63MIX ROUTIN3S | BRIANNA COPE

Read the MAR ISSUE #111 of Athleisure Mag and see 63MIX ROUTIN3S | Brianna Cope in mag.

SURFING THE NEXT CHAPTER | CARISSA MOORE

We always love when we get the chance to chat with 5X World Champion World Surf League Women's World Tour and the 1st ever Team USA Surfing Gold Medalist in shortboard at the 2020 Summer Olympics - Carissa Moore! We had the pleasure of having her as our cover for our FEB ISSUE #86 and we're glad to have her as this month's cover as she is someone who is not only a talented athlete, but she is someone who cares about her legacy in and out of the sport as well as giving back to others. In addition, she is navigating a new chapter in her journey, being a mother! We talk about this part of her life, what it looks, like and what she'll do next!

ATHLEIURE MAG: We've had the pleasure of having you as our cover in Feb '23 and we interviewed you again later that year! So it's always a pleasure to chat with you. You're in a great period of your life as you are expecting a child! What were the thoughts and decisions that you grappled with as you looked at stepping back from competition?

CARISSA MOORE: The decision to step back from competition wasn’t one that was taken lightly. It weighed on my heart for several years, but it took me awhile to find the courage to take the leap. Competitive surfing has been a huge part of my identity and drive for most of my life so just dealing with the unknown of what’s on the other side and the fears and anxiety that comes with that was something that took some time to process and work through. I eventually got to a point where the fear of staying the same far outweighed the fear of failure and what other people would think. I know in my heart it was time to pivot and to step outside of my comfort zone. This last year has really challenged me physically, mentally, and emotionally but as hard as it has been at times, it feels good to be pushed to evolve in different ways. There was also the importance of starting a family and the stress of tour life for so many years that factored into my decision at this time. I needed a break to recharge and also give myself the space and grace to prioritize my family.

AM: What does this next chapter look like for you?

CM: It’s pretty cool because as much as this next chapter is up in the air and a little scary, it’s also so exciting because there are so many possibilities. There is a dream to maybe come back to competitive surfing when I’m healthy and ready, but I also don’t want to put any pressure on myself. It just feels like there is a little left undone for me in that space especially as a mom. I am super passionate about helping young girls and women thrive through my charitable foundation, Moore Aloha. Our mission is to support females as they navigate the waves of mental health and wellness by educating, empowering and inspiring through sport, mentorship and culture. Our events and programs have really blossomed into something special and super meaningful so I would like to continue to pour my heart into that and see where it goes. I’d love to get better at public speaking, maybe do a TedTalk and write a book one day. But honestly, just working on being the best wife, mom, athlete, human I can be.

AM: I know that family is so important to you and now that you will be bringing a little one into the mix, what are you looking forward to?

CM: I am just looking forward to doing life with our little. All the things, walks with the dogs, days at the beach, adventures around the world... I'm looking forward to seeing the world through her eyes and being bewildered by the magic around me all over again.

AM: In terms of surfing, we've seen you on the waves as a mama-to-be! How important is surfing to you in this transitional to enjoy what you love?

CM: Surfing has kept me sane during this time. Being pregnant is beautiful and miraculous but a massive transformation in all aspects. The changes have been so dramatic over such a short period of time that being on a board has helped me feel like myself while losing myself if that makes sense. Surfing has been a source of peace, comfort, joy through so many different phases and transitions in life. Even though my wave riding looks very different at the moment, just being able to stand up, glide across a wall of water, feel the sun and salt water on my skin, is so refreshing and makes me so happy. Happy mama = happy baby!

AM: How has surfing been for you as you enjoy it without focusing on competing while you prepare for motherhood?

CM: It’s been weird to be honest. I’ve had to fall in love with surfing in a whole new way. I’ve always found joy in the challenge of working on something every time I paddled out or pursuing the next goal in competition. For the first time, kind of ever, I can’t do what I used to so I have been going surfing to just ride waves because it makes me feel good. There is no agenda. No feedback from a coach. No pressure! I’m so used to doing, creating, going, going, going. This pregnancy has forced me to slow down and look at things differently. Take a different pace and know it’s okay. This isn’t forever and to embrace this season I am in. I think it’s super important to be present for my daughter, for her to feel calm and at peace coming into this world.

