
It allowed me to come out as,
like, a queer woman in snowboarding
and be celebrated as that.
The ultimate power is there.
It's in, like, owning what you are.
As long as, like, you're
authentic to your self,
then, like, you're nailing it.
Somebody out there is
watching and resonating.
All it takes is to see someone doing it.
Next thing you know,
there's an endless amount of possibilities
and opportunities for you.
Do you wanna
be a pro snowboarder
when you grow up?
Obviously.
It's, like, really fun,
especially when you stomp a new trick.
I love that feeling.
As our sport grows and women
have fought over generations
for their place in this sport,
hopefully, if we're doing a good job,
the women that come after
us will have an easier time.
There's always room for
growth and progression,
and it's not perfect.
It probably never will be.
It's a fight worth continuing to fight.
We're really close.
Snowboarding for marginalized folks,
it would not be where it is today
if it wasn't for immense intentionality
to make it better.
Fuck you to everyone
that said the girls can't do it.
There's just so much talent out there.
We've become so strong
from all the different
things that have happened.
And I think it's just made a total,
like, badass group of snowboarder women.
It's, like, insane to be a part of.
I'm in a position that I never
thought that I would be in,
and I have all the women
who have come before me
to thank for that.
It was growing pains,
but they were great growing pains.
I would do it all over again.