Episode 122 with Denia Kopita, skateboarder from Athens, Greece. Together we discussed her life and career, from growing up in Athens, Greece where she picked up her first board at the age of 18 in the mid-2010’s; since 2020 being involved among other things as a skate instructor and communications manager at Free Movement Skateboarding; working as the online manager for Skateism, a diversity skate magazine between 2020 and 2022; since 2024 working as a community specialist at Skateistan; in between travels to attend a skate conference somewhere, spending her time playing soccer for 2 different teams and organizing the Filika skate meets: a safe space for non-traditional skaters in Athens; and much more through surprise questions from friends of hers. (00:13) – Intro (01:13) – Danae Polycarpou (04:46) – Denia Nicolas (10:20) – Ruby Mateja (15:56) – Rémi Luciani (22:03) – Raisa Abal (26:34) – Mina Kalogera (28:56) – Oliver Percovich (32:18) – Viktor Telegin (34:11) – Will Ascott (36:08) – Makke Bengtsson (43:06) – Dave Morgan (46:33) – Indigo Willing (50:02) – Daniel Clarke (55:14) – Harry Meadley (59:24) – Oisin Tammas (01:06:47) – Neftalie Williams (01:12:02) – Natalie Mavrota (01:21:29) – John Dahlquist (01:26:17) – Conclusion For more information and resources: https://linktr.ee/beyondboards Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Episode 121 with Harry Meadley, skateboarder and artist from Leeds, England. Together we discussed his life and career, from growing up in Leeds where he picked up his first board in his early teen years; quickly becoming very embedded in the Leeds skate scene through starting his website “Don’t mess with Yorkshire”, and writing for Sidewalk magazine; going to art school as a young adult and for quite some time keeping his skate and art life separate, with skateboarding eventually taking a step back; in the late 2010’s reconnecting with skateboarding, even filming his first full video part at 35 years old for Joe Allen’s “Pétanque”; finally bringing his two worlds together, in 2023, by developing Civic Skateboarding, a skateboarding arts festival in Leeds that focused on making street skating more inclusive for marginalized skaters; to successfully completing a PhD in socially engaged skateboarding in 2025 and much more through surprise questions from friends of his. (00:13) – Intro (01:25) – Rachel Meadley (06:23) – Lucy Evans (13:14) – Tom Brown (21:28) – Ben Powell (25:08) – Farran Golding (34:24) – Joe Allen (44:21) – Indigo Willing (49:11) – Lee Dubin (52:05) – Laura Long (01:03:14) – Chris Lawton (01:13:54) – Sarah Oglesby (01:21:46) – Jack Lovell (01:25:48) – Gerard Roberts (01:32:17) – Ruby McMullen (01:34:24) – James Kelly (01:35:34) – Tom Meadley (01:40:41) – Natalie Porter (01:46:05) – Brian Glenney (02:04:53) – Esther Sayers (02:09:37) – Paul O’Connor (02:12:35) – Sean Ashton (02:17:01) – Izzy Almond (02:18:43) – Conclusion For more information and resources: https://linktr.ee/beyondboards Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Episode 120 with Leo Baker, professional skateboarder and musician from Covina, California. Together we discussed his life and career, from growing up in Covina, California where he first stepped on a board at only 2 years old; since his early teens making a strong and lasting impression on the skateboarding industry and landscape thanks to his unique style and trick selection, as well as a very solid competition track record; in the late 2010’s deciding not to compete in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics anymore and coming out as a trans man, a brave and inspiring journey which was captured in the 2022 Netflix documentary “Stay on board: the Leo Baker story” by Nicola Marsh and Giovanni Reda; to living his best life in New York City, skating better than ever, running his board brand Tacky Joy Factory and making music