AM: How has it been balancing work, life, and your passion for this next chapter?

CM: It’s been fun to pursue other passions like my charitable foundation Moore Aloha, spend quality time with family and friends, settle into a home routine and get creative on ways I can use my skills and talents to remain and involved. Grateful to have a super supportive husband and great village to help me navigate this time and redefine a new balance.

AM: What have you learned about yourself in this stage of your life?

CM: Oh man, that is loaded question. I have learned so much at every stage. It feels like every other week I have had to face a different part of me, process it and move through it. I still struggle with self-worth. I’m working on it. Time away from competition and outside validation has forced me to really value myself. I’m learning to love my body. I look back at pictures from before I was pregnant, when I thought I was ‘big’ and I’m like, “Damn, I look strong and lean! What was I thinking being so hard on myself?” It has been a challenge to love my reflection as I grow and gain weight but I’m changing that inner dialogue and doing a better job of appreciating what my body is able to do. I am making a human! How cool?! I also realize that I have a lot of fear around the unknown. Learning to let go and trust. Trust my body, trust the timing, trust that it’s all going to be okay. I like being in control and stress too much over the things I can’t. It’s been a great time for self-reflection and evaluating who I want to be for my daughter. What kind of relationship do I want to have with her? What kind of role model do I want to be? What environment do I want her to grow up in? Becoming someone’s mom has given me the extra motivation to look at my weaknesses and do the work to be the best I can be for her.

AM: Do you plan on returning to competitions in the future?

CM: Maybe… we will see. Like I said, don’t want to put any pressure on it, but it’s not out of the question!

IG @rissmoore10

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | Red Bull Photo Pool - FRONT COVER Domenic Mosqueira /PG 16 +24 Ryan Miller/PG 18 Trevor Moran/PG 22 Jeremiah Klein/PG 26 + BACK COVER Zac Noyle | PG 21 Hurley |

Read the JAN ISSUE #109 of Athleisure Mag and see SURFING THE NEXT CHAPTER | Carissa Moore in mag.

NEW YEAR, N3W YOU

Read the JAN ISSUE #109 of Athleisure Mag and see NEW YEAR, N3W YOU in mag.

9PLAYLIST MULTI | CARISSA MOORE

PHOTO CREDIT | Red Bull Content Pool/Zak Noyle

Read the JAN ISSUE #109 of Athleisure Mag and see 9PLAYLIST MULTI Carissa Moore in mag.

IN THE AIR | HAILEY LANGLAND

The 24th X Games Aspen 2025 takes place Jan 23rd - 25th for its 24th year. These games will take place in Buttermilk Mountain in Aspen Snowmass where the world's best action sports athletes competing in ski and snowboard events. These days present men’s and women’s ski and snowboard competitions in the disciplines of Superpipe, Slopestyle, Big Air, Knuckle Huck and the debut of medaled event Street Style.

We're excited to see a number of our favorite X Games and Olympic medalists which have included Chloe Kim, Mia Brookes, Ayumu Hirano, Scotty James and local hometown heroes Red Gerard and Alex Ferreira.

There will also be performances by EDM artists deadmau5 (who appeared at the games in 2016), Big Gigantic, Aspen Tessla, Daily Bread and ILLENIUM.

We sat down with 2X Olympic Team USA Snowboarding and 3X X Games medalist, Hailey Langland who will be a snowboarding analyst at the X Games. We spoke with her to talk about her career, passion for the sport, and the upcoming games.

ATHLEISURE MAG: You grew up in Southern California and clearly, you're an amazing snowboarder, but you were also a beach loving girl that has a love for surfing, skateboarding, soccer, mountain biking and more! What do you love about playing sports and having that ability to play a number of them?

HAILEY LANGLAND: I have to owe a lot of credit to my parents. My dad was always trying to get my little brother and I outside to find a passion and an outlet from the rest of the world. We were well versed when it came to sports. I find that it’s helped round me into the athlete I am today. Snowboarding is my first love, but I always try to make time for other passions like surfing and biking in the summer.

AM: What is it about snowboarding that you love?

