Top 10 Female Skateboarders
Skateboarding has predominantly been male dominated since the start in the 1940s, but since the 1960s, women have been paving the way for the next generation of female skaters, showing younger counterparts the confidence that a board can bring. By the 1990s, women skateboarders started to flourish and were getting noticed globally.
Women are still breaking barriers to this day! The best female skateboarders include women who have changed the culture and history of skateboarding, turning the industry that now represents anyone and everyone who is passionate about the sport.
Patti McGee
Patti McGee was the first female professional skateboarder. She emerged from the first wave of skateboarding in 1959-1965. Born and raised in Southern California, during her senior year in high school McGee would skate in place of surfing when there were no waves. In 1964, McGee competed and won a “national” competition in Santa Monica, California and in 1965 turned pro at 19. That same year she appeared on the cover of LIFE magazine and The Quarterly Skateboarder. In a sport that is very male dominated, she demonstrated that there was more than enough room for women.
In the 1970s, McGee began focusing on raising a family only to return to the skate world later on, forming The Original Betty Skateboard Company with her daughter Hailey Villa so as to support the new generation of female skaters.
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Peggy Oki
Peggy Oki was part of the Z-boys in the 1970s. Born in Los Angeles, Oki was gifted her first skateboard at age 10 from her father. She started skating around Dogtown, a popular neighbourhood affectionately known as the birthplace of America's skateboard culture. Much like Patti McGee, Oki’s skate style followed up from her love of surfing. Her style emulated the effortless flow of a surfer on a wave, graceful but powerful.
In 1975 she competed in her first event in Del Mar Nationals the industry immediately took notice of her as she secured first place in women's freestyle. Peggy Oki was a trailblazer in her own right, on a team that was already changing the sport. At the Vans Black Rainbows exhibition in LA, Peggy told POPSUGAR "I was doing something that I really loved doing. I didn't really think about 'gee, I'm the only girl on the team, where are my girlfriends' or anything like that. I was just doing it."
Now 66 years old, Oki has become a major environmental activist, passionate about protecting orcas, dolphins, and other whales, and even led a wisdom-filled TED talk on commercial whaling in 2016.
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Elissa Steamer
Elissa Steamer, aged 46 born in Florida USA began skateboarding in 1989. Growing up in a small town made it hard to even get a skateboard or skate magazine - let alone get on the radar in the scene - travelling over a bridge to the next town over.
She was featured in videos way back in 1996 and was the first female to star in a Tony Hawk video game. Going pro after winning at Slam City Jam in 1998, she went on to make a name for herself internationally. In 2003, Steamer was voted "Female Skater of the Year" by Check it Out Girls magazine. As well as skating professionally still, she also runs her own skate and surf brand “Gnarhunters.”
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Sky Brown
Sky Brown started skateboarding and surfing at the age of three. Her preschool had a skatepark, and her father built a backyard mini ramp where he skated every day.
Brown first went viral aged four, when Stu posted a clip of her on Facebook. She spent hours watching and recreating clips from YouTube. Sky Brown is Britain's youngest Olympic medalist at the age of 13. While training in May 2020, Sky fell from a ramp and fractured her skull, broke her left arm and wrist and suffered lacerations to her heart and lungs. She was lucky to be alive, but throughout all her healing she stayed positive and just couldn't wait to skate again. sky said "I think the message is you can fall but you can also get up. Bad things can happen but good things usually happen after them, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.”
Brown holds a number of sponsorship contracts, and was snapped up by Nike after turning professional in 2018.
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Lizzie Armanto
Lizzie Armanto started skating aged 14 her brother wanted to try it so their mother signed them up for it after school at the local skatepark.
Lizzie Armanto has won over 30 skateboarding awards. In 2013, Armanto won gold at the first ever Women's Skateboard Park event at X Games in Barcelona, Spain. In 2016, Armanto appeared on the cover of the November issue of Transworld Skateboarding, becoming the first woman to do so in the magazine's thirty-year history. In 2018, Armanto became the first female skater to successfully ride the "Loop", a 360-degree vertical ramp on which the rider turns completely upside down while maintaining contact between the wheels of the skateboard and the ramp's surface. In January 2019, Armanto revealed that she joined the Finnish skateboarding national team and would represent the country at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Six months before the Olympics Izzie Armanto took her worst slam ever, and arguably one of the worst slams in skateboarding history. She took a slam on a mega ramp, she joined Tony Hawk and Jason Ellis on their Hawk vs. Wolf podcast to talk about what happened in the lead-up, the thoughts that went through her head when it happened, having to get surgery amidst the height of the pandemic, re-learning to walk, and getting back to skateboarding.
