Explore the world of women and confidence, through the lens of board sports - skate, surf and snow.
Board Women founder Caroline Keylock talks to women and gender minorities in their 30’s, 40’s, 50’s and beyond, who are pushing the boundaries of what their bodies can achieve.
She also has insightful conversations with confidence coaches, and experts in peri-menopause and menopause, to help you ride through this time of life.
This is about finding time for you. It's about reconnecting with joy, thrill and adventure. So come on board and join the Board Women movement.
Join the Board Women movement:
Host - Caroline Keylock
Producer - Selma Chalabi
Photography - Clare Keylock
Artwork - Rozi Wan Rimli
Music - Music - Brother Brother by Benjamin Caleb Johnson, performed by BENSON
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Explore the world of women and confidence, through the lens of board sports - skate, surf and snow.
Board Women founder Caroline Keylock talks to women and gender minorities in their 30’s, 40’s, 50’s and beyond, who are pushing the boundaries of what their bodies can achieve.
She also has insightful conversations with confidence coaches, and experts in peri-menopause and menopause, to help you ride through this time of life.
This is about finding time for you. It's about reconnecting with joy, thrill and adventure. So come on board and join the Board Women movement.
Join the Board Women movement:
Host - Caroline Keylock
Producer - Selma Chalabi
Photography - Clare Keylock
Artwork - Rozi Wan Rimli
Music - Music - Brother Brother by Benjamin Caleb Johnson, performed by BENSON
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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 2024
Emylia 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:
It’s a warm, inviting hug of an interview, I hope you love this one.
Host: Caroline Keylock
Producer: Selma Chalabi
https://weareboardwomen.substack.com/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
“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:
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
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Host: Caroline Keylock
Producer: Selma Chalabit
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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:
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?”
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Host: Caroline Keylock
Producer: Selma Chalabi
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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:
Join the Board Women movement:
Host: Caroline Keylock
Producer: Selma Chalabi
Photography - Clare Keylock
Artwork - Rozi Wan Rimli
Music - Brother Brother by Benjamin Caleb Johnson, performed by BENSON
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sam Metcalfe, otherwise known as @surfin.sam or @justolderskate.sam, is an incredibly inspiring surfer and skateboarder in her 60’s, having started both sports later in life.
What you may not know if you follow her, is that Sam was the UK windsurfing champion for 8 years. And competed in the world championships - an astonishing fact that came out in our conversation. Humble, and yet focused and determined to achieve the goals she sets herself, Sam is truly admirable. This is one not to miss, and there’s plenty of Northern humour thrown in.
Episode highlights
More about Sam:
Join the Board Women movement:
Host: Caroline Keylock
Producer: Selma Chalabi
Photography - Clare Keylock
Artwork - Rozi Wan Rimli
Music - Brother Brother by Benjamin Caleb Johnson, performed by BENSON
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This was the first in our new Confidence Sessions - a new series of online events which will be included with our upcoming membership. We thought we'd put this one out as part of our podcast to see what you think of it, so please do tell us your thoughts - what works or doesn't work, and what you'd like more of in terms of live events.
This event was recorded on zoom and took place on Thursday 27 March 2025. It included a stellar line up of women to talk all things injury: how it affects you, how to come back from it physically, emotionally and mentally:
Emily from @moceanfit: online training & wellness for women learning board sports in 30's and beyond
Danni Unway aka @surfconfidencecoach: Danni helps people feel more confidence and joy in surfing & come back from trauma
Shannon Dunlap aka @skaterlifeisrad: mum, massage therapist, nurse on a mission to practice and promote safety while learning to skateboard, especially while ageing
Annika Rudolph aka @annikarudolph: team rider for Crown Boards, ambassador for Long Board Girls crew, based Germany
Lizzie Bird aka @lizziebirdmoves: osteopath, author of MOVES, surfer and paddle boarder
Join the Board Women movement:
Host: Caroline Keylock
Producer: Selma Chalabi
Photography - Clare Keylock
Artwork - Rozi Wan Rimli
Music - Brother Brother by Benjamin Caleb Johnson, performed by BENSON
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sally is the founder of Yonder, the brilliant surf brand and community with a surf school at its heart, and a particular focus on getting more women in the lineup.
“I don’t think people ever ask themselves where there aren’t women in the lineup….it’s a huge conversation that really doesn’t get talked about.”
Sally works hard to explore and combat the issues that keep women out of the sea, including the drop off during motherhood, and she’s helping to build a strong and inclusive surf community in the North East where she’s based.
Episode highlights
More about Sally:
Join the Board Women movement:
Host: Caroline Keylock
Producer: Selma Chalabi
Photography - Clare Keylock
Artwork - Rozi Wan Rimli
Music - Brother Brother by Benjamin Caleb Johnson, performed by BENSON
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Having taken up skating in her 40s and continuing to skate in to her 50s, Indigo says of herself “I am the opposite of a typical skateboarding story.”
War orphan, skater, academic, campaigner for inclusivity in skateboarding and founder of Respect is Rad, Indigo brings so much to the skating space.
There’s a lot to talk about in this episode, so grab a cuppa and settle in.