HL: I definitely fell in love with snow boarding because of my dad. I could see how excited he was to share his passion with me, and I enjoyed chasing him down the mountain. One of my favorite days was learning how to ride goofy, and my dad and I rode switch for the entire day. He always made it fun, and reminded me to keep it fun.

AM: When did you realize that you wanted to be a professional snowboarder?

HL: I’ve always known I was meant to snowboard my whole life. But I don’t think I even thought about being a professional until I went to my first “pro” competition in Mammoth when I was 14. It was a contest that had competitors from the Sochi Olympics and girls I watched in X-Games in it. I ended up winning the event, and I remember standing on the podium besides Anna Gasser and Enni Rukajarvi. I thought, oh my goodness, maybe I can be like the girls I watch on tv. After that event I got wildcard spots to Dew Tour, X Games, and Burton US Open; all contests I watched religiously growing up. That really jumpstarted my career and made it a reality.

AM: As a surfer and snowboarder, what are the synergies between these sports?

HL: Surfing is super hard, which makes me appreciate snowboarding so much. There’s a lot more thoughtfulness to surfing that I think a lot of people realize. Surfing not only requires good athletic abilities, but also the ability of wave knowledge and reading the ocean. But I love watching videos of surfers like Coco Ho, Stephanie Gilmore or Caity Simmers, who have tons of style, and thats something I try to bring to my snowboarding. I find the best cross over from surfing and snowboarding is when you’re riding powder, and it feels just like surfing on a wave, weaving back and forth just trying to make it look good.

AM: You have had 7 Games appearances and are a 3X X Games medalist and have earned a Bronze, Silver, and Gold medal in Slopestyle and a Gold in Big Air. Can you tell us what Slopestyle and Big Air is?

HL: Slopestyle is an event I specialize in. It’s where you ride the given features of the course; such as: jumps, rails, and transition features like a halfpipe wall. Big Air is a smaller version of slopestyle based on one jump. Usually, the jump is bigger than in a slopestyle, and the criteria is to spin or flip as much as you can, and land the trick, as well as make it look good. My favorite event is slopestyle because it is what I grew up doing.

AM: In 2017, you were the first woman to land a Cab double cork 1080 in competition at X Games Aspen! What did it mean to you to achieve this and tell us about what a Cab Double Cork is?

HL: It’s pretty crazy to look back on that time. I was just a kid, and had no idea what I was doing in that contest. I did the Cab 1080 on accident in practice and just thought, alright guess I’ll try that in the contest. Luckily for me it worked out, and I was able to land it second try. I wish I still had that ability to adapt and try things like I could when I was 16. To help visualize, a Cab 1080 is when you ride switch into a jump, for me that is goofy stance, and you would spin to the right three full rotations.

AM: You're known for your ability to push the boundaries of progression on jumps, distinctive style with solid grabs as well as difficult ones! You have received a number of awards including FIS World Cup with 5 career podiums (3 in Slopestyle and 2 in Big Air), you competed in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Big Air and in Slopestyle and again at the 2022 Winter Olympics, and more. What does it mean to you when you look at your career and all the things that you have experienced?

HL: It makes me really proud, looking back and seeing what I have accomplished, through all the ups and downs. I will always be grateful for snowboarding. It has been the reason I have gotten to travel so much of the world, and have met so many amazing people within the industry.

AM: This year, you are making your debut at the X Games on the broadcast team as a Women's Snowboard Analyst! Why are you excited to be part of this team and what are you looking forward to?

HL: In November I had ACL reconstruction on my right knee, so I will be out for this season unfortunately. I’m excited to stay involved, even if it doesn’t mean I can ride. It will be cool to see X Games from a different perspective, and to see what it looks like to be another part of such an important contest.

AM: How are you preparing to be on the broadcast team?

HL: I’m going with the ‘on the fly’ approach. Luckily, I’ve known Craig and Brando for years at this point now, so hopefully it will just feel like watching a competition with friends.

AM: Do you have any upcoming competitions that you are preparing for?

HL: Since I had ACL surgery at the end of November, I most likely won’t be snowboarding for the next year. So as of now my preparation is mostly physical therapy for my knee, and getting the rest of my body back in shape.

