Lisa Whitaker carved out area and alternatives for ladies, girls and non-binary skaters at a time after they had been virtually non-existent. She is a skater, filmer/photographer, inventive producer, webmaster, mother, and because the proprietor of Meow skateboards, she continues to assist the group in the present day.
Lisa was certainly one of only a few people documenting girls’s skateboarding within the Nineteen Nineties, propelling issues ahead into the 2000s by means of web-technology and innovation. I additionally consider that Lisa has single-handedly acquired essentially the most footage of feminine skaters ever, and that’s come right down to a mixture of dedication, talent, perseverance, and belief. Whereas an acknowledgment of Lisa’s contributions is usually buried within the movie credit, her affect is profound, and I do know that I’m in a debt of gratitude for her efforts to archive the scene over the many years.
In a characteristic video about Meow skateboards, which Lisa launched in 2012, legendary professional skateboarder, Vanessa Torres acknowledged, “Lisa has at all times simply been the catalyst for girls skateboarding… She’s dedicated and you may’t assist however feed off of that… I have fun that human day by day. She’s been aside of so many pivotal moments in my life.”
As a child rising up in Norwalk (Los Angeles county), Lisa recalled that her dad created a sketchy skateboard with previous rollerskates, which resulted in her brother bailing and getting stitches in his chin on his first experience. Skateboarding was banned from their family, however fortuitously it was solely short-term.
Lisa started skateboarding in 1985 at age 10, when her mother and father purchased her a Kamikaze skateboard from a big-box retailer. Lisa began out skating along with her finest associates within the native streets. “Then someday round 1987 one of many older youngsters within the neighborhood constructed a launch ramp. As quickly as I noticed it, I knew that’s what I wished to do. I talked my Dad into getting me a Powell-Peralta Lance Mountain board, found skate movies/magazines and discovered that it was doable to do tips” (Wang). Lisa felt that this was a turning level, and by 1988 she actually started skateboarding with intention.
Photograph: Lisa Whitaker, launch ramp Eighties
Moreover skating in her neighbourhood, there was a possibility for the youngsters who had been sponsored or on move for Vans to skate a mini-ramp or vert ramp within the parking-lot of the Vans manufacturing facility in Orange metropolis. Lisa would attempt to go together with a good friend each week on Wednesdays to skate transition. “Cara-beth Burnside was the one who would test everybody in and ensure you had your waiver… I didn’t know her at that time,” nevertheless it was nonetheless cool to think about that she crossed paths with CB manner again when.
By highschool, Lisa began to discover town streets, together with a handbook pad at her Metropolis Corridor and venturing out additional afield as her associates linked with different skaters. Lisa guessed that it was probably ten years of skating earlier than she obtained to expertise driving a correct skatepark, as a result of there was nothing in her neighborhood rising up.
Photograph: Lisa Whitaker in 1998
Although Lisa’s favorite skaters had been guys as a child, “there was one thing manner completely different about seeing different women skate for some cause. Like, the little part within the Powell video [Public Domain]with Anita [Tessensohn] and Lori [Rigsbee]. That had such an impression on me” (Lima). In reality, seeing Anita Tessensohn land kickflips prompted Lisa to consider that she may do the identical. Powell-Peralta included Tessensohn skating road, Sophie Bourgeois performing freestyle, and Rigsbee shredding her mini-ramp in Public Area (1988) and in Propaganda (1990). It’s not exhausting to think about that these clips had been repeatedly re-wound by younger girls like Lisa, determined for inspiration. Lisa even took benefit of a skateboard rental system at her native skate store, which she would borrow for a couple of days and dub her personal copy to review!
[Fun fact: Lisa said that when StrangeLove skateboards released Anita Tessensohn’s “What If?” signature board in 2024, she had to buy it even though she resists buying boards and has no room on her wall, but this was special!]
Lisa’s first expertise filming was “a launch ramp session in entrance of my home with my dad’s over the shoulder VHS camcorder… about 1989” (Sq.). Round age 14, she started to movie her associates as they improved like her buddy Anthony Acosta (the photographer), sending the footage to their sponsors, submitting content material to 411 Video Journal, amongst different productions and serving to them with their store movies. Lisa additionally created her personal DIY movies together with What (1990), 911 (1994) and The Surprise Years (1995). She purchased her personal set-up, an 8mm video digital camera with the cash she obtained from graduating highschool.
