Board Women

“I was trying to figure out what was the best thing for the women’s surf community. Is it surf therapy? Is it competition surfing? What is the actual thing they need? And this is where Black Girl Surf was born. We decided to make it competition” - Rhonda Harper, founder Black Girls Surf

Black Girls Surf was founded as a non-profit in 2014, with the goal to increase access to surfing for women and girls of colour, and create pathways to competitive surfing. Rhonda Harper has been both the partner to and the thorn in the side of the professional surf bodies ever since, diversifying the lineup and challenging the stereotype that surfing is a non-black sport.

Her programmes now run in Senegal, Brazil, Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and the US. The organisation not only provides coaching, fitness training and mentoring to enable the girls to reach olympic level competition, but often financial support to ensure they gain access to the classroom during the process.

It’s been a journey that hasn’t always been positive. Rhonda’s first experiences of surfing when she moved to the ocean in California at 10 were accompanied by horrific racial abuse, leading to her being sent to live with her sister on the north shore of Hawaii at 15.

The surf club that she bought and grew in Dakar in Senegal during COVID-19 travel restrictions, whilst successful as a club in growing Olympic level athletes, was illegally occupied by a previous owner, leading to hostile dispute that ended up in court. They recently regained access to the space after a two year battle.

Rhonda is at the end of her time as the main face and driver of Black Girls Surf. It is clear from this interview that there has been little respite from her journey of campaigning. She hasn’t taken a holiday since the organisation began. She speaks of having to stay in her flat for months after a trip to Africa, because the level of oppression affects her mental state when on the ground.

Shockingly (as a surfer interviewing her) she hasn’t surfed in years, her own personal demonstration for black women’s rights: if other women aren’t recognised in the water, she doesn’t feel she should have a place there either.

This interview covers so much:

Rhonda’s journey into skateboarding and later surfing
Dealing with racial prejudice in the water
Moving to Hawaii as a pre-teen & finding her love of surfing
The founder story of Black Girls Surf and building it as a brand
Opening the surf club in Senegal during lock down
Her next era post Black Girls Surf - and finding her voice

There are a number of surfers referenced in this interview, but in particular, Rhonda talks extensively about Khadjou. Khadjou Sambe is widely recognised as Senegal's first female professional surfer and a pioneering figure in West African surfing. Khadjou was directly coached by Rhonda and has been instrumental to the Black Girls Surf organisation.

I felt a lot of responsibility with this one. It may well be her last interview - I hope we’ve done your story justice Rhonda, we loved having you.

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Show host: Caroline Keylock
Show producer: Selma Chalabi

The views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Board Women.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I first found Danielle online because her content on her journey into surfing aged 52 was going viral (she’d been in a film about it and it had screened at the 2022 San Diego Surf Film Festival). A year ago, her content had a significant shift. She’d found out she had advanced breast cancer, and her first reaction to her team of medical health professionals was a staunch one: I’m going to surf through my treatment.

She opted for a double mastectomy, realising that the recovery would be faster, and she would be more likely to make it back into the water. She trained frequently pre her surgery to ensure that she would be in as prepared as she could be physically, to heighten her chances of being able to surf often. She surfed through 12 rounds of chemotherapy and remembers her first surf after her surgery incisions had healed vividly.

In this interview we cover:

Danielle’s obsession with surfing after starting at 52
How she dealt with her diagnosis
What surfing delivered during her cancer treatment
Why she documented her journey & inspiring other women
The final blow of redundancy and surfing as resilience

There’s much to learn in this conversation, but Danielle’s parting message is the one that really stuck with me:

“Don't delay joy. If there's something you want to do, go do it. You can do it, and you never know what the future holds. So do it now. It could give you so much. So don't put off trying new things. You're stronger than you think.”

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Danielle’s journey is documented on her substack here https://daniellecass.substack.com/
Show host: Caroline Keylock
Show producer: Selma Chalabi
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We catch up with Louise Middleton, founder of the iconic Kudhva, a unique glampsite and events space welcoming surfers in Cornwall.