AM: At Athleisure Mag, we love knowing about how people stay in shape and as you are very active, what is an average week of workouts like for you?

HL: It depends. In the summer, it is very much go, go, go. I am lucky to live somewhere I can surf, or bike, play tennis, and golf all pretty much in my neighborhood. In the winter, snowboarding is primarily all I do. It can be an every day thing if the weather is good, but sometimes there are competitions we go to that get completely canceled because of the weather. On days off, I love getting in a core workout, and trying to get steps in. Any movement you can get in the winter is a big win.

AM: When you're taking time for yourself, what do you enjoy doing when you're not in between projects?

HL: I actually started crocheting a few years ago. I love making beanies for friends and family, and lately I’ve been getting into making bags which has been really fun. I’m pretty crafty and I usually always find a way to keep myself busy.

AM: We also know that you're dating fellow snowboarder, Red Gerard Team USA Olympic Slopestyle Gold Medalist, 2X X Games Medalist, 2X Dew Tour 1st place - to name a few. It must be fun to be able to share your love of snowboarding and surfing together. Do you have any upcoming trips that you are excited about?

HL: Red is my best friend. He’s so fun to be around, and he always pushes me to be better person and snowboarder. Since being injured, it’s been really hard to watch him pack up for a snowboard trip, and for the first time in our relationship, I don’t get to come along. It’s been another motivator for me to do whatever I can to get better, because I miss being around him, and taking laps together at our favorite resort. I think at the end of the winter we’ll try to go on a trip somewhere warm with waves.

IG @haileylangland

@xgames

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | PG 46 - 48 X Games Aspen Trevor Brown Jr. | Red Bull Content Pool PG 51 Lorenz Richard, PG 52 Dom Daher + PG 57 Christian Pondella | 9LIST STORI3S PG 54 X Games Aspen/Mark Kohlman/ESPN + PG 54 X Games/Joshua Duplechian |

Read the DEC ISSUE #108 of Athleisure Mag and see IN THE AIR | Hailey Langland in mag.

63MIX ROUTIN3S | GRIFFIN COLAPINTO

Read the AUG ISSUE #104 of Athleisure Mag and see 63MIX ROUTIN3S Griffin Colapinto in mag.

RIDE THE WAVES | GRIFFIN COLAPINTO

This month we're excited to share a number of stories from athletes who will be competing at this year's Paris 2024 games! While the majority of athletes will assemble in Paris for this year's Summer Games, those who are competing in surfing will make their way to Tahiti in Teahupo’o. This month's cover story is with World Surf League's #2 ranked pro-surfer Griffin Colapinto who will competing with Team USA Surfing, and will make his first Olympic appearance this year.

In addition to the success that he has had throughout his career and this year, we know he has an array of fans which includes Matthew McConaughey who has shown his public support of him at a number of meets. In addition to surfing, he is also in a film that is currently in the film circuit, Trilogy: New Wave and will be released this September. He stars alongside Australian Olympic surfer Ethan Ewing and Hawaiian Seth Moniz. The film focuses on the non-competitive side of surfing.

We wanted to know more about how he got into the sport, going pro, Paris 2024, and his partnership with Procter & Gamble's Athletes For Good alongside the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and International Paralympic Committee (IPC) and his chosen charity which focuses on mental health.

ATHLEISURE MAG: When did you fall in love with the water?

GRIFFIN COLAPINTO: I fell in love with the water when I was about 3 years old!

AM: What was the moment that you realized that you wanted to surf professionally? Where did that journey come from as we know that you love the water, you loved surfing, and then you wanted to do it as a professional.

GC: Well, the journey started down at my dad’s surf camp. He started a surf camp down at Santa Clemente the year I was born and he ran that for 20 years. So I was just growing up with the beach and him and he was in love with surfing and the ocean and he was a lifeguard and a teacher so that carried over to running a surf camp in the summer time. He just created a rad family dynamic down there with all the instructors and I was just growing up on the sand every summer! That and I just started – I don’t know it was natural, I wasn’t forced into surfing and being a competitive person and playing games. I just took to it naturally because I was on the beach and the sand. I remember a lot of the kids that were down there and the instructors that were there would always be on the beach. I just wanted to be able to impress them with the things that I was able to do in the water. I remember taking a surf board out there in front of them and wanting to surf for them.