Recently she has collaborated with vans to make a skate shoe, The Lizzie, the shoe is specifically made for girls who shred, complete with a high-top look, a leaner sole, and a lower footbed to accommodate female feet.
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Rayssa Leal
Rayssa Leal aged 14, From Brazil. Got her first skateboard aged 6 and started riding around her house. Her dad's mates were skateboarders so started skating with them in the streets.
Rayssa Leal first gained attention at the age of 7 when a video of her went viral of her skating in a tutu and jumping off tall structures on her skateboard. She was then named "A Fadinha do Skate", translated roughly as "The Little Fairy of Skateboarding".
Leal competed in the 2019 Street League Skateboarding Championship in London, placing third. In July 2019, she placed first at the Street League Skateboarding Championship in Los Angeles. Also in 2019, she won a fourth place for her first X Games appearance. She won a silver medal in women's street at the 2020 summer olympics.
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Sakura Yosozumi
Sakura Yosozumi started skateboarding in 2013 and was influenced by her older brother to take up the sport. Yosozumi In September 2017, on weekdays she trained for five hours after attending school.
Yosuzumi competed at X Games Minneapolis 2018 in the women's park event. She finished second in the qualifying round while she obtained a bronze medal in the final. She represented Japan at the 2018 Asian Games. At the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Yosozumi competed in the first-ever Olympic women's park skateboarding event, in which she claimed the gold medal.
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Nora Vasconcellas
Nora Vasconcellas received her first skateboard at the age of 5 as a Christmas gift, skating in their family's barn every day and then the local skate park with her friends. In june 2012 she quit her job and travelled to California to pursue her skateboarding. In less than five years, Vasconcellos became a pro team rider for Welcome Skateboards. She worked at Welcome Skateboards for four years, learning the intricacies of running a skateboard company, until June of 2016. Just a few months after turning pro for Welcome Skateboards, Vasconcellos became the first female on the Adidas pro team.
In December 2017, award-winning filmmaker Giovanni Reda, in collaboration with Adidas, premiered the short film Nora, a playful documentary that spotlights Vasconcellos’ journey in skateboarding. “I think what Nora is doing for women as a role model,” says Reda. “I hope my daughter looks up to her as somebody that has persevered and doesn’t let things get in the way of what she wants. And Nora does that by simply being herself, which a lot of people don’t always do. She’s a role model for young girls to see that women could become successful in a male dominated world.”
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Leticia Bufoni
Leticia Bufoni began skating at age 9 with all the boys in the neighbourhood, she was the only girl in the group and her father didn't like this so he broke her board so she couldn't skate. Later on he changed his mind and let her embrace her passions and so her grandmother gifted her a board at age 11.
Bufoni was ranked the #1 women's street skateboarder by World Cup of Skateboarding four years in a row 2010–2013 and appeared in The Guinness Book of World Records for the "Most Wins Of The World Cup of Skateboarding. In 2013, was nominated for an ESPY Award – Best Female Action Sports Athlete. She was also the first female skater to sign for Nike SB in 2015. By 2015, Leticia Bufoni was already a globally famous skateboarder, earning herself a spot in "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5" video game. In 2018, Forbes named Bufoni one of The Most Powerful Women In International Sports for 2018 and made Sports Pro Media's list for The World's Most Marketable Athletes for 2018.
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Cher Strauberry
Cher Strauberry first discovered skateboarding when she was 7 she used to skate outdoors at a funeral home, "Skateboarding literally became my everything," she says. "I literally don't remember doing anything else between ages seven and 14. I was doing board slides on caskets in the back parking lot of the funeral home. Her parents let her drop out of school and focus on skateboarding. Then, at age 12, Strauberry took first place overall in the California Amateur Skateboard League. But tragedy struck when she broke her ankle just before the end of the season. She then broke her ankle two more times that year and the doctors told her she was done with skating.
January 1st, 2017 was when Unity a queer skateboarding collection was formed. Unity was a movement for LGBTQ skateboarders worldwide. Unity held a lot of Queer Skate Days held at a DIY park in Oakland. On March 5th, 2018, Strauberry announced on her Instagram profile that she was transitioning. Strauberry found it hard being a trans woman skateboarder because so many skaters were offended. Strauberry just wants to be a skater girl not a “trans skater girl.” she's paving the way for the queer/trans community, She has become an internet sensation with coverage by Thrasher, Vice and The New York Times. She recently filmed a skateboarding part for Oakland punk band SWMRS' video "Trashbag Baby" and dropped the first-ever trans skateboarding part with Peach Sørensen titled "Strauberry Peach."
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