In her senior 12 months of highschool, seemingly round 1993, Lisa stated that she had a reference to some skaters in Cerritos who launched her to Van Nguyen. The 2 skaters had related types and Lisa was stoked to lastly meet one other lady who was as invested in skateboarding as she was.
Photograph: Lisa Whitaker, one-footer from 1992 by Van Nguyen
Lisa’s community of feminine skaters slowly grew to incorporate members of the Villa Villa Cola crew in San Diego. Lisa ended up being a part of their early movies known as Hanging Concern into the Hearts of Teenage Women (1997) within the montage part, and submitting a full half for Van:
One in all Lisa’s associates, Koji Harmon was a budding photographer and despatched a bunch of his images to Thrasher journal, a few of which featured Lisa. It was a shock when the images had been revealed within the “Photograffiti” part in June 1994, after which a 12 months later in a two-page collage of feminine skaters from March 1995 known as “Extra Women Who Skate.” Lisa remembered being stoked on the acknowledgment, even when her type had modified over the 12 months, particularly her purple Christmas socks!
In September 1997, we had Patty Segovia launch the primary All Lady Skate Jam on the Graffix warehouse in Chula Vista, which was a game-changer! Lisa had no concept how she heard in regards to the occasion, however she ended up competing within the girls’s road contest, putting seventh. Lisa remembered how, on her method to the occasion with Van Nguyen they joked round that, “OK, what place are you going to get? First, second, or third out of the three women that present up?” After which being stunned and delighted by the epic end up, a lot of whom would develop into lifelong associates, like filmmaker, Monique O’Toole! Subsequent 12 months, in 1989 at Escondido, Lisa took 5th place in Professional Road, in 1999 she traveled to Hawaii and positioned 6th, and in 2000 she tied for 8th place.
Lisa’s skateboarding talents had been getting observed and in 1997, Catharine Lyons and Elska von Hatzfeldt (Sandor) of Rookie skateboards recruited her for his or her crew, which was predominately feminine, after Lisa met Elska on the All Lady Skate Jam. Being a sponsored rider gave Lisa the chance to journey, compete, meet extra girls who had been devoted to skating and be related to a female-owned firm with a cutting-edge imaginative and prescient. Lisa famous that Lauren Mollica of New Jersey, who was already on Rookie, had put in an excellent phrase for her.
Images embrace Rookie advertisements, and Lisa hanging with fellow Rookie riders, Stefanie Thomas and Jaime Reyes.
With Rookie, Lisa competed on the All Lady Skate Jams, World Cup Occasions, Slam Metropolis Jam, amongst different occasions. Lisa shared that, as a result of she was over on the west coast, she was delegated to signify Rookie on the Vans Warped Tour, which toured punk bands, supplied demos of “excessive sports activities,” and initiated a “Women Lounge” to have fun feminine skaters and snowboarders. The organizers solely had a vert ramp, so Lisa primarily frolicked for per week, cruised within the tour bus with Steve Van Doren, went white water-rafting, watched bands play, and had a blast.
Occurring tour with Rookie additionally meant touring on an airplane for the primary time (in addition to a brief practise journey as a child to San Fransisco), which Lisa stated so enjoyable and mind-blowing to understand that she was taking an airplane to go skate! For instance, when the crew traveled as much as Vancouver, Canada for Slam Metropolis Jam, Giovanni Reda, the photographer was their “chaperone” since Catharine and Elska couldn’t go. In Skate Goals (dir. Jessica Edwards, 2022), Lisa recalled a humorous / unhappy scenario at Slam Metropolis Jam in 2000 when she positioned 4th within the girls’s road, obtained a measly cheque for $40, which then bounced and put her within the gap!
It quickly grew to become obvious that regardless of the rising inhabitants of proficient feminine riders, nobody was bothering to doc their progress, so Lisa stepped up and initiated change as a result of she at all times had her digital camera along with her. “I noticed that lots of these women didn’t have any movies of themselves ‘trigger there was like no outlet for it. I’d been filming these women for like 20 years principally. I knew how hungry I used to be for that content material… I understand how it felt as a result of I used to be a kind of women” (Edwards). She additionally believed that there was no incentive for filmers to movie the women as a result of there was no outlet for the content material.