I had this one moment where I was probably 7 or 8 and I felt like I caught some air on a pipe and I remember looking at all of the instructors on the beach and they were cheering. That feeling right there triggered competitive surfing for me right there! Being able to perform for people made me really happy!

AM: What is an average week like for you when you’re out there surfing whether you’re training for competitions or whatever?

GC: Yeah, well! I definitely think that there is a lot of discipline on my routines whether I’m waking up early and doing everything that makes me feel good like meditation, writing, and surfing of course! Working out and all of those things are important. It’s also essential to give yourself time to rest and to recover and I also have fun! I enjoy golfing a lot so that’s a nice way to take my mind off of surfing because sometimes you can just plow yourself through into the ground too much! It's a good balance.

AM: Congrats on qualifying for Paris 2024! What are you looking forward to?

GC: Yeah, it’s pretty wild! So our Olympics, we will be in Tahiti which isn’t near Paris, but it’s going to be on its own little adventure over there! It should be pretty exciting from what I have heard! They have put in a lot of work over there in Teahupo’o and although I can’t say what it will be like yet, I’m excited!

AM: And you’re ready for it!

GC: I’m ready!

AM: Tell us about Athletes For Good as we know it’s an initiative between P&G, IOC, IPC – can you give us a little background on that?

GC: So the Athletes For Good, P&G granted us money to donate to our favorite charity. I donated funds towards To Write Love On Her Arms (TWLOHA) a mental health organization that provides the tools and mental health resources for anyone that is going through challenging times in their lives due to suicide or maybe there is a close family member in their family that did commit suicide and needs someone that they can talk to about it. You can go to TWLOHA and you can get a local counselor nearby and they just provide rad things like that. It is definitely a big deal these days with social media and everything going on and it can take you away from the source of where we came from. I’m really proud to be able to represent it.

AM: Had that been an organization that you had been involved with before? What drew you to picking TWLOHA in terms of where you wanted the donated funds to go to?

GC: Well, I originally got into mental health through surfing. My dream of being on the World Championship Tour and being a World Champion, it comes with a lot of challenges, and anytime you have a big goal in mind, there is going to be a lot of ups and downs with that. So, through that, the mental side of things plays a big role and I realized that and it opened my eyes to a lot of different perspectives and other people. I just kind of realized that there are a lot more people on similar paths that go through hard times. For me, I was super fortunate to grow up with amazing parents and to grow up in a beautiful community with a lot of support and I still find myself on days struggling with some slight depression and not very happy and not knowing why. I just felt that there are people who got dealt with a bad set of cards, a lot worse than me and I can only imagine what they are going through. So that’s what drove me into this space and it's really cool that P&G gave us this grant and I’m excited!

AM: You mentioned that when you’re taking time for yourself, you play golf! Are there other things that you do to take time for yourself to be in the place that you need to be so that you can infuse that energy into other areas of where you also want to be?

GC: Just kind of being aware of how I am feeling and what is best for me in the moment. As an athlete, it’s easy to over do it, to over exert yourself and to just be addicted to the hard work and you feel like you need to work, work, work, work, but in reality, half the battle is just being good at resting too! So learning that has been a big part of it and I feel that slowly but surely, I’m getting better every day!

AM: Which is an awesome skill to have too!

You can find out more about Athletes For Good that recognizes the efforts of athletes to improve their communities off the field. Griffin shares more information about TWLOHA and why he is involved with them in his IG post.

IG @griffin_cola

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY | FRONT COVER, PG 16 + 20 Trevor Moran/Red Bull | BACK COVER, PG 18 + 22 Ryan Miller/Red Bull | PG 24 P&G |

Read the JUL ISSUE #103 of Athleisure Mag and see RIDE THE WAVES Griffin Colapinto in mag.

BINGELY BOOKS

HAWAI'I GOLD: A CELEBRATION OF SURFING

Rizzoli

Carissa Moore

We had the pleasure of having Carissa Moore a Team USA Olympic Surfing Gold Medalist and 5X World Surf League Women's Champion as our FEB ISSUE #86 cover. We have always enjoyed seeing her compete and how she does so with a smile on her face!

