Episode 112 with Kelly Bird, former professional skateboarder and footwear brand manager from Houston, Texas. Together we discussed his life and career, from picking up his first board in the mid-80’s to turning pro for Real Skateboards in the early 90’s, transitioning into marketing and team management at DC Shoes, moving over to Lakai shortly after it started in 1999 where he spent the following 15 years as team, then brand manager, before eventually joining Nike SB in 2015 where he has been working as global brand manager for the past 10-years, recently integrating into Nike’s global basketball brand team and much more through surprise questions from friends of his. (00:13) – Intro (01:13) – Aaron Meza (20:55) – Dave Swift (23:32) – Thomas Morgan (28:20) – Bill Weiss (31:42) – Tony Ferguson (37:51) – Skin Phillips (46:13) – James Kelch (49:32) – Joe Brook (56:07) – Mike Carroll (01:23:28) – Dimitry Elyashkevich (01:31:16) – Aaron Hoover (01:51:22) – Chris Carter (02:09:10) – Kaspar Van Lierop (02:11:33) – Eric Swisher (02:14:42) – Hunter Muraira (02:16:38) – Jason Patrick Searcy (02:24:37) – Jürgen Blümlein (02:28:37) – Kristin Ebeling (02:40:35) – John Rattray (02:42:31) – Megan Last (02:45:44) – Shawn Mandoli (02:54:37) – Conclusion For more information and resources: https://linktr.ee/beyondboards Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Episode 111 with Joel Meinholz, professional skateboarder from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Together we discussed his life and career, from picking up his first board in the late 80’s, settling down in Miami and having a productive skateboarding career riding for Planet Earth, Stereo, Rasa Libre and eventually Hopps, and appearing among other things in Josh Stewart’s iconic Static video series, working in event production and marketing throughout his entire career, ripping hard as ever in his late 40’s and sharpening his photography skills at Harvard and much more through surprise questions from friends of his. (00:13) – Intro (01:13) – Felix Arguelles (06:52) – Andre Lezama (11:50) – Connecting with Josh Stewart (13:02) – John Baragwanath (16:48) – Abe Bethel (20:00) – Danny Fuenzalida (22:45) – Steve Brandi (29:25) – Fred Gall (32:30) – Sven Barth (34:45) – Brian Delatorre (37:38) – Jake Todd (44:08) – Jimmy Lannon (46:30) – Jerry Fowler (51:22) – Brad Cromer (58:12) – Danny Montoya (59:16) – Mark Gamez (01:10:50) – Photography class at Harvard (01:12:39) – Matt Cantor (01:17:54) – Paul De Oliveira (01:24:49) – Josh Stewart (01:40:46) – Cecilia Cuff (01:51:17) – Conclusion For more information and resources: https://linktr.ee/beyondboards (https://linktr.ee/beyondboards) Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Episode 110 with Mike Carroll, professional skateboarder from Daly City, California. Together we discussed his life and career, from growing up and starting skateboarding in San Francisco in the mid to late 80’s, coming up at Embarcadero in the early 90’s and filming for the Plan B videos, starting Girl Skateboards alongside Rick Howard, Megan Baltimore and Spike Jonze in 1993 which throughout the years has become a staple in skateboarding culture and much more through surprise questions from friends of his. (00:13) – Intro (01:25) – Max Schaaf (09:49) – Sal Barbier (11:08) – Aaron Meza (14:26) – Pat Duffy (23:15) – Tobin Yelland (29:27) – Jacob Rosenberg (34:57) – The importance of style (37:43) – Josh Kalis (41:29) – John Cardiel (44:57) – James Kelch (45:56) – Lance Dawes (01:05:05) – Frank Gerwer (01:07:01) – PJ Ladd (01:08:14) – Sam Smyth (01:13:44) – Ted Barrow (01:37:59) – Greg Hunt (01:41:52) – Charlie Carroll (01:43:07) – Megan Baltimore (01:48:09) – Megan