Board Women

• 40. Skate and Create - Emylia Hall

  An interview with Emylia Hall, best-selling author, snowboarder and skater.One of my favourite things about board sports is the people you meet, but I hadn’t realised when I started this community that it would lead me back to someone I was friends with 15 years ago.Emylia was then ‘Mimi’, the very cool girlfriend of the best friend of my boyfriend at the time, an effortless snowboarder cruising down the mountain as I struggled to deal with the flat spots on the mountain.Fast forward to now, and reading an article in The Guardian written by Emylia Hall, author of the best-selling Cornwall based mystery series ‘The Shellhouse Detectives’, talking about the power of taking up skateboarding in your 40’s, and I realise they are one and the same person:“As a “later skater”, what I’ve come to realise is that everything seems impossible until you try it. Every minuscule achievement, every incremental progression, feels epic, and each experience hard-won. There’s a lesson in that.” - Emylia Hall, The Guardian, June 2024Emylia is on a strict writing schedule, having been commissioned for 7 books in the series she is writing, and skating provides a much needed escape for her brain. We haven’t written much on Board Women about the connection between skateboarding and creativity, but they are clearly intertwined.“A lot of writing is about trying stuff and just exploring different avenues, trying different things with characters, trying things with plot, seeing what happens and when it doesn’t work, just rewriting and rewriting. I’m having to find a new way of working, and I’ve got a new routine because of that. But what that means is desk time is really intense, and so I really cherish the time that I get away from the desk, and skateboarding is absolutely my release.”Board Sports provide that elusive escape for your brain that so many of us crave in mid life. The life jenga that we deal with on a daily basis (Mimi has a son, coaches other writers, and also runs an organisation called The Mother Ship, encouraging mothers to be writers) needs an outlet, and board sports hit the spot in a way that no other sports can.This interview is a true ode to the wonder of skateboarding, its relationship to the creative process, and what it is to accept the status of being a beginner again in your 40’s. We cover:Emylia’s journey into snowboarding, and several seasons on the mountainLockdown and skateboarding and being an ‘unlikely skateboarder’The uphill learning curve of being a beginner (and how amazing it is)Starting The Mothership and getting mums to believe in themselvesHer skateboarding future & what success means nowIt’s a warm, inviting hug of an interview, I hope you love this one.Host: Caroline KeylockProducer: Selma Chalabihttps://weareboardwomen.substack.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• Episode 39: Passing it on with Lucy Adams

  “A real bucket list is that I’d love to have a cover of one of the skateboarding magazines. It’s something that’s never quite got there for me, for whatever reason. I need to do a banging trick on something cool.” - Lucy AdamsAsk anyone who their favourite figure in female skateboarding is and Lucy Adams will normally get a mention. Not just because of her history of winning competitions, and latterly her role in presenting at global skateboarding events such as the Olympics, but because of the work she has done in giving women access to the sport, and her appreciation of the cultural importance of skateboarding overall.In her role at skateboard GB, she’s helping to entrench skateboarding as a philosophy, emphasising the connection and playfulness it offers, at a time when the world is focused on the competitive side of the sport. She’s focused on young people appreciating that their journey through the sport can be so much more than competitive achievement, especially at a formative time in their lives, given that many of the top skateboarders average out at age 14.We’ve tried to make this podcast work for a while now, but what was fantastic about the opportunity to finally chat to local girl (she lives up the road and is originally from Horsham) Lucy, was understanding more about the challenges she’s faced as a mum alongside her love of skateboarding.It’s challenging full stop for sports people ageing out of competition and finding their route through the sport (we saw the same challenge with Jenny Jones, olympic snowboarder, in our interview here). Add to this parenting two small people and finding the time to still get out; alongside ageing and your body not being quite as responsive as it used to be; and skateboarding (in the way you want to) becomes perennially difficult.Lucy is known as much for her own skateboarding prowess as she is for opening up the sport for others. Events like Push the Prom and groups like She Shredders were some of the first in the UK to really bring skateboarding to new audiences, and paved the path for the many micro-communities that exist today to bring people into the sport.This is a conversation that makes you realise we’re all experiencing the same parenting challenges, and ageing humps, whether we are professional sports people, or not. We cover:* How Lucy got into skateboarding (and pretending to her parents she was swimming)* The importance of active parental role models* Prioritising the things that give you energy as a parent* Creating a space for women and girls to skate* The Cultural Capital of Skateboarding* Finding your own route to progressionEnjoy! And please do share, the more we build the audience for the podcast, the more fantastic guests like Lucy we can get on the show.Our next episode features Emylia Hall, author of the popular Shell House Detectives series, keen skateboarder and snowboarder, talking about the importance of board sports and her creative process. Make sure you subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss it!Check out the podcast on your favourite platform of choice (Spotify, Apple), or listen via the link above.CarolineBoard Women Founder—-----------Shownotes:Host: Caroline KeylockProducer: Selma Chalabit Get full access to Board Women at weareboardwomen.substack.com/subscribe

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• 39. Passing it on - Lucy Adams

