2019 - A Year In Review!
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| Janthavy Norton ~ Photo Elise Crigar |
As we head into 2020 we thought we'd look back at 2019 and see just how far we've come!
Women's skateboarding was moving so fast this year and the pro women were traveling all around the world to compete at a much more rapid pace than ever before. It was hard keeping up with all the contests and exciting news that came out. But we made sure we covered everything from The Dew Tour, SLS, X-Games, Vans Park Series, Girls Combi, The OG Jam Series, Simple Sessions, and more!
We saw the final issue of Trans World Skateboarding hit the newsstands (RIP), and the rise of women's products - like Alexis Sablone x Converse and Nora Vasconcellos continued her rein with numerous collabs - enough that a girl can now skate everything Nora - from head to toe and wheels to deck! Amazing to see this! Lizzie Armato declared Finland as her country for the Olympics and Amelia Brodka joined Poland's team. And in the biggest shocker of all in Olympic news, Sky Brown declared she was skating for Great Britain as opposed to Japan.
Things settled down midway through the year as the women got used to Olympic Qualifiers, traveling from country to country and going head to head with the dominate Japanese who tried at every stop to keep the American women off of the podium.
Towards the end of 2019, we saw a new USA National team be announced that included Jordyn Barratt, Brighton Zeuner, Bryce Wettstein, Minna Stess, Jordan Santana and Arianna Carmona for park and Alana Smith, Alexis Sablone Lacey Baker, Mariah Duran, Samarria Brevard for street.
As we head towards the 2020 Olympics this coming year, the emphasis for the pro women has been spending their time and effort on qualifying comps so some of the smaller, yet established contests, are taking a back seat (for now) and we hope we do not lose them as they have been a big support all along. We think we will see female skaters who are not trying to qualify for the Olympics this year, head back to the grassroots comps we love so much - it should be an exciting year all the way around!
Happy New Year!! xo GN4LW
Read on, to see just a few of the awesome projects GN4LW was involved with this past year!
FEBRUARY 2019
COLLAB WITH DOYENNE! The Doyenne Skateboards x Girl is NOT a 4 Letter Word collab launched as part of Doyenne's new Winter Collection and we are so stoked!
The limited-edition tee featured a picture, circa 1977, of Girl is NOT a 4 Letter Word founder, Cindy Whitehead, screen-printed in lilac on a heavyweight white tee, with the tagline "Women That Made History". When companies like Adobe are using iconic 70's skate images of women like Cindy in their ads without proper credit, this new Doyenne x GN4LW collab tee answers back, firmly placing history where it belongs.
Giving Back: 10% of the cost of the T-Shirt will be donated to Free Movement SB to support their work for refugee youth through skateboarding and education in Athens.
MARCH 2019
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| Photo Ian Logan |
We flew with some of the GN4LW crew out to NYC for the launch and had the best time meeting the NYC girls we know from Instagram. We gave out raffle tickets and prizes like a Dusters x Girl is NOT a 4 Letter Word "Street Angel" board, Sunshine Canteen tees, beanies, stickers, pins and our friends at OH-SO Magazine gave out copies of their premiere issue and Quell Skate showed up to pass out stickers as well.
"Women and girls in skateboarding should be seen and celebrated, says Cindy Whitehead, founder of Girl is NOT a 4 Letter Word, it was awesome to see female skateboarders from California as well as New York, come out on Thursday night to view and celebrate these billboards as a collective group - it wasn't about who was on the billboards, it was about the fact that they were finally seeing other skater girls like themselves, larger than life."
The billboards photos were shot by Ian Logan and designed by Elise Crigar. The skater girls featured are Quinne Daniels, Kyra Williams and Kala Baltasar.
GN4LW FEATURED IN NEW NANCY DREW MOVIE - Team rider Amanda Caloia was Nancy Drew's stunt double in the new Warner Brothers movie, "Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase" and our "Girl is NOT a 4 Letter Word" and "It's Not About Pretty" stickers were featured in the skateboard shots - the director liked the message they sent so they replicated them for all the boards used in Nancy's skate scenes!
