Women in Boardsports 2011

We have a new website!

2011-11-18T02:13:00.001+01:00

We are superhappy to announce that we finally have an official Women in Boardsportswebsite. Go, go, go, run! Check it out!

WWW.WOMENINBOARDSPORTS.COM

The Alliance has a new website and new members

2011-10-25T15:40:00.000+02:00

The Alliance has relaunched their website and announce a new board member: Jenna Selby!

Jenna tells in her website that she is "a skateboarder and freelance photographer based in London. She has since shot images for a variety of national and international publications, online magazines and companies. She also helped create the annual event series, "Girl Skate Jam UK" which is now celebrating it's 10 year. After breaking her ankle in 2008 Jenna turned her attention to film making, creating the first European female skate film ‘As If, And What?’ She is now working on a world wide venture called ‘Scratch The Surface.’ The film will look to showcase not only those riders already established, but also to document the girls who are part of emerging scenes in countries where skateboarding is relatively new, including Afghanistan, China and Russia. The project will be supported by images and short documentaries."

For those who want to know more, "The Alliance is a non-profit association of professional women skateboarders and other action sports athletes who have united to develop and promote their sport by empowering and encouraging young women's participation as well as increasing professional opportunities".

Check it out! http://www.actionsportsalliance.com

Mimi Knoop tells her experience in WIB2011

2011-10-22T12:32:00.000+02:00

Text from Mimi Knoop on www.mimi-knoop.com
http://www.mimi-knoop.com/2011/10/05/women-in-boardsports-retreat-2011-%e2%80%a2-saas-fee-switzerland/

Women in Boardsports Retreat 2011 • Saas Fee, Switzerland

Posted by Mimi on Wednesday, October 5, 2011 · Leave a Comment

I was invited to give a presentation at the 3rd annual Women in Boardsports conference that was held last week in Saas Fee, Switzerland. I decided to go at the last minute- not really knowing what to expect. Well, I couldn’t have been more impressed. This event brought together women across all action sports- surfers, snowboarders, skateboarders- and also women that work in the industry too. It was really amazing for me to hear everyone’s stories and to learn about what challenges lie within each sport (i.e. surf, skate, and snow). To say that the event was inspiring and motivating would be an understatement. A big thank you to Carmela Fleury and Daniela Meyer who founded the event, and who treated us all like royalty all weekend. And thanks to the Popcorn! for putting us up!

Check out Jenna Selby’s article about the retreat on the Cooler Magazine’s site here.
Below are some of my pics from the trip:
Saas Fee, Switzerland. One of the most beautiful places I have ever seen!

My presentation

Sophie from Skateistan. They are doing amazing things in Afghanistan for the kids there!

OG snowboarder and pioneer, Nicole Angelrath! Thanks for the ride to Zermatt, Nicole!

UK skateboarders and innovators Jenna Selby & Lucy Adams

My brother & I hung out with Lina all week. Yeah Lina! Keep keeping it real in Finland!

There was a karaoke bar.. we had more fun playing with our cameras though.

Snowboarding time. Saas Fee Glacier. The highest restaurant in the world is here.

I have never been a snowboarder. I’ll stick to concrete and waves!

That doesn’t mean we didn’t have fun! Thanks to Tammy at Mint Snowboarding for all the tips! Check them out!

Swiss skateboard? Hmm..

The ladies- plus Stephen. And yes, he survived!

Matterhorn. Massive!

The stars were amazing!

WIB2011 REview From Sophie Friedel

2011-10-21T12:25:00.000+02:00

Text from Sophie Friedl on sophiefriedl.blogspot.com

"Women in Boardsports Retreat 2011

Saas-Fee Mountain, photo: Maria Wolfsberger

I had the pleasure to be apart of the best event for women in the boardsport scene ever! Carmela Fleuryand Daniela Meyer are now in the 3^rd year running have beenorganizing a 5day Women in Boardsports retreat. The event is devoted tosupport, educate and inspire women in the boardsports industry. I can say the event did all that plus it gave me a great wipe offresh energy. We meet 1800m high on the Swiss mountain in the sweetlittle village of Saas-Fee and listened to great talks, spoke tofascinated like minded people, had tasty food and great fun.

Slight pain involved in the packing, photo: Maria Wolfsberger

It was a long, long ride to get there. We where three ladies, 7 boards and 1 small car. Thank you Dani Billy from Smileatyoursister and Maria Wolfsberger for the great trip. I don't think I will ever forget the night tunnel skate, coming out with all the stars was just breath taking.

