Who's Rad? Jordan Santana.
She blazed a trail at every contest we saw her in, fast and smooth with style for miles. Slashing and grinding, throwing airs off the hip, and extremely solid rock & rolls. It was almost if she came out of nowhere, yet she was everywhere. Her style is unlike most other girls skating in her age group, it's a rare combination of aggressive, strong, and smooth with a little hint of a smile thrown in here and there when she nails that next trick. She puts together intricate runs in places like combi, that are not what you'd expect from someone her age. Jordan Santana is full of surprises, not only in skateboarding, but out of the pool as well. She plays drums and can sing every lyric to most rock & roll songs from the 70's. And she is TWELVE. She is a socially conscience trailblazer and the first female team rider for Hosoi Skateboards. To say we are in complete and utter awe of this young ripper, is putting it mildly. Read on to see what me mean, because Jordan Santana is on FIRE.
Age? 12 years old
Home? Houston, Texas
Home Skatepark?
North Houston Skatepark, @nhoustonsk8park, the largest Skatepark in the United States, 2nd largest Skatepark in the world.
How long have you been skateboarding?
I have been skateboarding for 6 years now. However, for the first 4 years, I only skated around the park for fun. I had never skated a bowl until 2 years ago, and that’s where I fell in love with skateboarding. I love skating bowls! I have been skating bowls now for 2 years now.
What do you enjoy most about skateboarding?
I enjoy the fun of it, the people who skate, the people that I get to meet, the challenges of learning new tricks, and helping girls skateboarding reach new levels. People always ask my father, “how old is he?”, my father says “it’s she not he!” Then they say, “but she skates like a boy!”, and my father says “yes she does!”
My father and my mentor, Christian Hosoi, believe that my skateboarding style can help take girls skateboarding to new levels. I don’t know about all that, I just know that I’m having a lot of fun doing what I do. In my last competition, I took first place in the girl’s category, and second place in the 14 and under category, basically the boys category. In another bowl bash that I did, there was only two awards given, for best rider and best run of the day, and I won both. There were about 30 skaters, all boys that were teenagers, in their 20s, 30s and 40s, I was the only girl skater. I won both the best rider and best run of the day. They were all saying “I can’t believe that I just got my a— kicked by a 12 year old girl. That was fun!
A lot of the pro girl skaters tell me, “Jordan, we like hanging out with you, because wherever you go, all the legends are always around you. Meeting all the legends, skating with them is so much fun! I love skating with Christian, his family, Eddie Elguera, Lonny Hiramoto, and Stevie Caballero, they all have always been so nice to me and are always so willing to share skateboarding tips with me.
And finally, I love being on Team Hosoi! The skaters on the Hosoi Team are all really great skaters, Christian, Eddie Elguera, Taylor Jett, Lazor Crawford, Lawsen Miller, Classic Hosoi, Me and Kody Tamana. It’s a small team, but we are like family. I was the first girl sponsored by Hosoi, I was so stoked!
Tell us about your board set up – what brand of deck, wheels and trucks?
HOSOI, HOSOI, HOSOI!!! I have never skated any other deck than a Hosoi deck. My set up has Bones wheels and bones bearings with independent trucks, Grizzly Grip tape and bones rails.
Favorite music to skate to?
My favorite music to skate to is Green Day, Led Zepplin and Creed, pretty much Rock and Classic Rock.
Girls who inspire you to skate?
My favorite current girl skaters are Nora Vasconcellos, Sarah Thompson, and Julz Lynn. I am also inspired by the legends that I meet and read about like Cindy Whitehead, Peggy Oki, Patti McGee and Cara-Beth Burnside.
Favorite place you’ve ever skated?
My favorite place to skate is the Outdoor Vans Skatepark in Huntington Beach, I love the deep bowls and there is always a bunch of kids to play with there.
Can you tell us about some recent contests you have been in?
Just two weeks ago I was in a contest called Feed The Need, in Victoria, Texas, I got 1st place in girls, and second place in 14 and under, which is basically the boys category. I also was in in a Bowl Bash called Skate and Enjoy, out of about 30 skaters, I got both awards that were given in the Bowl Bash, for best skater, and best run of the day. I was the only girl competitor, and I was the youngest. In larger scaled competitions, I placed 2nd in the Boardr Grind for Life Series in girl’s division, and 3rd place in the boys division, with about 16 boys competing. In my favorite, at the Vans Girls Combi, I placed 8th, and at Exposure I placed 9th.
Favorite trick or maneuver?
board slide to fakie, front side Smith grinds, front side stale fish, fully decked out fakies and fully decked out rock and rolls.
Who are your favorite people to skate with?
Christian Hosoi, Classic Hosoi, Endless Hosoi, Ryder Reategui, Eddie Elguera, Lonny Hiramoto, Stevie Caballero, Eddie Reategui, Bella Reategui, Nora Vasconcellos and my all time favorite skater sister to skate with, Minna Stess! Me and Minna became really great friends, we facetime all the time.
Which female skaters inspire you?
Peggy Oki, Cindy Whitehead, Patti McGee and Cara-Beth Burnside, these ladies were the pioneers of women’s skateboarding, they paved the way for us.
Sponsors?
Hosoi Skateboards, and of course my parents.
Catch Jordan skateboarding and playing drums in the new Lifetime ad "Welcome to the Fempire".
Her sister Lauren is also featured - pretty cool to get to work with your sister.
Three things that you don’t know about me
1) I am also a musician, I play drums, I am still learning piano and bass guitar
2) I have done 2 commercials for the Lifetime Channel called Welcome to the Fempire, basically the female empire. I really like this because the commercials celebrate the empowerment of women, and they were really fun to do. I skate and play drums in the commercials.
3) God first, I have been raised with a Christian faith background, I give all thanks to my God for all He has done for me, and for keeping me safe in skateboarding.
What’s next?
Training! Training! Training! At least that’s what my dad calls it. I call it having fun! One thing to train on is my airs, my front side and back side late grabs. Continuing to train with my father, and with Christian Hosoi. Christian and I have a special friendship, I just love his style. He has been called the most stylish skater ever, and judges in some of my competitions have commented on my style and my tricks and have said, “Wow! I wonder where she learned that from?” It is truly an honor that he personally trains me, we are like family. While sitting in the crowd at the last Vans Pool Party, the boys that were sitting behind me kept telling each other, “yeah! That’s Jordan, Christian Hosoi’s daughter.” Me and my father, who was sitting next to me, just laughed about it.
I continue to do demos here and there with Christian, which are a lot of fun. My dad is sending a photo where Christian invited me to do a demo with him for Penny Skateboards, it was really cool! I have been all over California, Texas, New York and Brooklyn with Christian. When I did the Boardr Grind for Life competition in Florida, I was so surprised that they already knew who I was when I got there to register for the competition, that was so Rad! It is awesome when someone comes and asks me to take a picture with them, or sign an autograph for them. I train 3 to 5 hours a day, everyday. Sometimes on weekends, I’ll skate 6 to 8 hours. I’m having so much fun!
Make sure you follow Jordan on: Facebook, I have a Jordan Santana “Athlete” page, on Instagram I am listed as @extremelife2003, and my sponsor is at www.hosoiskateboards.com , my father posts most of my photos on his Instagram page which is @lawyer4life
Last Words?
Thank you Cindy for allowing me to take part in this Who’s Rad Interview. Thank you for all you have done for us girl skaters. You are a true legend in skateboarding! I saw you on stage at the Skateboarding Hall of Fame, and I wished that I was you. I hope one day I can be looked up to like you. Love, Jordan.