under the pseudonym “Leo Popstar” and much more through surprise questions from friends of his. (00:13) – Intro (01:25) – Nora Baker (03:36) – Anthony Piscopo (05:04) – Lisa Whitaker (12:43) – Ryan Miller (17:23) – Mimi Knoop (21:16) – Alex White (35:28) – Gardia Fox (50:20) – Chandler Burton (01:02:16) – Tiffany Huet (01:08:03) – Amy Caron (01:10:22) – Jaime Reyes (01:14:29) – Dylan Jones (01:17:59) – Amy Ellington (01:20:18) – Brian Anderson (01:22:54) – Kaspar Van Lierop (01:33:25) – Nicola Marsh (01:38:52) – Kelly Bird (01:41:15) – Kristin Ebeling (01:48:16) – Richard Quintero (01:55:58) – Vitoria Bortolo (02:06:01) – Felix Graham (02:10:58) – Rocco Marsh (02:12:28) – Conclusion For more information and resources: https://linktr.ee/beyondboards Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Episode 119 with Gabriel Summers, professional skateboarder from Penguin, Tasmania. Together we discussed his life and career, from growing up in Penguin where he started skating at the age of 12; moving to Melbourne, Australia at the age of 19 after graduating from culinary school; traveling and skating all around the world for the last 15 years and being celebrated in the skateboarding industry for his gnarliness and relentlessness particularly when it comes to skating handrails; to embarking on a new chapter in his skate career in 2025 by joining his friend and Adidas teammate Blondey on his board brand Thames and much more through surprise questions from friends of his. (00:13) – Intro (01:13) – Morgan Campbell (06:46) – Jason Morey (23:02) – Lisa Summers (24:51) – Tom Snape (26:38) – Chani Summers (31:34) – Mason Summers (32:37) – Ludvig Håkansson (36:27) – Dustin Dollin (41:11) – Adam Davies (43:34) – Nathan Jackson (54:21) – Casey Foley (59:51) – Patrik Wallner (01:06:52) – Stu Morton (01:11:05) – Sammy Winter (01:12:54) – Billy Lukins (01:15:21) – Liam Johnstone aka Pee Wee (01:19:05) – Matt Bublitz (01:21:28) – Michael Burnett (01:24:28) – Geoff Campbell (01:26:38) – Ryan Reyes (01:28:53) – Sarah Meurle (01:31:08) – Kalem Beange (01:31:32) – Cole Mathews (01:34:45) – Jarryd Rees (01:41:15) – Dougie George (01:44:50) – Anthony Mapstone (01:46:02) – Conclusion For more information and resources: https://linktr.ee/beyondboards Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Episode 118 with Danny Garcia, former professional skateboarder turned musician from Anaheim, California. Together we discussed his life and career, from him growing up in Anaheim where he picked up his first board in the mid-90’s in his teen years; putting out multiple iconic video parts for Habitat Skateboards among others throughout the 2000’s and early 2010’s; slowly transitioning into another passion of his, music, under the name “Reverend Baron”; to releasing his own EPs and albums and touring all around the globe while also engineering and producing music for other musicians for the last 15 years and much more through surprise questions from friends of his. (00:13) – Intro (01:25) – Aaron Brown (02:50) – Abdul Hamid (04:53) – Seu Trinh (05:21) – Tyrone Coronado (07:31) – Joe Castrucci (08:40) – Brian Wenning (11:23) – Austyn Gillette (13:31) – Brennan Conroy (15:47) – Calvin Love (18:56) – Johnny Franck (24:40) – Kelly Bird (29:05) – Rodney Cox Jr. (32:42) – Evan Schiefelbine (34:35) – Justin Michael Brooks (35:13) – Abdon Valdez (36:48) – Hayden Brosnan (38:23) – Andrew Gabbard (39:37) – Oscar Ruvalcaba (42:15) – Stefan Janoski (42:58) – Toby Adkins (49:27) – Colin Kennedy (51:10) – Working with Colemine Records (54:38) – Greg Hunt (01:01:42) – Ray Barbee (01:03:44) – Cornelia Murr (01:04:12) – Mike O’Meally (01:05:26) – Christian Maalouf (01:06:08) – Ry Welch (01:07:30) – Ryan Pollie (01:10:02) – Matthew Aveiro (01:13:42) – Conclusion For more information and resources: https://linktr.ee/beyondboards Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Episode 