Cori Schumacher, photo: Alba Prado

Surfer, three time Longboard World Champion and much more Cori Schumacher was one of the key speakers and delivered an extraordinary presentation on female portrayal in Surf ads. She is a legend in my eyes because she fights for what she believes in and here authentic speach was more than inspirational. “Stand by Your Man to Stand by Your Suntan:”was here bottom line introduction. How shallow has the boardsports industry become? -I asked myself. Cori stands up against the sexualisation of women in argues for more creativity in boardsports. Way to go I say! . Check out in-depth research and the slide show on her blog.

40 min Skateistan Presentation, photo: Stephen Knoop

I was actually invited to spread the love of Skateistan. A skateboarding school in Kabul, Afghanistan, dedicated to provide a space for young Afghans to unfold their potentials.


Lunchtime is Playtime, photo: Alba Pardo

Skateboarding in all its shapes and forms was a big part of the retreat. UK skate legend and creator Jenna Selby and pro-skater Lucy Adams as well as pro-skater Mimi Knoop and donwhill skater Tamara Prader shared their skate enthusiasm. Not to forget the lunchtime play sessions in the skate park and down the roads in Saas-Fee. With all those women it was of no surprise that lots of skate talks where happening.

Spiral Car Park Fun, photo: Dani Billy

Check out Jenna's great article in Cooler Magazine: The way forward for Skateboarding. Also not to miss: Mimis write up on Women in Boardsports. Visit the Women in Boardsports page and book your place for next year :)."

Thank you Sophie!

Win a trip to Iceland with Nikita

2011-10-20T11:40:00.004+02:00

That’s right, not only will the winner get a trip to Iceland, the six day adventure entails a visit to the flagship store in Reykjavik to choose some new Nikita gear, a look-see at Nikita HQ to meet everyone including founder and head designer Heida Birgisdottir, party with the crew (no mean feat in itself), go snowboarding with them, enjoy a soak at the hazy Blue Lagoon and attend the AK Extreme festival of snowboard and music mayhem where the likes of homegrown talents and global gob smackers Halldor Helgason and Gulli Gudmundsson will most likely be riding once again. The event is held in the north of Iceland in a town called Akureyri.

To enter all you need to do is take a photo of yourself in Nikita Outerwear (past or present) and upload it to the Nikita contest website between 10^th October 2011 to 10^th January 2012. There will be a microsite running on the website www.nikitaclothing.com featuring details about the comp, where your photos will also be visible to others. The winner will be chosen by Nikita and announced on 1^st February 2012. Follow the rules: you must be female, over 18 years of age, hold a valid passport and be available to make the trip next year, 11^th – 16^th April 2012.

So be prepared for many good times from which many good stories will follow.

If you’re looking to buy Nikita Outerwear this coming winter season, watch out for the special hangtags detailing entry.

NEED TO KNOW:

Contest Starts: 10^th October 2011

Contest Ends: 10^th January 2012

Winner announced: 1^st February 2012

Trip will take place: 11^th – 16^th April 2012

Take a photo of yourself in Nikita Outerwear and upload it to: NIKITA Clothing – www.nikitaclothing.com

Extra Streetwear and Outerwear prizes will be given out every month!

You will be going here - AK Extreme - http://www.akextreme.is/english.html

3rd day WIB retreat, gala dinner and awards

2011-10-02T18:17:00.000+02:00

Sophie Friedl telling her experience in Afghanistan. Photo credit: Alba Pardo

After Friday night party and two days of inspirationalspeeches, comes the third day. No less interesting, no less intense.

The first conference was led by two Brittish snowboardlegends: Lesley McKenna and Josie Clyde, who made us think about WTF is so specialabout boardsports!

The passion, the sharing, the lifestyle, and freedom…the sponsorship, the IOC, the FIS, Shaun’s White chewing gum sponsor…?

They did a tour through some professional riders’thoughts and ended up concluding that we love boardsports anyways.

We appreciated the sunny afternoon to get some energybefore going into deep thoughts and complex exercises about assertivecommunication told by Suzanne DeJannasz. The German speakers also had theopportunity to listen to Lilo Schwarz, sports psychologist and enjoy a morerelaxed workshop.

Suzanne DeJannasz. Photo Credit: Alba Pardo

Lamono magazine was in charge of the last workshop of theday and also of the retreat. They made us travel to the future and told us howimportant are the experiences within the brands’ communication.