Lisa stated that as a result of she had a reference to all of the skaters, “everybody was excited to get footage.” I obtained the impression that as a result of Lisa had the endurance to be current, to sit down and wait and movie the trick, that this should have been a reduction for a number of the women – to have a dependable good friend behind the digital camera, whom they trusted. The footage additionally wanted a house and a manner for feminine skate boarders to simply entry it, and so Lisa created it.
Images: commercials that had been included in Verify it Out skateboard journal and Second Wind zine from 2004.
The web was a brand new instrument for communication within the late Nineteen Nineties, and Lisa began out simply desirous to be taught the expertise and determined to construct a web site. “The content material I had was all associates and the skating I had been filming, so I used that as a demo idea to construct this web site, by no means pondering that anybody would see it, however shortly after it went up, I began receiving emails from women around the globe. Tales like, ‘I’ve at all times wished to skateboard, however my mother and father instructed me it was just for boys. I discovered your web site, confirmed them, they’re giving me a skateboard now,’ or they had been impressed to maintain skating, seeing that there was others” (Newsome).
Lisa formally launched her web site in 2003 and known as it The Facet Venture, since that’s all it was supposed to be, nevertheless it began to get traction and suggestions. Lisa noticed its potential, recognizing how essential visibility was for ladies, and have become much more motivated, renaming the web site The Women Skate Community, which remains to be energetic!
The location was quickly full of video blogs, girls’s contest outcomes at occasions just like the All Lady Skate Jams or Depraved Wahine sequence (which the mainstream magazines not often printed), interviews, and information updates. Lisa was typically on web site for occasions just like the X Video games, and for the reason that girls’s occasion wasn’t broadcast till 2007 (and will solely be seen if you happen to watched it reside), it was due to Lisa, recording the competition and posting it on The Facet Venture that feminine skaters around the globe would get to witness the motion. Lastly, feminine skaters had been getting an oz of publicity!
Lisa’s web site normalized the documentation of feminine skaters, supplied a hub for girls, and thru her “Weblog Cam” idea the place feminine skaters are proven having a blast throughout a day-to-day skate session, the ladies grew to become relatable and recognizable, garnering followers. Torres defined that within the mid-Nineteen Nineties, “there was no actual vacation spot for girls’s skateboarding. No one else was filming us… Women Skate Community was an enormous focus, a vacation spot for any younger lady or younger girl to see what was occurring the world of ladies’s skateboarding” (Newsome).
Lisa’s intention was to create a welcoming vibe, which she achieved. Lisa did word that the feedback on the YouTube channel are moderated and never instantly posted as a result of, whereas she’s not against criticism, there’s no want for disrespectful and hurtful remarks.
Lisa proved that ladies may circumnavigate the dominant media retailers that had been ignoring feminine skaters and construct a world group on-line. However there was hope for the mainstream trade. Globe sneakers in Australia launched their feminine footwear model known as Gallaz in 2000, supplied contests for ladies alongside their Globe World Cup, and developed an unimaginable crew of professional skaters. They even produced an epic movie known as AKA: Lady Skater (2003, dir. Mike Hill) with Whyte Home Productions that includes the Gallaz feminine professional crew (Jaime Reyes, Vanessa Torres, Amy Caron, Monica Shaw, Lauren Mollica, Georgina Matthews) on a tour of Australia, which Lisa contributed her footage to. She additionally occurred to be sponsored by Gallaz on the time!
After which, due to Lisa’s connections with 411VM, one thing superb occurred! Initially, Getting Nowhere Sooner, the ground-breaking skateboard video envisioned by the crew Villa Villa Cola, together with Tiffany & Nicole Morgan, Lori Damiano, Faye Jamie, and Van Nguyen, was solely going to be a bonus characteristic on a problem of 411VM. Luckily, when Lisa dropped off the footage to Josh Friedberg, producer of 411VM, “Johnny Schillereff, the proprietor of Factor, was there when he watched it and so they had been utterly blown away. They’d no concept that there have been that many ladies skating or at that degree. They had been like ‘neglect the DVD bonus, we’ll aid you make a full video’” (Lima).
Watch your entire Getting Nowhere Sooner video by way of The Facet Venture YouTube channel.