Hawai'i Gold: A Celebration of Surfing shares her story and what she thinks about her sport, her love of Hawaii as well as surf legends on what it means to be a surfer from Hawaii.

In this book, we find out about the heritage of surfing in Hawaii and of course the images in the book include the island, surf icons, surf prep, and so much more. It's defintiely a book that you will find on your coffee table that everyone will want to look through when they stop by.

EVEREST, INC.: THE RENEGADES AND ROGUES WHO BUILT AN INDUSTRY AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD

Gallery Books

Will Cockrell

We know about those who climb Mount Everest and in Everest, Inc. The Renegades and Rogues Who Built an Industry at the Top of the World, we get to know more about those who are instrumental in that effort - the guides and climbers!

We know that making the climb is not for the faint at heart as there is bad weather, severe altitudes, and it is congested for a number of people who make the attempt whether it's ego driven or to add to their social feeds.

The trip also has an impact on those who don't respect the mountain by leaving trash behind or even exploiting local Sherpas.

This book has a comprehensive focus on the history of the Himalayan guiding industry which started in the 1980's with gritty entrepreneurs who wanted to create a new style of expedition planning. You'll find quotes by those in the industry, writers, filmmakers, and Hollywood notables. All share their thoughts on the climbs to add their thoughts to this portion of the industry.

FASHION'S BIG NIGHT OUT: A MET GALA LOOKBOOK

Welbeck Publishing

Kristen Bateman

The first Mon of May is fashion's biggest night known as The Met Gala and in Fashion's Big Night Out: A Met Gala Lookbook, we look at a legendary event that fuses art, fashion and pop culture. You will learn about its history through imagery which started in 1948. It also looks at the ensembles that hit the carpet based on theme. There is also a foreward by iconic designer, Jeremy Scott who has created a number of looks for this event.

Read the APR ISSUE #100 of Athleisure Mag and see BINGELY BOOKS in mag.

MELODIES OF LIFE | TOBY GAD

We're heading towards the end of the year which always makes us think of our favorite songs! This month, we caught up with Toby Gad a Grammy-winning, multi-platinum songwriter/producer who has written some of our favorite songs from Beyoncé's If I Were a Boy, Fergie's Big Girls Don't Cry and Demi Lovato's Skyscraper to name a few! We wanted to know more about how he got into the industry, his passion for songwriting, collaborating with fellow entertainers and his legacy project, Piano Diaries!

ATHLEISURE MAG: When did you first fall in love with music?

TOBY GAD: First it’s so great to be able to talk with you and thank you for having me! I started with music when I was maybe 5/6/7 years old? My parents had a jazz band and probably when I was already in my mother’s womb, I heard all of these jazz songs that they did. They had a very limited repertoire so I always felt that one day I wanted to be able to write different songs because by age 3 I knew all 30 of the songs that they played!

AM: I love that!

How do you feel that your parents influenced you as jazz artists. My great-uncle was the late tenor saxophonist, Joe Henderson -

TG: Yes! Amazing amazing saxophonist!

AM: I love jazz, I love a lot of the elements of it. How did it influence your music?

TG: My mother always listened to Keith Jarrett, the piano player.

AM: Love Keith Jarrett!

TG: The Köln Concert by Keith Jarrett is probably the one record that I have listened to most in my entire life. It’s accompanied me my entire life and it always makes me feel like home. It’s such a great record and just how Keith Jarrett just improvises. He used to start concerts by just playing one note and then taking it from there without making any plans. He’s just very intuitive and just playing in the moment and I just thought that that was so special. I try – I mean, I’m not that good on the piano. I try to do it myself too sometimes and I lose myself in the piano playing. It’s just such a beautiful feeling when you just watch your hands take you places and explore.

AM: We saw Keith Jarrett a few years ago at Carnegie Hall here in NY and you’re right!

TG: I was there too! I saw him also in Carnegie!

AM: Yes! It was such an amazing show and I felt that I barely breathed during that concert, it was transformative! It was so beautiful and I’m so glad that I had a chance to see him because I had never seen him in person but have heard his records. Such a genius!

When did you realize that you wanted to work in the music industry?