An emotive gala dinner with awards given to AlbaPardo, Mimi Knoop, Cori Schumacher and Deb Friedman, some of the pushing womenin the boardsports industry, was the perfect opportunity to celebrate alltogether the closing of the amazing weekend in Saas-Fee.

Group picture. Thank you girls! Photo Credit: Alba Pardo

The obliged Karaoke session was as fun as usual, andall the ladies went get some sleep, to get ready for the snowboarding day inthe glacier we all have been expecting the whole weekend!

WIB 2011: Day 2

2011-10-01T11:11:00.000+02:00

Skate clinic. Photo credit: Maria Cerda

Would you think that neither France, nor the UK nor Germany is ranked amongst the 10 countries most worth living in as a woman worldwide? Equal rights are far from being an evidence for a lot of women on the globe; however it is always disturbing to actually see the statistics alongside the everyday suffering of many.

Cori Schumacher. Photo credit: Alba Pardo

Day 2 was opened by a very thoughtful introduction by event organizer Carmela Fleury – leaving the stage to no one less than 3-times Longboarding Worldchampion Cori Schumacher from California. Besides being a great surfer, Cori is an exceptional personality in many ways: She refuses any kind of sponsorship to stay independent and withdrew her participation from the ASP Longboard Worldtour this year to boycott the ASP’s move towards China. Outspoken and straight forward, Cori’s speech lead into a debate about women in the surf industry, in particular the way they are advertised.

Christine Waeber from Bluesign was the one to follow. Operating from Switzerland, her company is doing great steps on the road to sustainability in sports clothing. Check out their website to get some information about their work http://www.bluesign.com/

Another amazing project that you definitely need to check out is Skateistan. The NGO is working with youths in Kabul, Afghanistan where a carefree life is far from reality for most. Sophie Friedel’s speech and footage was deeply moving and inspiring. Make sure to take at look at http://skateistan.org.

Mimi Knoop. Photo Credit: Alba Pardo

After this rather reflective and earnest start, the afternoon went on with some lighter content. After a skate clinic held by pro skaters Lucy Adams, Mimi Knoop and Jenna Selby in the local Skatepark,Tamara Prader introduced us to the basics of downhill skateboarding.

Staying on wheels, Lucy Adams and Jenna Selby shared her experience being female skaters in the early 90ies and their approach of “How to influence female skateboarding in a positive way”. They even shared some top secret footage of Jenna’s latest film project “Scratching the surface”. Check out http://rogueskateboards.co.uk/ for regular updates about her creative work and skateboarding projects!

The evening went on with a yummy dinner at Ferienart Hotel and a Raffle dedicated to Skatistan in Popcorn Bar – thanks to everybody donating and to our sponsors for supporting us with great prices and goodies!

WIB 2011 retreat: DAY 1

2011-09-30T09:57:00.000+02:00

Deb Friedman on stage. Photo credit: Alba Pardo

What a day! More than 8 inspiring felt like flying by within minutes, leaving us with more than a million of new thoughts and ideas to digest while first friendships began to develop between the attendants of the 3rd annual women in board sports retreat.

Deb Freeman, Global Brand Manager at Nike 6.0 started the event with her keynote speech.

Belonging to the good handful of the 35 overall participants who took the journey all across the Atlantic Ocean to attend the retreat, Deb likes big steps not only in terms of travelling. Her professional career started working in the advertising industry in New York City and led her from being the Director of women’s snowboarding at Burton to the one of the most sharp and charismatic woman, Deb is a passionate snowboarder as well and largely responsible for the recent “Leave a Message” campaign by Nike 6.0 (for those who having seen the movie yet: http://www.nike.com/nikeos/p/nke6/en_U/leave_a_message). In her opening speech, she shared her thoughts about women and leadership – followed by a lively discussion about how we all can contribute our share to make the “Girl effect” really happen.

Anne-Flore Marxer. Photo credit: Alba Pardo

The second spokesperson was the in no way less inspiring Anne-Flore Marxer. Passionate, incredibly stubborn (quoting her own words) and without a question one of the best female snowboarders that has ever been around, she gave us some first-hand insights to her long and intense battle for the Women’s Freeride Worldtour. Did you know for example that the winner of a women’s competitions is earning less price money than a man ranked 19th – doing exactly the same run?

Having accomplished most of her goals set (amongst others: getting the girls back on the men’s FWT and providing them a decent financial support), Anne-Flore has set an example of how to succeed if you just never give up – and become a world champion on top of that. Chapeau, Anne-Flore!