In making the video, Lisa shared that the VVC crew “had labored on movies collectively prior to now and it appeared like all of us had the identical views on the necessity for a video which can expose these women to the remainder of the world and make one thing they are often happy with” (Sq.). The movie premiered in Vancouver, BC with a VVC artwork exhibit at Delinquent skateshop gallery, due to co-owner Michelle Pezel after which a movie screening on the Emily Carr Artwork Institute Theatre on October 16, 2004.
Getting Nowhere Sooner was completely magical, with a hilarious storyline that solely VVC may concoct, and it features a laundry listing of a number of the finest feminine skaters: Alex White, Alison Matasi, Amanda Kitt, Amy Caron, Cara-beth Burnside, Connie Hartsock, Elissa Steamer, Elizabeth Nitu, Esther Godoy, Faye Jaime, Holly Lyons, Jaime Reyes, Jayme Erickson, Jen O’Brien, Jessica Krause, Jessie Van Roechoudt, Jordyn Erickson, Kea Duarte, Kenna Gallagher, Kristin Ebeling, Lauren Mollica, Lauren Perkins, Lyn-Z Adams Hawkins, Megan Black, Mimi Knoop, Monica Shaw, Patiane Freitas, Stefanie Thomas, Van Nguyen, Vanessa Torres, Violet Kimble, and many others.
Lisa shared that, “My one remorse now’s I used to be so centered on like skateboarding, skateboarding, skateboarding… I so want that I’d have documented extra, type of just like the Weblog cam type however again then, you don’t know on the time that 10 years from now this could be so superb to observe.”
If you happen to ask any feminine skater from the early 2000s, they’ll say that hands-down Getting Nowhere Sooner was essentially the most inspiring movie, which helped many an remoted skater really feel much less alone. Lisa was then interviewed for Subject #16 of Verify it Out journal in an article known as “Lisa Whitaker: Outtapocket and underpaid” by Douglass Sq., and round this time, she additionally supported the hour-long documentary SkateGirl (2006, dir. Susanne Tabata) along with her footage, which may nonetheless be loved on YouTube.
Within the early 2000s, Lisa grew to become concerned with “The Alliance,” which developed into the Ladies’s Skateboarding Alliance throughout a vital time when feminine skaters had been demanding equal contest pay and recognition for his or her efforts, similar to having their division on the X Video games televised.
Lisa grew to become an official WSA board member alongside Cara-beth Burnside, Mimi Knoop, Alex White, Kim Woozy, and Amy Caron, amongst others to advocate for the skaters. It’s due to Lisa that this period of progress is accessible to historians on-line as a result of she archived the evolution so completely along with her tagged weblog posts on The Women Skate Community.
Images: Lisa Whitaker in 2008 at Visalia Camp, taken by Ana Paula Negrao
Lisa has lengthy historical past working within the skateboarding trade. Not lengthy after graduating highschool she was employed to work on the first Vans skatepark due to reference to a lady of their Human Assets division. From there, she labored at a skateshop, which led to a place at Big Skateboard distribution, then Black Label and Destructo for a decade. And through that point, Lisa gained an inside perspective of the enterprise. She even had presents to collaborate with corporations on girls’s merchandise, nevertheless it was at all times a guys’ imaginative and prescient of what was marketable for ladies, and didn’t attraction to Lisa.
Together with her firm Meow skateboards, once more, it was a call that Lisa made whereas recognizing that so many proficient feminine and non-binary skaters didn’t have a board sponsor, after they deserved one. “I used to be at a significant contest, and I noticed that out of the highest 10 women, just one or two had a board sponsor that promoted them or included them on the crew—and these had been the highest women on the earth. I had professional boards on my wall, however none had been from any of those girls. I wished to start out one thing the place we may make boards with these women’ names on them, one thing they may very well be part of, to develop collectively” (Ramirez). Lisa knew that she was ready to create optimistic alternatives for the subsequent era, so she went for it!
Lisa was conscious that different initiatives, like Tiffany and Nicole Morgan’s try at a board firm earlier than Villa Villa Cola, had been rejected by skate retailers, however due to the exercise on her web site, she knew there was a market. “So, we simply began off actually small. I wished to develop it so there was a requirement first… It grew organically” (Lima).
[Fun fact: Mariah Duran’s board with the cat eating pizza was the board I chose to set-up in my 40s, upon returning to skateboarding after a decade away!]