Episode highlights
More about Indigo:
People and groups mentioned in this episode:
Join the Board Women movement:
Host: Caroline Keylock
Producer: Selma Chalabi
Photography - Clare Keylock
Artwork - Rozi Wan Rimli
Music - Brother Brother by Benjamin Caleb Johnson, performed by BENSON
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The phenomenal Demi Taylor is founder of the London Surf Film Festival, author of several surfing books and producer of The Big Sea - this years break out film bringing to light the darker side of the production of Neoprene, and therefore, much of the surfing industry.
This was a phenomenally interesting conversation, not least because your assumption would be that brands who are so keen to push their green agenda in the surf space would be on board with the shift to environmentally friendly wetsuit solutions on hearing the news that the production of Neoprene is giving a whole community cancer.
But, despite the team on the film trying to involve many of the central brands in the industry, many of them have simply ignored its message.
There's a lot to get through, so this episode is a bit longer than usual.
Episode highlights:
More about Demi:
Mentions in this episode:
Looking Sideways with Matt Barr
Join the Board Women movement:
Host: Caroline Keylock
Producer: Selma Chalabi
Photography - Clare Keylock
Artwork - Rozi Wan Rimli
Music - Brother Brother by Benjamin Caleb Johnson, performed by BENSON
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Having achieved all she wanted to in her snowboarding career (she’d won the X Games 3 times), Jenny Jones suddenly had the opportunity to take part in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. At the age of 33, she became the first UK athlete to win an Olympic medal at a snow event - a bronze in the women’s slopestyle. She is now a mum (having had her baby Wilbur at the age of 43), a TV presenter, podcaster, surfer and skater, and snowboarding coach.
Episode highlights
More about Jenny:
ThankUSnowboarding podcast - episode with Jenny Jones
Join the Board Women movement:
Host: Caroline Keylock
Producer: Selma Chalabi
Photography - Clare Keylock
Artwork - Rozi Wan Rimli
Music - Brother Brother by Benjamin Caleb Johnson, performed by BENSON
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learning to skate with your mum tends to be something that applies when you’re a kid, but in the case of Britt and Kaz it happened when they were 30 and 56.
Two years have now gone by and they are both hooked. They now have a considerable following on instagram as @2girlssk8
Britt says of her mum Kaz:
“I got my first kick flip because of my mum, and I still tell myself something she tells me. The phrase she said to me was ‘knees up buttercup’ because I just wasn’t bringing my knees up. So now in my head I’ve just got ‘knees up buttercup, knees up buttercup’.”
The conversation is full of energy and a commitment to help each other learn, which is really magical and beautiful to listen in on.
Episode highlights:
Groups mentioned in the podcast:
Join the Board Women movement:
Host: Caroline Keylock
Producer: Selma Chalabi
Photography: Clare Keylock
Artwork: Rozi Wan Rimli
Music: Brother Brother by Benjamin Caleb Johnson, performed by BENSON
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Yvette Curtis is founder of Wave Wahines, a club she initially set up for her eldest child to have a safe space to surf. Since its inception eight years ago, it has broadened out to include both girls and women from all communities, as well from the LGBTQIA+ community, and it’s become known for fighting for diversity and inclusion in surfing.
Episode highlights:
More about Yvette:
Other guests mentioned in this episode:
Creating a safe space - Merida Miller
Join the Board Women movement:
Host: Caroline Keylock
Producer: Selma Chalabi
Photography - Clare Keylock
Artwork - Rozi Wan Rimli
Music - Brother Brother by Benjamin Caleb Johnson, performed by BENSON
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
You'll know Lindsey as @hotmomsofskateboarding on instagram. Since launching her account and her skateboarding journey in January 2024, she has built a large following and created quite a stir online. She’s a vocal champion of the the right to joy for women, and she challenges the patriarchal system that can make some women feel like they don’t have a place in the sport.
“I want other women to know that their joy is valid. The pursuit of their own joy is not only valid, but it’s crucial to having a full, experiential life”.
Lindsey took up skateboarding in her late 40s after a few years of sitting on the sidelines watching her daughter learn and feeling jealous. It was when she saw a video posted by @auntyskates that she realised that the sport could be for her as well. She took a leap of faith by going on a retreat in Costa Rica with @auntyskates, and has never looked back.
Episode highlights:
More about Lindsey:
Other guests mentioned in this episode:
I feel like I’m flying - Oorbee Roy aka Aunty Skates
Feel the fear and drop in anyway - Esther Sayers
Join the Board Women movement:
Host: Caroline Keylock
Producer: Selma Chalabi
Photography - Clare Keylock
Artwork - Rozi Wan Rimli
Music - Brother Brother by Benjamin Caleb Johnson, performed by BENSON
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Amy, aka @oldlady_skater, is an inspiration to us all. Having skated as a child, and even represented Vans, she stopped whilst still at school, and only took it up again at the age of 42 after her kids were grown up (her kids weren't in to skateboarding).
Now she is 60 and retired, she spends much of her time in the skate park. She’s an advocate for pushing a little, taking a few risks, and seeing where it might get you.
