I had never actually met a female skater before I started Island Gals

I don’t know how it would feel like because I’ve never skated with women but I thought it wold feel obviously much better.

My bame is Thato, I am 20 years old. I am the founder of Island Gals Shred. Island Gals is a community of women learning how to skateboard and embracing and empowering other women to skateboard.

We hold workshops and we teach women how to skate. I’ve met boys who would be like: ‘I’ll never learn this. I’ll never be able to jump that, I’ll never get to get that trick, because I’m a girl.’

There was a time where I actually quit because some said I’ll never land an online. So I just quit.

I had never actually met a female skater before I started Island Gals. We all have boobs, we all have bums so it felt better because it’s like I don’t feel weird when I’m jumping up and down on a skateboard.

It was a relief because it was like “Yay, now we can do this all together”. They’ve made friends, I’m happy for them. They’re like forever friends now, which is great. It’s nice to see people find their people.

It’s good for your mental health. If you’re feeling stressed, it’s literally the one way to go, because you fall and it’s like, “Don’t give up” tye of lessons in your head.

A lot goes on in your head, while you’re skating. It’s almost like running, just better. I’m really, really happy with the progress from Island Gals as a group or every individual that’s actually skating right now.

Everyone just seems seems happy and when we’re here we just feel like there’s no other thing and we just feel like we’re home.

The most important thing is that everyone is happy!