Mimi Knoop. Photo credit: Alba Pardo

Staying amongst Top-Athletes, American Skate-Legend Mimi Knoop was the one to follow, giving her state of the art view of women in skateboarding. Despite the fact that Mimi didn’t drop into a Vert ramp until she was 23, she won 5 Gold medals in this discipline at the X-Games. Her very genuine speech left everybody working their heads of how to develop women’s skateboarding today – a complex matter to find a solution for.

Lunchtime. Photo credit: Alba Pardo

After lunch in the bright sunlight with an amazing view on the Glacier of Saas Fee, Bettina Bollinger, a Swiss breed snowboarder, surfer and nutrition expert, took over the stage. Her keys to “Healthy Living and Feeling good” included many useful tips about how to choose the food that is best for you.

Her presentation was followed by Elske Hazenberg from Skatepark Amsterdam who showed us her vision of female skateboarding in Europe. Again, the speech lead over to a vivid discussion between all the girls how to motivate more women to get themselves on a skateboard. Lucky for the retreat to have 4 Pro Skateboarders on board who already announced a “Skate clinic” to be held the following day.

Conference room. Photo credit: Alba Pardo

Day 1 was rounded out up with a workshop about “Energy Management” by Lifecoach Kate Apanui .

Originally from New Zealand, Kate now lives in South West France and helps people with her genuine and energetic personality how to overcome their individual challenges in life. Sharing a lot a new impulses, inspiring thoughts and her positive attitude towards life, Kate left us all in the perfect mindset to round of this first Day on go over to a yummy Swiss-style Rösti Dinner and some follow-up activities. All together, this first Day couldn’t have been any better and we’re all looking forward to what’s Day 2 going to bring!

Oceanides movie premiere. Photo credit: Alba Pardo

Women in Boardsports getting ready to rise and shine!

2011-09-29T10:01:00.003+02:00

Jacqueline and Kate Apanui. Photo credit: Alba Pardo

This weekend the annual Women in Boardsports retreatis taking place in Saas-Fee for the 3^rd consecutive year. Some of themost inspiring women within the boardsports industry are traveling from allover the world to meet in the beautiful Swiss village for 4 relaxing andinformative days of networking, learning and sharing their experience – and ofcourse taking advantage of the superb snowboarding conditions.

The event started last night with a welcome apéro thattook place in the new Popcorn Deluxe bar, where all the ladies had theopportunity to introduce themselves and meet each other.

Despite quite a lot of traveling, none of the girlswas too exhausted to start some interesting conversations about business, lifeand the board sports industry while enjoying a typical Swiss cheese fondueserved for dinner.

Now they are all getting ready and looking forward tostart the journey of this up-and-coming event.

Today’s programincludes speeches by Deb Friedman, action sports global brand manager at Nike 6.0., by Anne-Flore Marxer, who will explain the “Changes to the Women FreerideWorld Tour” and by professional skateboarder Mimi Knoop – a legend of the scene.Elske Hazenberg from Skatepark Amsterdam will talk about “Women inSkateboarding” and Bettina Bolliger will introduce us to the basics of healthyand good living, followed by Kate Apanui who will run a workshop about energymanagement.

Keep connected to #WIB2011!!!

The ladies. Photo credit: Alba Pardo

The 3rd annual retreat in Saas-Fee is about to begin!

2011-09-27T15:23:00.000+02:00

Theannual WIB retreat in Saas-Fee is about to begin. In less than 24 hours thePOPOCORN! Deluxe bar is going to hold the welcome meeting for all the inspiring,professional and talented women within the boardsports industry.

Last dayswe’ve been introducing some of the speakers who will make WIB2011 possible.Here we introduce some more ladies that will have a speech this weekend.

If youcan’t come to Saas-Fee and join us for the retreat, we recommend you to followus on Twitter to ask live to the speakers and keep up with this blog where adaily review is going to be posted.

Everythingis ready for the retreat, only packing the bags and the last, but not less,speakers’ introduction is missing!

Eliane Boner. Photo Credit: TimoJarvinen / Quiksilver

ElianeBoner is a journalist and a communication and PR expert from Switzerland, sheis going to tell us how Social Media changed freestyle.ch

A trend that started in the middle noughties and hasprobably become one of the most misused terms in marketing and communicationdepartments until today: Social Media – a myth, a trend, a revolution? Whatdoes Social Media really stand for? What is so social about it and in how fardid it affect our way to communicate or maybe even to ourselves? Learn howSocial Media changed freestyle.ch, and let itchange you... For better.