steps into the room (01:48:28) – Rick Howard (01:53:10) – Paulo Diaz (02:10:21) – Alex Olson (02:16:08) – Johannes Gamble (02:19:17) – Joey Tershay (02:20:09) – John Marello (02:23:58) – Jesus Fernandez (02:31:38) – Tim Dowling (02:36:28) – Michael Burnett (02:44:21) – Ray Barbee (02:46:13) – Tim Anderson (02:52:42) – Greg Carroll (03:03:11) – Spike Jonze (03:10:52) – Conclusion For more information and resources: https://linktr.ee/beyondboards Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Episode 109 with Rose Archie, skateboarder and community activist from Tsq’escen’ (Canim Lake) of the Secwepemc (Shuswap) Nation. Together we discussed her life and career, from picking up her first board in the early 90’s to launching Nations Skate Youth in 2020, a non-profit which aims to connect Indigenous youth with their culture and heritage through skateboarding, and everything in between through surprise questions from friends of hers. (00:13) – Intro (01:13) – Mel Mercier (03:56) – Kristin Ebeling (07:45) – Natalie Porter (11:15) – Norma Ibarra (15:29) – Héloïse Wathelet (17:45) – Dustin Henry (27:29) – Una Farrar (28:24) – Tina Janien Cale (37:58) – Patricia Kavanaugh (43:04) – Olga Arista (45:55) – Jade Spotted Eagle (46:53) – John Rattray (54:45) – Maurice Crandall (58:16) – Caroline Samorodin (01:01:10) – Annie Guglia (01:11:52) – Cole Nowicki (01:16:57) – Adea Chung (01:19:19) – Cecely Todacheenie (01:21:42) – Jessie Van Roechoudt (01:25:42) – Cassandra Bailey (01:33:05) – Denise Biziaev (01:45:20) – Jess Sung (01:50:38) – Conclusion For more information and resources: https://linktr.ee/beyondboards Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Episode 108 with Jeremy Elkin, skateboarder and filmmaker from Montréal, Québec. Together we discussed his life and career, from growing up in Montréal where he started skating as a young teen in the late 90’s, putting his name to a number of skate films throughout the 00’s including “Lo-Def” (2008), “Elephant Direct” (2010), “Poisonous Products” (2011) and “The Brodies” (2013), embarking on a documentary project centered around Eli Gesner and RB Umali’s iconic Zoo York “Mixtape” video which eventually evolved into “All the Streets Are Silent” (2021), focused on the convergence of hip-hop and skateboarding in New York City between 1987 and 1997, relocating to Tokyo, Japan in 2024 where he keeps working on numerous rad projects and much more through surprise questions from friends of his. (00:13) – Intro (01:25) – Eli Gesner (09:17) – Jeremy Pettit (14:59) – Mike Fyfe (18:35) – Leo Gutman (27:51) – Julien Januszkiewicz (32:27) – Joseph Delgado (35:16) – Eric Lebeau (37:39) – Aaron Herrington (40:29) – Rob Campbell (41:52) – German Nieves (44:12) – Charles Lamb (47:06) – Dan Magee (52:08) – Sandro Grison (01:09:43) – Ted Gushue (01:10:41) – Barry Walsh (01:19:38) – Jimmy McDonald (01:20:48) – Xavier Tera (01:23:21) – Jahmal Williams (01:24:22) – Yuki Watanabe (01:29:49) – Marc Tison (01:33:15) – Josh Kalis (01:37:07) – Steve Rodriguez (01:40:47) – Kevin Lowry (01:47:35) – Josh Stewart (01:51:03) – Jacob Rosenberg (01:58:28) – Bradley Sheppard (02:01:57) – Greg Hunt (02:08:36) – Conclusion For more information and resources: https://linktr.ee/beyondboards Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Episode 107 with Josh Kalis, professional skateboarder from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Together we discussed his life and career, from picking up his first board in the late 80’s, crossing paths in the early 90’s with a young Jamie Thomas in Dallas, Texas who invited him to California and offered him a spot on the Toy Machine team, getting on Alien Workshop and DC Shoes and settling