TG: My brother and me, we always had ambitions. At first we emulated our parents and they rehearsed in the living room and when they were done, we would take over the instruments and pretend that we were musicians too. Then I think at the age of 6 or 7, we started to have our own set of a few Rock & Roll songs and we would play them in the intermissions of our parent’s jazz band. When our parents went back onstage, we went through the audience and collected money. That was our first experience of, “wow, we can actually make money with this.”

AM: Exactly!

You’re a music producer, you’re also a songwriter, what’s your creative process like and where do you start in terms of creating a song?

TG: It's very much lyric driven. It's always collaborative. I usually start with a conversation with the artist and see where they are at that time in their life. Are they heartbroken, are they in and out of love, angry, happy? What’s the mood of the day? And out of that conversation, sometimes, quite often something sticks – some line.

Like with BC Jean, when she said, because she was angry at someone, she said, “if I were a boy, I would kick his ass” and I was like, “what did you just say?” She said, If I Were a Boy (editor’s note: originally performed by BC Jean and later that year performed by Beyoncé) and I said let’s get back to the studio now and write this song. That’s often how it happens.

AM: Wow!

What do you love about being a songwriter?

TG: Well, it’s the feeling of coming full circle. Like you do something that starts so small with an artist and you record it and then if you’re lucky, it travels around the world. Then you hear it on the radio wherever you go. That is an incredible feeling when people know you by your song. It’s amazing and I love that.

AM: How do you get inspired and where does that part kick off for you?

TG: It’s always the artists that inspire me. If I know that I am going to work with someone, like recently I worked with James Arthur and Tom Walker and those are voices that I love. I love listening to their voices and working with them, I really looked forward to it and it inspired me to really work hard and to create some good music for them.

AM: You’ve had so many accomplishments from 3 Grammy Awards, Grammy nominations, and so many people that you have worked with. What do you look for when it comes to collaborating with an artist? Are there certain things that a person or group has to have in order to go forward?

TG: It's always important to me that the artists are kind of their own boss, they have something to say, they are driven to collaborate and to write their own lyric with someone like me. It’s very important that the artists are part of the creative process and that the music that they record somehow feels a bit autobiographical. Then of course, the voice. I love great voices. I worked with Celeste recently and there are just some singers who I could hear it day and night.

AM: I mean, when I was prepping for the interview, realizing the work that you have been on from Big Girls Don’t Cry, If I Were a Boy, I Do – these are songs that I really love! What have been some of your favorite projects that you have been part of?

TG: I think that Love Song to the Earth has been a song that we did for the Paris Climate Accord and that was a song that just meant a lot to me. At my heart, I’m an environmentalist as well. I care for the planet a lot and that was a little contribution that we could do and I wrote the song with Natasha Bedingfield, John Shanks, and Sean Paul. We got more and more artists on it and by the end, we got Paul McCartney on it as well. Jon Bon Jovi as well as a number of other big name artists wanted to be on this song too. So that was a great experience!

AM: Well, you have worked with a number of artists, but you have also crossed over into a number of genres in music. Does the process change for you when you’re working on an EDM song versus a pop song?

TG: I think that for me the core is that you can always play it on the piano. A lot of good EDM songs start with a good vocal and from there you can explore all different directions. Now, with Piano Diaries, it’s stripping these songs back down to the bones and it’s just for the vocal performance and the really marvelous piano and maybe a little string accompaniment and then the remixes which go all kinds of places and I just have fun with them. But I think that all of these songs at their core, if you can just play them at the piano, that’s great!

AM: What led you to want to create Piano Diaries and to embark on this legacy project?

TG: Well most of my career has been next song, next artist, next session and trying to get a hit, hit, hit! This is the first time in my life that I feel like I can take a breath, look back, and reflect a little bit. I’m happy to rediscover these songs, but I feel that I wanted to record them in a way – how I hear them today and with artists of today, but then I also want to hear the bones of it. For people to be able to hear how it could sound stripped down and just let the lyric carry it. Then of course, to have fun with these new originals and then make crazy remixes.

AM: I love that! I mean, what is it like to work on something that obviously we already know what it’s like, but now having to reimagine it? Is that stressful or is it almost like a sense of freedom?