Jacqueline Fierle works for Nike Switzerland and shewill be presenting the facts and statistics behind de female buying trends, itwill be an interesting speech titled “our industry in a nutshell: Female buyingtrends”.

Lilian Muscutt is a journalist and works forXsportsister.com, her presentation is titled “Women in the Extreme SportsScene”. It will be interesting to get and idea of where women stand in extremesports.

The speech titled “Corporate Social Responsibility”will be pronounced by Anna-Maria Rugarli, who runs all the sustainability andcorporate responsibility related topics at the VF Corporation.

Skatepark Amsterdam. Photo credit: Skateparkamsterdam.com/girls sessie

Elske Hazenber , who runs Skatepark Amsterdam, willcome all the way from the Netherlands to tell us more about the “Women inSkatebording”.

An Spanish sports psychologist called Elena Sosa willdo a mental coaching in English for the assistants and the another psychologicworkshop will be held in German by the also sports psychologist Lilo Schwarz.

A speech about “Assertive Communication” will be ledby Suzanne DeJanasz, professor form IMD Business School.

Lamono magazine cover by akadilly.com

Eva Villazala and Anthya Tirado from Lamono magazinewill run a fun workshop titled “Fast Foot by Lamono magazine”.

All and all is going to be the perfect weekend, asalready announced for getting inspired, enjoy the relaxed air from Saas-Feewhile having a great networking experience, practicing some sport and eatinglots of Swiss Cheese Fondue and Rôti.

Ouch! I’m nervous! I need to go pack my bag! See youall tomorrow in Saas-Fee, in Twitter @WIB4life #WIB2011, in Facebook (www.facebook.com/WomenInBoardsports),in our Youtube Channel: www.youtube.com/user/womeninboardsportsand of course in this, our blog: http://womeninboardsports.blogspot.com

Josie and Lesley present - WTF is it about boardsports that is so special anyway?

2011-09-26T21:00:00.000+02:00

Lesley McKenna. Photo credit: Alba Pardo

Lesley was born in Scotland in the 70s, skied sincethe 70's, snowboarded since the early 90's and has spent a lot of time on thesnow over the years. Lesley competed on the ISF snowboard tour back in the day,the TTR tour until 2009 and also experienced 3 Winter Olympic Games as ahalfpipe rider, as part of the Great Britain Olympic Team. Lesley has been partof the furniture at Roxy since 1997, first as a rider, and now as the Snow TeamManager/coach. She has worked hard to develop the Roxy Future Team, and toprovide coaching and mentorship to the young female athletes in a very maledominated environment. As a rider she also set up Chunkyknit productions withfellow Scot Josie Clyde and together they made 3 all girl snowboard movies,Dropstitch, Transfer and Last Winter.

For the Women in Boardsports retreat in Saas-Fee, Lesleyand Josie will talk about what’s going on in the bordsports industry, or howthey title their speech: “WTF is it about boardsports that is so specialanyway?”

And this is what they think:

“It is a time of change for the boardsports industry, perhaps the dawningof a new epoch even. With the announcement that Snowboard Slopestyle will nowbe an Olympic sport came the first ever City Surf events. Very large sums ofmarketing money are being spent from within the industry and from outwith theindustry on various different projects like the Traveis Rice. 'Art of Flight'film, where expensive helicopters threatened to overshadow the amazing ridingin the film. On one hand, the core industry die hard are fighting to 'keep itreal' whatever that means, and on the other, there are many parties, includingthe top riders, fighting for the largest slice of the pie they can get whilestating that they remain legitimate. So, what is the legitimate culture ofboardsports in 2011 and what is it about boardsports that make them special.What should we protect and nurture and what do we need to trim down anddirect? It is up to you to decide...”

Sophie Friedel was the first Skateistan international volunteer to go to Kabul

2011-09-26T13:08:00.000+02:00

Sophie Friedel works with Sakteistan. Photo Credit: Skateistan

Skateistan is an NGO in Afghanistan where Sophie Friedel isresponsible for employing Afghan and international staff, writing of contractsand regulations as well as payroll procedures and training of all staff.

She also works with Gorilla Foundation, encouragingyouth to think actively about global balance, connectedness, healthy eating andresource distribution.
-Skateistan is the Afghanistan’s, and the World’s, first co-educationalskateboarding school. Operating as an independent, neutral, NGO in Afghanistan,the school engages growing numbers of urban and internally displaced youth inAfghanistan through skateboarding. It also provides the youth with newopportunities in cross-cultural interaction, education, and personalempowerment.