“Once you have it in your mind that you know you can do it, doing it is easier. It’s when you don’t think you can do it that you have a problem.”
Episode highlights
More about Amy Bradshaw:
Join the Board Women movement:
Host: Caroline Keylock
Producer: Selma Chalabi
Photography - Clare Keylock
Artwork - Rozi Wan Rimli
Music - Brother Brother by Benjamin Caleb Johnson, performed by BENSON
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
As Chief Marketing Officer of Finisterre, Bronwen Foster-Butler is passionate about how women are represented in the brand.
“Is the woman leading or is she following? Is she on a big wave or is she on a smaller wave? It’s being aware of biases that we’ve internalised around how women are represented, and trying to challenge them.”
Episode highlights:
More about Bronwen:
Join the Board Women movement:
Host: Caroline Keylock
Producer: Selma Chalabi
Photography - Clare Keylock
Artwork - Rozi Wan Rimli
Music - Brother Brother by Benjamin Caleb Johnson, performed by BENSON
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Having admired skateboarders for decades, music and culture photographer Sarah Brownlow took the plunge and tried it out for herself in her 40s.
She says of that experience:
“I got on it and I absolutely loved it - the feeling of flying and doing this thing that was so difficult and so dangerous, but so rewarding. A light went on and that was it, I was hooked.”
Sarah went on to become a skate coach and eventually founded @brighton_girls_skate_club. Her mission is to show girls and women that skateboarding can be for them.
Episode highlights
More about Sarah Brownlow:
Becoming a coach:
SkateboardGB Get Rolling Coaching Course
Join the Board Women movement:
Host: Caroline Keylock
Producer: Selma Chalabi
Photography - Clare Keylock
Artwork - Rozi Wan Rimli
Music - Brother Brother by Benjamin Caleb Johnson, performed by BENSON
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
SUP racer extraordinaire Gemma Palmer-Dighton @getgemma is a #Shepaddles ambassador. Her mission is to demonstrate to others that the sport is open to all, and to improve its accessibility.
When Gemma began to get in to paddling she struggled to find representation of black paddlers, and she’s determined to change that.
Gemma has done some incredibly hardcore paddle races including the Great Glen (92km), and has set up an entire SUP community #SUPHuntingdon to bring people together around the sport.
Episode highlights
More about Gemma Palmer-Dighton:
Groups and races Gemma mentions:
Join the Board Women movement:
Host: Caroline Keylock
Producer: Selma Chalabi
Photography - Clare Keylock
Artwork - Rozi Wan Rimli
Music - Brother Brother by Benjamin Caleb Johnson, performed by BENSON
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Recorded live at the Tremula Festival in Brighton on Saturday 21 September, this week’s episode is a different format to usual.
Five inspirational women, all of whom are passionate about board sports, share their innermost stories and tips about confidence: having it, losing it, re-gaining it and holding on to it - all through the prism of being on a board.
Featuring:
This panel kicks off a new series of events that Board Women will be putting on across the country - The Confidence Sessions.
We’ll be looking for panel members to be part of these future events, so if you’re an instructor, someone who runs a community, someone who took these sports up later in life, or a confidence/women’s health specialist, and you fancy taking part in a Confidence Session, contact us @boardwomen.
More about Tremula:
Special thanks to Francesca Turauskis of the Tremula Network for hosting Board Women at this year's Tremula Festival.
Join the Board Women movement:
Host: Caroline Keylock
Producer: Selma Chalabi
Photography - Clare Keylock
Artwork - Rozi Wan Rimli
Music - Brother Brother by Benjamin Caleb Johnson, performed by BENSON
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
A lawyer for her whole career, Marianne realised one day that enough was enough, jacked it in, and retrained as an endurance coach in swimming, triathlons and more recently in Surf Fitness. She picked up surfing and snowboarding in her 50s and runs the SurfFit class I go to in Brighton each week and is quite simply, brilliant.
Episode highlights
More about Marianne:
Groups Marianne mentions:
Join the Board Women movement:
Host: Caroline Keylock
Producer: Selma Chalabi
Photography - Clare Keylock
Artwork - Rozi Wan Rimli
Music - Brother Brother by Benjamin Caleb Johnson, performed by BENSON
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Author of ‘Struggle: the surprising truth, beauty and opportunity hidden in life’s shittier moments’, Grace’s take on struggle fits brilliantly in to the world of board sports, and so we're delighted to be back after the summer break with this episode.
Grace is an award winning speaker, author, chief encourager and struggle strategist, and for before joining this chat, she gave skateboarding a go for the first time.
“This thing we call struggle is quite often the place where we learn, where we discover, where we stretch, where we might find something that that we wouldn’t have found otherwise….sometimes it’s not until we find ourselves in struggle that we discover what we’re made of.”
Episode highlights:
More about Grace:
Others mentioned in this chat:
Join the Board Women movement:
Host: Caroline Keylock
Producer: Selma Chalabi
Photography - Clare Keylock
Artwork - Rozi Wan Rimli
Music - Brother Brother by Benjamin Caleb Johnson, performed by BENSON
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.