117 with Sophie Friedel, skateboarder and Gestalt therapist from Freiburg, Germany. Together we discussed her picking up skateboarding as a young adult in Cornwall, England; in the early 2010’s traveling to Kabul, Afghanistan three times to volunteer among other things as an English teacher, skateboard instructor and program coordinator at Skateistan; in 2015 publishing her first book “The Art of Living Sideways: Skateboarding, Peace and Elicitive Conflict Transformation” based on her MA thesis; since 2018 pioneering the use of skateboarding in mental health care with a Scholarship in Germany; becoming a qualified Gestalt therapist and running her project “Drop In Ride Out” which combines skateboarding and Gestalt therapy… (00:13) – Intro (01:25) – Starting skateboarding (09:22) – Studies (19:35) – First trip to Afghanistan (28:21) – Writing “The art of living sideways” (38:09) – Transition from peace work to therapeutic work (45:26) – Gestalt therapy (49:46) – Chapter in “Skate/Worlds – New pedagogies for skateboarding” (52:28) – Starting “Drop in ride out” (57:49) – Skateboarding as a therapeutic tool (01:28:43) – Most valuable lesson learned from skateboarding (01:10:47) – Friends questions (01:10:53) – Rhianon Bader (01:12:31) – Oliver Percovich (01:18:42) – Adelina Ong (01:20:44) – Ben Büscher (01:26:10) – Iain Borden (01:29:28) – Paul O’Connor (01:32:30) – Brian Glenney (01:38:36) – Rosalie Kubny (01:42:12) – Conclusion For more information and resources: https://linktr.ee/beyondboards Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Episode 116 with Tom Karangelov, professional skateboarder from Los Angeles, California. Together we discussed his life and career, from picking up his first board in his early teens in Fountain Valley and becoming a local at the Santa Ana skatepark, in his late teens winning Slap’s “One in a million” contest which put him on the map, since then leading a highly productive skate career, eventually getting on the WKND and New Balance Numeric programs, his uniquely creative approach to spots and tricks showcased in his numerous amazing video parts, often filmed and edited by his lifelong friend Matt Bublitz, his upcoming projects and much more through surprise questions from friends of his. (00:13) – Intro (01:13) – Nando Yiv (07:20) – Matt Price (11:28) – Kento Takahashi (14:06) – Taylor McClung (17:32) – Andrew Considine (22:38) – Jordan Taylor (24:11) – Nick Boserio (35:21) – Dan Plunkett (37:40) – Tim Savage (39:58) – Cameron Strand (46:52) – Scotty Simmons (49:44) – Ben Lee (01:07:58) – Michael Burnett (01:16:16) – Matt Payne (01:26:42) – Shintaro Hongo (01:33:56) – Jaime Owens (01:37:20) – Justin Reynolds (01:43:07) – Ed Templeton (01:45:40) – Matt Bublitz (01:53:39) – Cristina Ledesma Karangelov (01:54:36) – Rob Taro (01:57:08) – Alia Huffman (01:59:22) – Dan Stolling (02:05:41) – Sebastian Palmer (02:14:03) – Garrett Holmes (02:16:19) – Salomon Cardenas (02:19:24) – Tyler Surrey (02:21:06) – Bob Altamirano (02:23:05) – Conclusion For more information and resources: https://linktr.ee/beyondboards Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Episode 115 with Lisa Whitaker, skateboarder, videographer and brand owner from Norwalk, California. Together we discussed her life and career, from picking up her first board at the age of 10 in 1985, in the following years starting to film her friends and make her own videos while also traveling all over North America to enter skate competitions, in the early 2000’s launching “The Side Project” which quickly changed its name to the “Girls Skate Network”, a platform which has since then significantly contributed to push and support women’s skateboarding all over the world, to starting Meow Skateboards in 2012 with some of her close friends and since then continuing to push women’s skateboarding to reach new heights and much more through