“Having arrived in Kabul in 2009 as the firstinternational volunteer I have had the amazing opportunity to see Skateistangrow and be actively involved in a project that I love.”- Explains Sophie. - “Atthe beginning of my presentation in Saas Fee, I will introduce Skateistan and how it came toexistence. Then I will explain what we do and why we do it in conjunction witha picture slide show. During my presentation I will share some of the many specialmoments I had during my nine months stay in Kabul to paint a colorful picture,of not only a war torn, but also a beautiful city in Afghanistan. To finish Iwill show a short video clip that submerses you in Skateistan’s work.”

Mimi Knoop is a pro skateboarder who does it all

2011-09-25T20:30:00.000+02:00

Mimi Knoop. Photo credit: actionsportstour.com

Originally from the east coast, Mimi Knoop is a lifelong skateboarderand multi-media artist. With 5X Games medals under her belt, Mimi is one of the top female vert/bowlskateboarders in the world. Also winner of the 2008 ProTec Pool Party, Mimi isa hard-charging bowl skater who learned to skate while living in Cuba as a kid.She is also a co-founder of the non-profit organization of femaleskateboarders, Action SportsAlliance (“the Alliance”).

The Alliance has been instrumental inraising the standards in prize purses and exposure for professional girlskateboarding contests/and events around the world.

Mimi Knoop. Photo credit: actionsportstour.com

Also a graduate of RadfordUniversity in Virginia (with a BFA in visual arts), Mimi is a talentedmulti-media artist and has shown her work throughout the country. She oftendoes design/illustration work for companies in the action sports industry,combining her two passions. She is also creator of the skateboard brand, “hoopla skateboards”.

Christine Waeber will be presenting “A journey to sustainable clothing”

2011-09-24T17:58:00.000+02:00

Chrisitine Waeber

Productionprocesses that are designed around maximum resource productivity with a view toenvironmental protection, health and safety, represent an assurance formanufacturers and retailers that today's quality criteria are fulfilled in thebest possible way and that applicable regulations and limits are complied with.The basic idea, for Bluesign, right from the beginning, was to tackle theproblem at its roots and to exclude substances, which are potentially hazardousto the human health or the environment, from processes at the outset via anintelligent Input Stream Management system.

Along with her husbandPeter, Christine Waeber was involved in setting up Bluesign technologies. Sheis working amongst others as communication manager for Bluesign since thefoundation of the company in the year 2000. She studied Economics inSwitzerland and France. Furthermore she studied and taught performing arts(dance/musical), physiological motion and fitness sports.

Christine Waeber has beenactively involved in all forms of healthy living (nutrition, biota, clothing,sports activities, homeopathy etc.) for decades. Amongst other sports she is apassionate snowboarder since more than 17 years ago.

You can learn more about Bluesign's sustainable clothing in their website: http://www.bluesign.com/

Anne-Flore Marxer: no title needed

2011-09-23T16:00:00.000+02:00

Anne-Flore Marxer. Photo credit: Swatch/Jean Luc Cramatte

I don’t believe you don’t know Anne-Flore.

What? You really don’t know who Anne-Flore Marxer is?
Ok then, let’s talk about women’ssnowboard history, because Anne-Flore has marked the history of snowboarding bybeing a leading and outspoken proponent for woman’s riding. Her sustainedsupport was the catalyst triggering the policy of equal prize money splitbetween men and women in the TTR tour end of season prize purse.

With powerful and fearless riding, Anne-Flore is amongst a handful ofladies who have stepped up to street rails, backcountry and larger jumps withsuccess and style. On the hill her explosive riding has placed her on the fasttrack of progression. Anne-Flore started making a name for herself by enteringa couple contest and winning, since then she has dedicated her winters tofilming, earning the respect of the international snowboard scene by gettingopening video parts in leading film productions.

Anne-Flore Marxer (FRA-SUI) - Photo C. Margot - Event Nissan Xtreme Verbier 2011 by Swatch.

Dominating the freestyle scene for many years AFM is now 2011 FreerideWorld Champion after an incredible season of podiums, winning the FWT inChamonix as well as the legendary Extreme de Verbier! She was crowned Rookie ofthe year in 2006 by Transworld Snowboarding, was elected second mostinfluential female rider of all times by Slack magazine and just received theaward of French rider of the year after winning best international rider (withboth male and female) a couple years ago at “le mondial du snowboard”.