down in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he and Stevie Williams teamed up to push further the concept of plaza skating at the already iconic Love Park spot, joining Stevie on DGK after 13 years on the workshop, moving back with his family to Grand Rapids where he built his own indoor park as well as his clothing brand “Silak” and much more through surprise questions from friends of his. (00:13) – Intro (01:13) – Romie Dennison (04:59) – Skin Phillips (08:28) – Jimmy Astleford (09:16) – RB Umali (12:26) – Mike Ballard (22:00) – Kelly Bird (27:09) – Jimmy Pelletier (33:25) – Tobin Yelland (43:26) – Jeremy Wray (49:52) – Karl Watson (55:43) – Kerry Getz (56:45) – Dave Ruta (01:07:00) – Ken Keistler (01:11:09) – Jimmy Gorecki (01:15:53) – Bill Strobeck (01:26:50) – Jerry Fowler (01:33:41) – Mike Hoag (01:45:03) – Troy Morgan (01:47:04) – Collin Slew (01:51:26) – Zack May (01:53:38) – Mark Appleyard (01:59:58) – Jacob Rosenberg (02:06:13) – Dane Vaughn (02:12:47) – Jack Curtin (02:20:08) – Ryan Gee (02:24:19) – Chris Carter (02:29:24) – Thomas Winkle (02:36:00) – Love Malmö (02:39:38) – Raul Navarro (02:42:17) – Ruben Garcia (02:58:15) – Darren Harper (03:00:51) – John Gardner (03:06:01) – Alex Carolino (03:16:20) – Flo Marfaing (03:18:35) – Brian Panebianco (03:29:21) – Conclusion For more information and resources: https://linktr.ee/beyondboards Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Episode 106 with Javier Mendizabal, skateboarder and artist from Algorta, Spain. Together we discussed his life and career, from growing up in Algorta and picking up his first board in 1989, moving to Barcelona at 19 years old right before it became a global skate Mecca, getting on Cliché Skateboards in 1999 and spending the following 15 years traveling all around the world shooting photos and filming for their various projects, relocating to the French part of the Basque country in the mid-2010’s and transitioning into painting and much more through surprise questions from friends of his. (00:13) – Intro (01:13) – Nahia Mendizabal (10:35) – Manuel Palacios (21:05) – Quentin De Briey (24:23) – Tony Cox (26:17) – Hugo Morales (30:50) – Thomas Campbell (34:54) – Ben Derenne (41:18) – Jan Kliewer (48:22) – Andrew Brophy (01:03:15) – Charles Collet (01:05:00) – Steve Forstner (01:07:08) – Leo Sharp (01:10:56) – Fred Mortagne (01:19:47) – Lucas Puig (01:23:24) – Lee Smith (01:30:06) – Nils Inne (01:33:51) – Ray Barbee (01:38:37) – Julian Furones (01:41:38) – Dave Aron (01:46:09) – Mike O’Meally (01:56:00) – Luc Prouzat (01:59:25) – Julian Smith (02:04:45) – Kenny Reed (02:06:45) – Carine Bedoya (02:08:17) – Conclusion For more information and resources: https://linktr.ee/beyondboards Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Episode 105 with Natalie Porter, skateboarder and librarian from Owen Sound, Ontario, now living on Canada's west coast. Together we discussed her life and career, from picking up her first board in 1995, connecting with the local skate scenes first in Vancouver then in Montreal where she studied for a few years in the early 2000’s, working as a librarian since 2009, launching “Womxn Skate History” in 2022, an online resource which catalogues and celebrates the visibility of female and non-binary skateboarders throughout history and into contemporary skate culture, her new book “Girl Gangs, Zines and Powerslides: a history of badass women skateboarders” coming out in September 2025 (published by ECW Press) and much more through surprise questions from friends of hers. (00:13) – Intro (01:13) – Other intro (03:59) – Harry Meadley (08:46) – Annie Guglia (12:35) – Lisa Whitaker (15:28) – Jaime Reyes (19:17) – Louise Hénault-Ethier (23:27) – Iain Borden (30:13) – Kristin Ebeling (35:05) – Norma Ibarra (41:48) – Kevin Marks (46:39) – Cole Nowicki (55:51) – Rhianon Bader (59:45) – Jen Sookfong Lee (01:02:43) – Michael Burnett (01:15:01) – Rose Archie (01:17:51) – Beth Fishman (01:20:38) – Kim Adrian (01:24:19) – Betsy Gordon (01:27:35) – Michele Addelio (01:31:00) – Indigo Willing (01:34:22) – Anita Sanford (01:38:37) – Jessie Van Roechoudt (01:42:21) – Kyle Beachy (01:46:14) – Conclusion For more information and resources: https://linktr.ee/beyondboards Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Episode 104 with Joe Castrucci, skateboarder and visual artist from Cincinnati, Ohio. Together we discussed his life and career, from growing up and picking up his first board in the early 90’s, applying for a job at Alien Workshop in 1998 which led to launching its sister brand Habitat Skateboards in 1999 and releasing the cult classic “Photosynthesis” video in 2000, running Habitat throughout the last 25 years and bringing back Alien Workshop and Habitat under the same roof in 2018 and much more through surprise questions from friends of his. (00:13) – Intro (01:13) – Dave Caddo (02:54) – Doug Korfhagen (03:57) – Nick Accurso (05:45) – Chris Carter (10:06) – Josh Stewart (14:08) – Nate Jones (19:16) – Tim Anderson (22:38) – Eric Swisher (25:50) – Kerry Getz (26:46) – Don Pendleton (28:06) – Rob Pluhowski (29:08) – Brennan Conroy (29:57) – Tim O’Connor (33:47) – Jason Hernandez (35:33) – Joe Perrin (36:47) – Colin Kennedy (40:59) – Oliver Barton (48:27) – Tyler Dietterich (50:40) – Marius Syvanen (52:37) – Silas Baxter-Neal (01:00:28) – Zac Coyne (01:02:43) – Guilherme Guimarães (01:05:54) – Buddy Best (01:17:49) – Bill Strobeck (01:26:02) – Fred Gall (01:27:12) – Stefan Janoski (01:28:02) – Greg Hunt (01:33:54) – Justin Albert (01:45:05) – Brian Delatorre (01:47:32) – Jiro Platt (01:47:55) – Kaue Cossa (01:52:20) – Conclusion For more information and resources: https://linktr.ee/beyondboards Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Episode 103 with Sam Korman — skater, writer, and editor originally from Buffalo, NY. We talked about his path from picking up a board in the late ’90s to discovering art in his teens, studying it in Portland in the 2000s, and eventually moving to NYC in 2015. Sam has worked as a freelance writer, curator, copywriter, and strategist since 2010. He started the blog Waxing the Curb during the pandemic, launched PLANK magazine in fall 2024 — a publication at the intersection of skateboarding, art, and literature — and is currently working on issue 2, due out in September 2025. (00:13) – Intro (01:13) – Starting skating (05:58) – Studying art in Portland (22:18) – Waxing the curb (29:40) – The psychoanalytic skatepark (33:52) – Board breaking for emotional pretend (37:09) – Starting Plank (42:16) – Other magazine projects prior to Plank (49:08) – Combining/overlapping serious and funny articles (52:00) – Is it harder to work on the second issue? (56:14) – Same format in the upcoming issues? (58:56) – Friends questions (59:06) – Kyle Beachy (01:03:46) – Random drawings in the sleeping habits piece (01:05:48) – Cole Nowicki (01:13:14) – Any discarded projects from issue 1? (01:17:31) – Michael Worful (01:18:37) – Ian Browning (01:22:43) – José Vadi (01:30:17) – Monica Weltyk (01:32:16) – Will Harmon (01:35:46) – Amount of copies printed and distribution (01:37:22) – Ted Barrow (01:43:06) – Dena Yago (01:44:57) – Spencer Gillespie (01:47:03) – Matt Price (01:47:42) – Jacob Kassay (01:51:46) – Louis Sarowsky (01:52:22) – Conclusion For more information and resources: https://linktr.ee/beyondboards Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.