surprise questions from friends of hers. (00:13) – Intro (01:25) – Poe Pinson (04:38) – Monica Shaw (05:25) – Leo Baker (09:36) – Anthony Acosta (16:17) – Catharine Lyons (18:46) – Jaime Reyes (19:53) – Natalie Porter (24:07) – Colin Kennedy (32:52) – Christine Cottam (37:38) – Nanaka Fujisawa (41:27) – Alex White (42:34) – Shane Auckland (43:16) – Ron Resurrection (48:39) – Amy Caron (50:01) – Cara-Beth Burnside (52:27) – Shari White (54:44) – Kim Woozy (56:07) – Van Nguyen (01:02:27) – Nicole Young (01:06:00) – Josh Friedberg (01:07:22) – Lori Damiano (01:09:42) – Annie Guglia (01:14:13) – Rose Archie (01:16:04) – Conclusion For more information and resources: https://linktr.ee/beyondboards Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Episode 114 with Barney Page, professional skateboarder from Exeter, England. Together we discussed his life and career, from growing up in Exeter and picking up his first board around 11 years old, connecting with photographer Leo Sharp and starting to get coverage in the UK scene which led him to getting flowed Motive boards from Rob Selley, later getting flowed Enjoi boards until he landed on the Sour team, spending the last 15 years traveling and skating all around the world, skating across the UK in the autumn of 2021 in memory of his dear friend Ben Raemers, a trip which was beautifully captured by his friend Ryan Sherman in the “Land’s End” documentary, to rebuilding and designing a canal boat to live in and much more through surprise questions from friends of his. (00:13) – Intro (01:13) – Paul O’Connor (07:26) – Oli Buergin (21:17) – Travis Wardle (30:47) – Josh Harris (34:57) – Aidan Campbell (38:39) – Jonathan Lomar (41:28) – Gustav Tønnesen (47:38) – Tom Snape (55:47) – Kevin Parrott (01:06:59) – Leo Sharp (01:09:43) – Sam McGuire (01:15:05) – Susie Crome (01:18:33) – Lucy Raemers (01:21:59) – Nisse Ingemarsson (01:23:41) – Oscar Dryden (01:25:01) – Bas Janssen (01:31:49) – Yann Horowitz (01:33:08) – Albert Nyberg (01:35:03) – Sami Seppala (01:37:18) – Martin Sandberg (01:42:57) – Ally Campbell (01:44:53) – Nestor Judkins (01:55:12) – Patrik Wallner (01:58:38) – Björn Holmenäs (02:00:07) – Tim Ruck (02:05:23) – Conclusion For more information and resources: https://linktr.ee/beyondboards Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Episode 113 with Jerry Hsu, professional skateboarder and photographer from San José, California. Together we discussed his life and career, from growing up in San José and picking up his first board in the early 90’s, connecting with local pros such as Marc Johnson who helped him get on Maple Skateboards and later on Enjoi, Osiris days, his iconic “Bag of suck” part, his thoughts on music in skate videos, diving deep into art and photography in the mid-2010’s which led him to start his brand Sci-Fi Fantasy, first as an art project which eventually turned into a board brand, to releasing their first full-length video “Endless Beauty” in the summer of 2025 and much more through surprise questions from friends of his. (00:13) – Intro (01:25) – Will Sprot (08:10) – Shawn Mandoli (16:24) – Chris Pastras (22:28) – Ray Barbee (26:14) – Mike Crabtree (30:39) – Ed Dominick (33:47) – Dave Mayhew (42:06) – Caswell Berry (43:33) – Kyle Camarillo (50:14) – Mark Whiteley (01:05:24) – Music supervision in “Endless beauty” (01:12:48) – Jonathan Mehring (01:17:31) – Javier Mendizabal (01:21:33) – Ryan Lay (01:26:24) – Katina Danabassis (01:27:43) – Yasi Salek (01:31:14) – Ted Barrow (01:42:04) – Sam Korman (01:49:11) – Aaron Meza (01:52:18) – Ed Templeton (01:57:35) – Anthony Claravall (02:03:03) – Zak Anders (02:06:36) – Luke Murphy (02:07:32) – Winston Tseng (02:17:21) – Daniel Wheatley (02:22:24) – Louie Barletta (02:26:15) – Conclusion For more information and resources: https://linktr.ee/beyondboards Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.