  “A real bucket list is that I’d love to have a cover of one of the skateboarding magazines. It’s something that’s never quite got there for me, for whatever reason. I need to do a banging trick on something cool.” Lucy Adams Ask anyone who their favourite figure in female skateboarding is and Lucy Adams will normally get a mention. Not just because of her history of winning competitions, and latterly her role in presenting at global skateboarding events such as the Olympics, but because of the work she has done in giving women access to the sport, and her appreciation of the cultural importance of skateboarding overall. In her role at skateboard GB, she’s helping to entrench skateboarding as a philosophy, emphasising the connection and playfulness it offers, at a time when the world is focused on the competitive side of the sport. She’s focused on young people appreciating that their journey through the sport can be so much more than competitive achievement, especially at a formative time in their lives, given that many of the top skateboarders average out at age 14. We’ve tried to make this podcast work for a while now, but what was fantastic about the opportunity to finally chat to local girl (she lives up the road and is originally from Horsham) Lucy, was understanding more about the challenges she’s faced as a mum alongside her love of skateboarding. It’s challenging full stop for sports people ageing out of competition and finding their route through the sport (we saw the same challenge with Jenny Jones, olympic snowboarder, in our interview here). Add to this parenting two small people and finding the time to still get out; alongside ageing and your body not being quite as responsive as it used to be; and skateboarding (in the way you want to) becomes perennially difficult. Lucy is known as much for her own skateboarding prowess as she is for opening up the sport for others. Events like Push the Prom and groups like She Shredders were some of the first in the UK to really bring skateboarding to new audiences, and paved the path for the many micro-communities that exist today to bring people into the sport. This is a conversation that makes you realise we’re all experiencing the same parenting challenges, and ageing humps, whether we are professional sports people, or not. We cover: How Lucy got into skateboarding (and pretending to her parents she was swimming)The importance of active parental role models Prioritising the things that give you energy as a parentCreating a space for women and girls to skateThe Cultural Capital of Skateboarding Finding your own route to progression Enjoy! And please do share, the more we build the audience for the podcast, the more fantastic guests like Lucy we can get on the show. We'll be back in September with our next episode which features Emylia Hall, author of the popular Shell House Detectives series, keen skateboarder and snowboarder, talking about the importance of board sports and her creative process. Make sure you subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss it! Caroline Board Women Founder—-----------Host: Caroline Keylock Producer: Selma Chalabit Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• 38. We Skate, We Vibe - We Skate Soton

  Sometimes the best communities spring up from a personal desire to simply just meet more people. Amy Scott-Pillow and Emily Jones, the founders of @weskatesoton are a living, breathing example of this truth. Since starting this female led, open to all, skateboarding community in 2021, the pair have become inseparable, often mistaken for being a couple. One of the challenges of opening up board sports to all communities, is whether to make them closed off, gated environments for that community, or whether this makes the problem worse. The @weskatesoton crew have managed to bridge this divide perfectly, creating a welcoming space, online and off, for people to embrace the fun of skateboarding, and find their own place in the culture. The community is now an official CIC, and they have run events like their recent exhibition and film ‘We Skate, We Vibe’, showing that skating isn’t just a sport, it’s a form of play and self-expression. This conversation explored so many topics from the very personal (Emily’s journey with breast cancer and going into early menopause) to the contrast between real life experiences of male skaters (always positive) and their online experiences (somewhat abhorrent). We cover: How We Skate Soton came to life Making a Skateboarding DocumentaryDealing with Skateboarding Trolls (positively) Skateboarding x Breast Cancer x MenopauseThe Wonders of The Bert Slide Stepping away from Instagram And one final bit of advice from the ladies if you’re just starting out in the world of skateboarding, “Everyone was a beginner at some point. Everyone will remember that feeling of first stepping on a board and being like, oh my god, what am I doing? I'm stepping on a plank of wood with wheels on. What is this?”—--------------Host: Caroline KeylockProducer: Selma Chalabi Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• 37. The Confidence Sessions - Finding Your Joy

  Is surfing or skating or snowboarding your source of joy? Are they the thing that keeps you going & mentally happy? Have they helped you overcome something big? On Thursday 15 May 2025, we brought a brilliant panel of women together to discuss just this, as part of Mental Health Awareness week:@ram_scorchskateschool - skate coach who credits skateboarding for giving her mental space @fortyandpushing - jacquie is a skater who took it up later in life & believes the sensory side helps regulate our systems @lisabaxter_ part of the leadership of @theboardmumsclub and has used skateboarding to navigate life working in trauma and safeguarding, as well as dealing with family illness @India from @resurfaceuk - psychologist who runs surf retreats that combine surfing + therapy @surfconfidencecoach Danni who helps surfers find their joy This was the second of our Confidence Sessions, and the conversation included:personal storieshow we can feel addicted to this new source of joywhy community is the unlock to traumahow we are all seeking mental escapeJoin the Board Women movement:[email protected]: Caroline KeylockProducer: Selma ChalabiPhotography - Clare KeylockArtwork - Rozi Wan Rimli Music - Brother Brother by Benjamin Caleb Johnson, performed by BENSON Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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