In this edition of the Women in Boardsports, Anne-Flore will tell usabout the changes she’s been doing within the Women Freeride World Tour.

Check out her website! http://www.annefloremarxer.com/

"Be heard, be seen, be you" by Kate Apanui

2011-09-22T12:00:00.000+02:00

Kate Apanui is a Martha Beck certified Life coach. She’s Passionate about working with women who are ready to shine and step into their power in a way that creates magic and change in the world. Her work is guided by the belief that when we bring our truth to the surface, we become deeply powerful. Kate is a New Zealander, currently living in France with her husband, daughter and bulldog. Before moving to France and becoming a life coach, Kate was a Registered Nurse working in New Zealand. Currently she's adding to her training and working with Koelle Simpson to become an Equus Coach, which involves using horses to help people identify areas of their life where they can strengthen their communication and leadership skills.

Kate will join us in Saas-Fee to uncomplicate the concepts of leadership and energy. She will be talking about the power of non-verbal communication, true leadership, and looking at what nature has to teach us. Verbal language represents only about 10% of what we communicate - the rest is non-verbal. Kate will be demonstrating and talking about the how to’s of leading your own experience, by using the mind and body as a whole.

You can learn more about her and about True Nature Life Coaching here: http://www.truenature.me/

"Ensuring that everyone associated with Nike 6.0 is having a great time" is part of the success-says Deb Friedman,key speaker for the #WIB2011 retreat

2011-09-21T13:30:00.000+02:00

Deb Friedman comes from Portland, Oregon where she works as Action Sports Global Brand Manager for Nike 6.0. Before that she worked at Burton for 3 years as Global Director of Women’s Marketing.

Talent, leadership, managerial ability, smart and creative marketing expert, visionary, tremendous energy, team player and wonderful. These are just some of the adjectives that report her as marketing professional and as a personal figure.

She is also a great an inspiring speaker and her speech is going to be the first one at the #WIB2011 retreat next week.

Mike Lewis from Transworld Business interviewed Deb once and the answers are just, like how their colleagues define her, brilliant.

“Working outside of the industry allowed me to really understand all the aspects of traditional marketing. Once you know marketing, you can apply it to anything. My first job was marketing adult diapers. It showed me that even though I don’t pee in my pants I could still learn about and understand the audience and create marketing to address their needs. While a cultural connection goes a long way, especially in action sports, having the ability to listen and learn is huge.”

“Brand success comes from 1) continuing to communicate in unique, innovative and surprising ways, 2) owning the idea of being both an accessible multi-sport brand and being committed to the core of each sport, 3) representing the next generation of athletes and consumers in a compelling and authentic way, 4) creating a new generation of Nike Heroes, and 5) ensuring that everyone associated with Nike 6.0 is having a great time.

Personal success for me is making the most out of life, trying new things and having fun with great people. For me, there isn’t a line between professional and personal really. I get to do amazing things—sales meetings where riding is as important as the presentations [and] going to new events. People do this stuff in their spare time and I get to do it for my job. In life you just never know how it’s going to turn out, so you have be able to enjoy the ride.”

You can read the full interview here: http://business.transworld.net/16031/features/caught-on-tape-deb-friedman/

We’ll discuss about the consequences of commodifying boardsports for women as “fashion” versus “a healthy and empowering activity-explains Schuamacher

2011-09-20T14:30:00.000+02:00

“Women’s action sports are the sports of the new Feminism. More girls and women than ever are interested in boardsports, but are boardsports companies and media currently living up to their potential to positively affect young girls and women? Or are they continuing to sell trivializing, minimizing and objectified images of women, albeit lightly powered with “empowering” rhetoric?” - This is how Cori Schumacher introduces her speech for the #WIB2011 retreat, she is going to analyze how the advertising impacts females, the paper of the women athletes into the boardsports, the sponsorship system and what we could do for improving the whole system.

For those who don’t know Cori yet she is a professional surfer from Cardiff, California. She’s been surfing since she was 5 and Donald Takayama shapes her boards since she turned 8. By then Schumacher began her competitive career and has had a successful and varied trajectory, Shortboard Pan-American Championships, Women’s World Longboard Champion, Women’s Longboard Pipeline Pro Champion and two-time ASP North Amercian Champion are some of the tittle she has won. She has also filmed for films such as: The Road, Multiple Personalities, Sol Sirens and Ten Year’s of Women’s Longboarding. However, Cori refuses sponsorship in general in order to have the freedom to speak her mind on issues considered anathema to speak out about in surfing.

