Board Women

We speak to Patagonia ambassador and mountain guide Zoe Hart about being a beginner skateboarder and snowboarder and her attitude to parenting & adventure.

Patagonia ambassador, international mountain guide, and now, at 47, beginner skateboarder and snowboarder. Zoe Hart is a phenomenally interesting balance of someone that takes risks that most of us would baulk at, but also voices the fears we all have in our heads as she takes on new sports in midlife and the very real anxiety that comes with being an adult beginner.

I met Zoe at Kendal Mountain Festival, listening to a Yeti hosted panel that she featured on, she spoke about the balance of being someone who has always chased adventure and risk, and then has to find a way to make that work as a parent. Zoe’s take on it? ‘Disaster Style Parenting’ as evidenced by the intriguing documentary series she produced on behalf of Patagonia about her own family and how they are navigating living in the outdoors lifestyle that their base in Chamonix affords them.

But what really intrigued me was hearing about Zoe’s journey into skateboarding in her mid 40’s, and more recently starting snowboarding. Her comfort zone is the mountains, but it doesn’t make starting something new any easier. The fears she voices about learning as an adult are similar to those that any of us feel, even though she is a world renowned climber.

We cover:

Zoe’s journey into living and working in the mountains

How she became a Patagonia ambassador

Balancing parenting & adventure

Women’s community and beginner skateboarding

Learning to be kind to yourself

Navigating ageing and feeling good about yourself

Presenter: Caroline Keylock

Producer: Selma Chalabi

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

We speak to SEN teacher turned surf film producer Clare Ventham

A working life of creativity can feel out of reach for so many of us, the type of thing that the lucky few get to do, whilst the rest of us have ‘normal jobs’. But there is another way too, and that’s to just go out and create, and see if that can somehow become your job over time. Clare Ventham is one of those people.

Clare is the producer of HotPipe Hillbillies, a fantastic documentary about my local surf spot near Brighton, The Hotpipes (also fondly called the Shitpipes). The surprise, given the quality of the film, is that Clare is a first time producer, and her normal day job is as a SEN teacher.

Clare has clearly had a fire lit inside her since the experience (despite it being a harrowing 2 years that coincided with the team balancing their day jobs, Clare being pregnant for the second time and much more); and is keen to now translate this experience to new films and storytelling (one of which we are partnering on which is incredibly exciting).

We talk about:

The origination for the film & how it connected her to the surf community when she couldn’t surf (she was pregnant when the plans began)
The importance of inclusivity in the sea
The transition from teacher to producer
Her first surf experience (and why it was a shocker)
Motherhood & surfing and the supportive mates who make it happen
Hobbies like sea fishing & why surfing & fishing both provide a reset
Having a kick ass mum as a role model

It’s a lovely interview, showing that you can pursue any creative goal you choose, as long as you’re willing to work hard at it.

I hope you enjoy it, let me know what you think

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Presenter: Caroline Keylock
Producer: Selma Chalabi

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

Bella is a surf photographer, producer, editor, a multi-lane creative who is now most well known for being the first female editor of Wavelength magazine and media entity. Her first issue was in February 2025, six months of hard graft, in particular for someone who hadn’t done the role of editor before. She didn’t let her lack of experience deter her from going in hard on the first issue, and she’s continued in the same vein since.

Supporting women in the surfing space isn’t new to Bella, she saw the issue of a lack of visibility of women at all levels of surfing early on, and she’s sought to re-address the balance through her photography and beyond (and if you take a listen to the interview, there’s a reveal about a big leap she’s made at the magazine which will become public shortly).

We talk about this inequality and much more in the interview:

Bella’s journey into surfing & finding her people
Getting her break into publishing
Burning out & talking openly about mental health
Developing boundaries as a freelance creative
Living an unconventional life and her future plans

Presenter: Caroline Keylock
Producer: Selma Chalabi

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

We speak to Lindsey Holland, founder of surf lifestyle brand, Marnie Rays.

Do you remember the moment you fell in love with surfing?

Lindsey is an ex dancer, turned physiotherapist, turned part-time fashion influencer, turned full-time (very successful) fashion influencer. And then everything changed on one retreat, a retreat she’d gone on to get over a relationship ending, and a new love emerged: surfing.

I think we all recognise that feeling when we first fall in love with a board sport. It’s genuinely like meeting someone new, you can’t get enough of them, they take up your every thought, you re-organise your life around that new relationship. And so it was for Lindsey as she began to travel around the world to learn to surf in new destinations, bringing her significant instagram audience on the journey with her.

That new feeling of love with the sport ended up being the essence of her business, Marnie Rays, a surf lifestyle brand that hosts retreats all around the world, bringing women on that same journey into the sport (albeit in fairly luxurious surrounds).

We cover:

Lyndsey’s multi-lane career landing in the world of surfing
The founding journey of Marnie Rays
Why surfing is such a release for mid-life women
Moving to cornwall and hosting global retreats
The importance of positive self-talk
Surfing and anxiety and being humbled by the ocean

I hope you enjoy this one! Let me know what you think!

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Producer: Selma Chalabi
Presenter: Caroline Keylock
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you’ve seen a video recently of a woman in her 50’s, 60’s or 70’s cruising the waves and telling the story of how she came to be a surfer later in life, chances are it’s been shared by the Sassy Silver Surfers community, founded by Inessa Love and Lisa Alfano.

Whilst Inessa’s films on instagram show the beautiful waters of Hawaii, she’s actually originally from Ukraine, an unlikely surf girl destination. What feels more unlikely is that she spent 8 years in Hawaii before turning to surfing at 50, an event that came about after she was divorced and seeking new freedoms.

She didn’t find it easy, but she stuck with it, describing it as ‘opening up her life’. She started a facebook group with Lisa, as a way to seek out people who were surfers in the same age bracket, and the two were surprised that it grew at pace. The group is closed, if you’re not 50 you’re not coming in, but the Instagram account @sassysilversurfers has acted as a route for surfers who aspire to be surfing in their 50’s, but who aren’t there quite yet, to find a route into the community.
Inessa is now hell bent on demonstrating that women in their 50’s and beyond an do anything they want, through the lens of the inspiring stories of the women in the community.

We cover:

The story of Sassy Silver Surfers coming to life
Why prioritising yourself is an essential practice
Surfing post Divorce
Why 50+ women are so surfing obsessed
Belonging in the line-up

Producer: Selma Chalabi
Presenter: Caroline Keylock

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