APRIL 2019
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| Photo Ian Logan |
WE WROTE ABOUT THE HELMET DEBATE - Helmets. They've been a hot topic since the '70s when skateparks were being developed and skaters were challenging their limits beyond banked alleys and sidewalks.
To wear a helmet or not to wear one?
See what we had to say HERE
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| Briel ~ Photo Ian Logan |
SPONSOR OF THE VENICE LADIES JAM - We were proud to help sponsor the 4th Annual Venice Ladies Jam again this year. At the crack of dawn, the park was filling up with girls practicing their runs and high-fiving one another. The youngest competitor this year was 2 years old and the oldest in her mid 50's!
The best part of this event is seeing so many girls come out and skate, meet one another, form friendships and they now have a group of girls to continue skating with throughout the year. That's what keeps these girls progressing.
MAY 2019
INTERVIEW WITH STOKE MUCH MAGAZINE - Cindy was featured in STOKE MUCH magazine in their "Decades of Ladies" section. It was an awesome interview conducted by Zach Maloof, the magazine's founder and he really asked the ladies in this section some in-depth questions that other publications tend to gloss over.
JUNE 2019
FEATURE IN OH-SO MAGAZINE - GN4LW Founder, Cindy Whitehead, had an awesome six-page feature, shot by photographer Elise Crigar, in OH SO Magazine. She spoke about the male-dominated world of skateboarding, her hopes for future generations of female skateboarders and more.
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| Kala ~ Photo Ian Logan |
GRAND OPENING OF SOUTH BAY SK8 KIDS! Some of the Girl is NOT a 4 Letter Word crew were invited to skate the new SOUTH BAY SK8 KIDS facility before their grand opening on Saturday and it was so rad! The space is bright and fun and there is everything from small street areas to a mini ramp and quarter pipes. South Bay locals Kala, Briel, Quinne, Vianez and Meredith were hitting up every section of the new facility and deemed it "epic"!
GO SKATEBOARDING DAY AT RANDY'S DONUTS! We teamed up with Randy's Donuts, and put on a girls demo with our partners at 2x4 Mini Ramps. So many people came out to watch the girls rip the mini ramp, 1/4 pipes and fun box. It really was an epic day!
METIZA PODCAST! Girl is NOT a 4 Letter Word founder and 70's pro skateboarder, Cindy Whitehead, was featured on the METIZA Podcast talking about everything girls skateboarding.
You can LISTEN to the METIZA Podcast ----> HERE
AUGUST 2019
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| Councilmember Mitch O'Farrell at the Grand Re-Opening of Lake Street Skatepark ~ Photo Ian Logan |
THE GRAND OPENING OF LAKE STREET SKATEPARK - We were stoked to be invited by Councilmember, Mitch O'Farrell and his team to come out and skate at the grand re-opening of Lake Street Skatepark in Los Angeles. Our female skaters and 70's pro skater, Lonny Hiramoto, got a bit of a private session early in the morning before the grand opening and tried out all the features the new park had to offer. Eleven-year-old Girl is NOT a 4 Letter Word team rider, Quinne Daniels deemed the park "epic!"
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| Photo Ian Logan |
GN4LW FEATURED IN PRIMITIVE RACE'S MUSIC VIDEO "Turn It Up" - We were stoked to be involved in this video release for the band Primitive Race and their song "Turn it Up" - the video featured skaters Cassie Oseguera and Beverly Flood.
Primitive Race debuted the video for “Turn It Up" (Dave Lombardo Mix)” with the skateboard themed clip arriving as the band prepares to release the remix album Cranial Matter via Metropolis Records.
The video for the track features two female skateboarders and was inspired by Mosley’s sister-in-law, Cindy Whitehead, a member of the Skateboarding Hall of Fame.
SEPTEMBER 2019
WE HELPED SEND 4 GIRLS TO SKATE CAMP! We love Skate Wild and how they support skateboarders via their skate camp scholarship program with New Balance.
We had the opportunity of working with Skate Wild this summer and helped send four girls to YMCA Skate Camp during "girls week" on Skate Wild scholarships. The girls had a blast, and an amazing opportunity they may not have had available to them otherwise.