Schumacher is an advocate for various issues including gender disparity, heterosexism and homophobia in sport, and she also supports organizations such as the Rell Sunn Education Fund, Women for Women International and Surf for Life.

(photos credit: Roxy/ASP)

3rd WOMEN IN BOARDSPORTS RETREAT IN SAAS FEE, SWITZERLAND 29 SEPT- 2 OCT 2011

2011-08-16T09:34:00.000+02:00

IS NOW OPEN FOR REGISTRATION!!!!!!!!!!!

Don’t miss this year’s Women in Boardsports retreat in Saas Fee, Switzerland Sept 28-oct 2nd, 2011

This year find out about:

- Key note speaker Deb Friedman- Action Sports Global Brand Manager from Nike 6.0

- Key note speaker Cori Schumacher- Women's World Longboard Champion

- Interesting presentations by experts in the industry

- Panel discussions with professional snowboarders, skateboarders and surfers

- Workshops led by Life Coaches, Sports Psychologists and Business School Professors

- A memorable weekend snowboarding in the heart of the Swiss Alps

- A network of inspiring women

- and much more... like cheese fondue!

Sign up now- Limited spots remaining!

This event is open to ANY girl working or interested in working in the boardsports industry.

For more information feel free to contact:

daniela@popcorn.ch (accommodation, program & activities, travel etc)

carmela@lesettes.com (program, speakers, topics)

SAAS FEE RETREAT 2011-SIGN UP NOW- LIMITED SPOTS-

2011-08-15T17:39:00.001+02:00

To register for the 3rd Women in Boardsports retreat in Saas Fee. Download the sign up sheet HERE
http://www.popcorn.ch/index.php/News-n-Events/63+M5719e0e9ed2/0/

Please note that the spaces are limited.

First come, first serve.

ISPO LUNCH 2011

2011-02-04T04:27:00.000+01:00

PANEL DISCUSSION:

Jeanine from Stylesight, Tatjana from Chicas, Andrea from Huck Magazine, Claudia from Golden Ride Magazine, Posy from Cooler Magazine

SAAS FEE RETREAT 2010

2010-10-29T15:53:00.000+02:00

Ladies and ladies, please welcome the ladies...

Most incredible sunrise.

Morning yoga

Pictures by Saeny Blaser

Welcome Apero: Meet & Greet Living Room Bar and

Welcome dinner "Fondue"

Peep Show premiere Living Room Bar

ISPO LUNCH 2010

2010-02-15T13:50:00.000+01:00

MORE: Women in Boardsports retreat

2009-11-10T14:31:00.000+01:00

Jessica Francis writes up her views of the retreat and the 15 important points she learned during the retreat...
http://ourcamp.wordpress.com/2009/11/09/women-in-boardsports-retreat-write-up/

More photos from the retreat taken by professional photographer Vanessa Andrieux;
http://www.vanessandrieux.com/wordpress/archives/women-in-boardsports-retreat/

SAAS FEE RETREAT 2009

2009-11-05T17:01:00.000+01:00

Saas-Fee is our new favorite resort. The winter pine trees are yellow.

Nicola Thost and Carmela Fleury

Yoga-ing

Daniela from Popcorn, Sandra from Eskimos, Svenja from Cosmopolitan and Physio Carla

Fondu-ing

Anne Flore and her amazing maman

Getting ready for the meetings

Meeting-ing

Donna Carpenter- co-owner of Burton Snowboards, Carmela and Coco

Coco, Pauline from the Business and Professional Women's Foundation and Maritxu Darrigrand from Roxy

Amazing meeting room: good atmosphere, productive discussions

Coffee Break: Tammy Esten (Mint Snowboard School Morzine), Conny Rauscher (Sweet Dream Shop Innsbruck), Jessie and Viola Burnett (TTR)

Birgit Gruber (Burton Snowboards) & Jenna Selby (Rogue Skateboards)

Afterwork Party @ Popcorn

AWARD NIGHT: Carmela (presenter), Coco (Most Exceptional Woman), Nicola Thost (Female Rider of the Century), Maritxu Darrigrand (Lifetime Achievement), Donna Carpenter (Most Prestigious Woman Award), Anne-Flore Marxer (Personality in Industry) and Jenna Selby (Best Newcomer)

On one side

And on the other...♥

Photos of most of the girls who attended:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/albapardo/sets/72157622594369637/

Thank you for such an amazing weekend!!!