Warning: this interview will make you want to sell all your belongings, go buy land and follow your dreams (it did me anyway).

Louise Middleton is one of those people who makes you question your life choices (and then some). There’s a handful of people in the world who can take a dream and make it reality, but she is one of them.

She’s the founder of Kudhva, an iconic escapist retreat offering glamping and off grid living for surfing and those who love nature. It’s created from a 45 acre disused quarry, and was a dream for Louise to bring her love of surfing to others.

Louise is no stranger to the surf, and the entire project was borne out of her love for the ocean, and the need to build and to bring people together creatively. The space has become a go to location for brands like Patagonia and Finisterre, and the iconic structures that she installed in the space have built her a following in the design world as much as in that of the outdoors.

Unbelievably this journey started with Louise as a single mum, and with kids in tow, living in a caravan on the land as they planted trees and brought the space to life, starting with a road in and out of the property to allow any of the building to happen.

This interview is a big slap round the face to encourage you to live life in the moment and to chase down your dreams with the enthusiasm of a terrier, no matter what challenges come your way.

We cover:

How she came to have the vision for Kudhva
Her journey into surfing
Bringing people together and making them feel safe
Her history of building houses & being a designer
The challenges of converting the land
Being part of the ‘cabin porn’ book series
Expanding the concept into the US

I hope you like this one, let me know what you think.

Caroline x
Board Women Founder

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Presenter: Caroline Keylock
Producer: Selma Chalabi

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You’re most likely to have come across this week’s podcast guest through her now infamous challenge of skateboard across the Wild Atlantic Way in Ireland to raise awareness of suicide.

Whilst this is what made Becky Gilmour insta-famous, she has, in fact, been an adventurer for a long time, hitchhiking the length of New Zealand twice, and travelling solo through Africa.

Her skateboarding challenge was initiated after the tragic loss of two friends to suicide, one of whom she had started her own skateboarding journey with only a few years before. She had actually had a bad skateboarding accident not long prior to the challenge, with concussion from dropping in that lasted six months and involved two burst ear drums.

Becky’s audience has now grown significantly, and she has since used this awareness to undertake new challenges, including a 1,000km SUP paddle in aid of an underfunded charity in Uganda; and a more bizarre 24 hr race in circles around a spire in Dublin which saw her accosted by some drunk passers by, as well as more positive interactions with runners who wanted to join her.

If you’re in need of some life inspiration, this is the interview for you.

We cover:

How the Wild Atlantic Way skateboarding challenge came about
Overcoming fears in challenges & navigating anxiety
Becky’s journey into board sports & what they mean to her
Why she wants to get women into the outdoors & adventure
Her newest adventures and the charities she is supporting

Host: Caroline Keylock
Producer: Selma Chalabi

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We speak to snowboarder, climber, cold water swimming expert, and now author of ‘Beauty of Cold’, Gilly McCarthur.

Gilly is one of those people that emanates calm, and brings you along on the journey. Her route into cold water swimming wasn’t predictable, it came after a climbing accident that broke her back and ribs, and offered her a route through her recovery.

Since then she has coached numerous people into taking the plunge through her NHS partnership which has led to the biggest study ever done on the relationship between cold water swimming, nature and depression. She has contributed to the top 10 books on the topic and written in numerous titles, and she’s now brought this knowledge to life in a beautiful photographic guide ‘The Beauty of Cold’. The book gives you an entry point into your journey into the water, but importantly, also back to yourself.

Our interview covers:

Gilly’s route into snowboarding, climbing, and cold water swimming
Why cold water provides the ultimate reset
The process & story behind her new book, ‘The Beauty of Cold’
Her climbing accident and the role of cold water in her recovery
Finding ways to be in the moment (and off screens)
The shift from corporate America to working in board sports
Bringing women into extreme sports

For those of you who want to buy the book, find it here

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Presenter: Caroline Keylock
Producer: Selma Chalabi

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.