Initially, the crew consisted of Vanessa Torres, Amy Caron, Kristin Ebeling, and Jen Soto, however Meow has constantly expanded, at the moment together with Annie Guglia, Christine Cottam, Mariah Duran, Marissa Martinez, and Samarria Brevard, and skaters from overseas, Coco Yoshizawa, Liv Broder, Miriam Nelson, Nanaka Fujisawa, and Rinka Kanamori.
There’s additionally been large names represented by Meow through the years like Leo Baker, Poe Pinson, Savannah Headden, Shari White, Christiana Means, Nika Washington, Adrianne Sloboh, Keet Oldebeuving, Lore Bruggeman, and Liv Lovelace, though a number of of the skaters had been simply beginning to get acknowledged after they had been invited to the crew. Riders on the move crew have included Julie Sandt, Kira Canales, Kristina Narayan, Tierra Cobb, and Yuri Lee.
Six years after she launched Meow, in 2018, Lisa was quoted as saying that “hopefully sooner or later, there received’t be a necessity for a model like this anymore” (Murrell), implying that she was imagining a scenario within the trade the place skaters, no matter gender, could be equally supported. Whereas that shift is certainly taking place, as a result of skateboarding remains to be increasing globally, Meow continues to be very related. In reality, Coco Yoshizawa from Japan, the 2024 gold medalist in girls’s road on the 2024 Paris Olympics solely had a {hardware} sponsor till Lisa stepped up for her by means of Meow earlier than anybody even observed her.
Did I point out that Lisa is a mother as effectively! Right here’s an lovely picture from the Women Skate Community (posted March 2016), which she dubbed “My Droolers.” Too cute!
In an interview with Skate Krak, Lisa additionally expressed gratitude to her husband, who helped provoke Meow due to a tax return, and now “helps pack orders when I’ve my arms full and he designs the catalog. Aside from that I do every thing myself… often in the course of the night time when my son is sleeping.” Though, extra just lately, Lisa is lastly working out of a small warehouse, as an alternative of the storage in her home!
Broadly video sequence, which spotlighted revolutionary girls, produced a characteristic on Lisa due to the assist of Vans sneakers / Vice in July 2018 for episode 6. There’s a strong overview of the Women Skate Community web site origin story, an summary of Lisa’s footage through the years, and the evolution of Meow:
SOLO skateboard journal additionally stepped up in December 2018 with an interview known as “Creating the Demand” by Stefan Schwinghammer. And, in 2019, Quell journal interviewed Lisa for episode 12, which may nonetheless be loved right here beginning round 14:20.
So, if you happen to experience a Meow skateboard or put on their gear, you may really feel assured that you simply’re supporting a legacy and an unimaginable crew of skaters who’re proven respect and assist from Lisa. And despite the fact that we’re seeing many skateboard corporations develop numerous groups, the truth is that almost all of their house owners and managers are male, which signifies that there’s nonetheless an influence imbalance throughout the trade and that Lisa has an essential position by demonstrating that ladies can and needs to be firm house owners.
Photograph above: Lisa displaying her dedication to filming in 2008, regardless of the rocks!
Thanks, Lisa for all that you simply’ve performed to construct group, enhance our illustration within the media, and create alternatives when there have been few. As Meow professional skater, Amy Caron acknowledged – “Lisa is the mayor of ladies skateboarding” (Newsome).
References:
- Edwards, Jessice (dir). Skate Goals (Movie First Co, Topiary Productions, 2022).
- Lima, Maria. “Creating an archive of womxn’s skateboarding historical past – a dialog with Lisa Whitaker,” Skateism, June 1, 2020.
- Murrell, Andrew. “What does the rise of ladies in skateboarding imply for female-focused manufacturers?” Vice.com, April 12, 2018.
- Newsome, Ted. “That is GOOD WORK: Episode 2: Lisa Whitaker and Meow Skateboards,” Purple Bull Media Home, September 22, 2022.
- Ramirez, Remy. “Meet the best all-girl skate squads within the nation,” Nylon.com, Could 9, 2016.
- Sq., Douglass. “Lisa Whitaker: Outtapocket and underpaid,” Verify it Out Skateboarding 4 Women 16 (2004): 41-43.
- Wang, Suziie. “An interview with Lisa Whitaker,” Work in Skateboarding, March 21, 2015.
- Whitaker, Lisa. Private interview, September 19, 2024.