What did you learn from it?
N: Women come to something like the Yoga Surf SKate Getaway to conquer their fears. When you create an environment that is open and raw, women want to open up and share their fears, knowing that we will be there to help them push past those fears.
K: Girl power is real. When you get women together to accomplish something, magical fucking things happen. I really feel like we change people’s lives in such a positive way during these experiences together, and I love feeling connected to other women and local communities and showing girls they’re not alone - that there’s a whole world of other women looking for and craving the same kind of connection.
Did you always intend on doing two?
N: After the first Getaway went so well I knew I wanted to host another one.
How did the 2nd differ from the first?
N: The second Getaway was made up completely of girls that I didn’t know (except for Kristen and one other). I was meeting all these women for the first time at the Getaway and could not have been more grateful for the women that the Getaway brought together.
K: The second retreat was so magical because we more than doubled our numbers of attendees AND got almost 20 different amazing brand sponsors from mostly women-owned independent companies who were so amazing to work with.
Take us through each day of the 2nd retreat… (or a sample day)
N: Throughout the 3 days the girls had two surf lessons with OCNJ Surf School, to trips to the OCNJ Skate Park, Hamboard skate sessions, a morning yoga class on the beach, a mindful eating session, evening yoga, two nights of live music, a bonfire, bracelet making with Jacto Jewelry and so much more in between.
K: The first day everyone arrived, we had a champagne toast which led to a meet and greet circle with little goodie bags waiting for everyone with a few of our brand sponsors’ gifts to kick it off. Then we continued the good vibes with live music by Dunebird and sunset hangs. Second day we woke up and made a family style breakfast and had an amazing surf lesson with Willie from Ocean City Surf School, then went to the skatepark that Willie himself managed in Ocean City! We had our skate lesson which turned into an epic free-for-all, where all of us just absolutely took over the park, regardless of skill level! After, we went back for some yin yoga taught by Katie Podralski, and more music by one of our attendees, Diane Jean of @clevergirlband from @womenthatrock. We had such an intimate two days after that which followed a similar structure; we had a writing prompt from Katie that really opened girls up to share their stories and laugh. We took Hamboards out into the street and Nico and I got towed by our friends’ Jeep and girls were carving for the first time; Willie came back and saved the day when we needed firewood for our bonfire; we had yoga and a silent meditation walk the last morning we were all together, and spent the rest of the afternoon at the skatepark where we taught how to carve the bowl, and had lunch on the Ocean City Boardwalk (in the form of giant Slices of Jersey boardwalk pizza and custard) and eventually everyone went home.
How have you approached life/skating/surfing/yoga/whatever differently since these experiences?
N: For me, I realized how powerful it is to have friends with me. A solo skate is fun, but a skate with a friend will push me harder and also bring me support and encouragement that makes me feel secure - everyone’s different and for me, I feed off other people’s energies.
K: I feel so confident now. Of course there are days when the legs don’t work and you forget how to move your shoulders, but I always say my power comes from empowering others and this for sure makes my cup full. I LOVE seeing womxn come together to accomplish similar yet different goals. You don’t have to be trying to same trick or move or kick-push as one-another, but we all go through the same things in skateboarding, from when you’re learning to when you’re pro, so why not support each other and help people you see that need it to create that space for them?