OCTOBER 2019
WE WERE AT ESPNW!! GN4LW founder, Cindy Whitehead, gave a 10 minute "Power Talk" at espnW in October. In case you missed watching it live you can catch it here. Cindy spoke about why she feels that disruption, rule-breaking and starting a revolution are key in changing the female landscape in skateboarding. She acknowledged the women who have supported her along the way and why it's so important to give back to the next generation of women and girls in skateboarding.
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| Photo Ian Logan |
JESSE WEARS GN4LW ON THE COVER OF THE NEW STREET ANGEL BOOK - We were thrilled to see that our favorite comic book artist, Jim Rugg, chose to put his heroine, Jesse, in a GN4LW tee on the cover of his latest book, Street Angel: Deadliest Girl Alive !
NOVEMBER 2019
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| Photo of Janthavy Norton by Elise Crigar |
NEW BOARD LAUNCH! After seven years together, Dusters California and Girl is NOT a 4 Letter Word celebrated the success of their long term collaboration with a re-issue of their first cruiser skateboard with the bold message and graphics that let girls know that there is definitely a place in skateboarding for them.
Keeping with their long-standing tradition of making sure girls know that it’s a revolution of equality, empowerment, and exposure, Girl is NOT a 4 Letter Word worked with an all-female creative team to come up with the concept, images, video, and music for the launch of this new cruiser board.
“Having a female creative team on this project just felt right,” said Cindy Whitehead, OG pro skateboarder, and founder of Girl is NOT a 4 Letter Word. “We are always encouraging girls to create their own skate media, and we felt this would be the perfect time to work with creative director and photographer Elise Crigar, cinematographer, Madeline Northway and the all-female band, the Anti-Queens to put together something really special.”
Traveling to the iconic ‘70’s skate spot Mt. Baldy outside of Los Angeles, with Arizona skater Janthavy Norton, wasn’t without its challenges, from rain that seemingly came out of nowhere to dense fog that made filming stop at some points, it was definitely a true skate trip in every sense. But in the end, the sun broke through, the ground dried up and the day couldn’t have been anymore epic.
The Dusters x GN4LW Re-Issue Cruiser has Cindy’s original artwork and lettering done in neon and metallic ink, and for this new version, the grip tape was changed to bright pink with a black skull. Gold Tensor 6.0’ trucks, and iridescent pink 62mm x 51 mm 83A wheels with a skull embedded in them finish off the look.
This is one in a long line of Dusters and GN4LW collaborations that give back to girls in skateboarding. Currently, proceeds go into a micro-grant program that helps girls with travel, creating media and more. The board is also part of Dwindle’s “regrowth” program with the National Forest Foundation, for every tree they harvest they plant two.
The Dusters California “GN4LW Re-Issue” is now available at surf and skate stores across the country and abroad.
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| Photo of Coral by Ian Logan |
KING OF THE HARBOR SKATE CONTEST - We gathered girls from all around Southern California and came out in full force for the King of the Harbor skateboard contest, presented by The Beach Life Festival, in Redondo Beah, CA. It was so much fun and even set a record for female skaters at the event! Our founder, Cindy Whitehead took over the microphone and MC'd the girls' comps all day long.
WE WERE FEATURED IN THE "SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN WOMEN" BOOK! Our very first collab cruiser board with Dusters California was featured on the cover of the just-released book, SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN WOMEN.
GN4LW founder and 70's OG skater, Cindy Whitehead, is written up in the chapter titled Breakthroughs and Backlash. The GN4LW x XS helmet collab is also featured in the section about skater girl gear.
WE TEAMED UP WITH CPK! We are super excited that we had the support of California Pizza Kitchen this year! Every person who mentioned Girl is NOT a 4 Letter Word or showed a flier, had 20% of their order donated to us to help further girls skateboarding! And who doesn't love pizza?
DECEMBER 2019
WE ANNOUNCED OUR PLEDGE OF $12,000 IN 2020 TO FEMALE PRO SKATERS - We ended the year with a high note by announcing on #GivingTuesday that we plan on supporting some very deserving pro-female skaters financially in 2020!
More info on that and who we plan on supporting, as we head into the new year!
Happy New Year to all of YOU!