TG: There’s a real challenge for the original version with piano vocal to create something that feels new.

AM: Yeah.

TG: And to make sure that the singers perform it in a way that feels very original. Like for instance, the next single, Skyscraper, will be with an artist, Camylio a Universal Republic artist with a very strong voice and he sounds so different from the Demi Lovato version, but he kills it.

The current single, Big Girls Don’t Cry, Victoria Justice has such a beautiful soft voice on it that sounds so different from how Fergie sang it when we did that song back then.

AM: I can imagine that that is such an interesting process.

What was it like working with Victoria Justice on that?

TG: Victoria and I, we go way back! Back when she had this very popular television show, Victorious, we had a song, All I Want is Everything that we wrote and she was 17 years old. Ever since, every few years, we would get together and write more songs. We did a song, Girl Up, to empower young females around the world for the United Nations. Love Song to the Earth, she was part of that. So over the years, we kept in touch and she’s such a precious soul and I love her. We actually, it wasn’t just the song, we spent days together just having fun climbing mountains, going surfing, and going through Downtown LA and we filmed a lot of that and put it on social media so we have 30 or 40 little clips on TikTok and Instagram of us talking, asking each other questions, and doing fun things together.

AM: You have your own record label, Kite Records, can you tell me about that?

TG: Well, about 10 years ago, I started Kite Records and we had several records out. But back in the day it meant that you had an imprint and that the record company takes over. But now, it’s such a new perspective that you can do so much on social media and on your own. I couldn’t wait to restart the label and to hire a few new amazing people. Now in the first 2 days we have almost 70,000 streams which I think is incredible that we can achieve that on our own! I’m so happy about this!

AM: That’s amazing!

Obviously you’re focused on Piano Diaries, but are there other projects that are coming up that you would like to share with our readers to know about?

TG: There is a Christmas single, LITTLE HOUSE IN THE SNOW, that came out on Nov 24th with Marisha Wallace, she is a musical star and I am working with her on an Etta James musical that is still going to be a year or two in the making. We decided to do a Christmas song. We’re promoting it in London, there will be shows in the Royal Festival Hall on Dec 15th and 17th and we’re performing with an orchestra. We get to do this song and there are a few TV and radio performances alongside that and that’s also on our label. So I’m very excited about this! Marisha is such a great singer!

AM: That’s fantastic and I can’t wait to hear more about the Etta James musical as I’m such a fan of her music.

When you’re not producing, writing, or doing other projects, how do you take time for yourself?

TG: That’s a learning process and I think that I am getting better with it after all of these years. I love surfing! Right now you can see where we are.

AM: Um that’s an amazing view! We just had Laird Hamilton and Gabby Reece as our OCT ISSUE #94 cover!

TG: I saw that! Incredible! I’m such a fan of Laird Hamilton and I think that it’s remarkable that early on, he decided that he never wanted to compete, he just wants to have his own experience with the gigantic waves out there with the natural forces. I have a lot of respect for this man!

AM: Do you go to Nazaré and surf big waves?

TG: Ha! I think that the biggest wave that I surfed was maybe 6 – 8 ft! To me that is very big!

AM: We also had Kai Lenny for our MAY ISSUE #89 this year as well on our cover who is also known for surfing those really epic waves! Watching him on HBO's 100 Foot Wave was insane! There’s no way I could do that, but watching him do it is so impressive!

TG: Kai Lenny is such a trailblazer with all of the other things like Foiling, Wing Folling and what he does at Nazaré is unbelievable! He does back flips on those 100 foot waves!

IG @tobygadmusic

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY | Toby Gad

Read the NOV ISSUE #95 of Athleisure Mag and see MELODIES OF LIFE | Toby Gad in mag.

ATHLEISURE MAG ISSUE #94 | LAIRD HAMILTON + GABBY REECE

In this month’s issue, our front and back cover story is with Pro Beach Volleyball Athlete, Gabby Reece and Ultimate Waterman, Co-Inventor of Tow-In Surfing, Laird Hamilton. Both have been models, TV personalities, producers, etc and are Co-Founders of Laird Superfood. We talked with them to find out more about Laird Superfood as well as XPT, products that they are focused on as we continue into fall and holiday, and how they balance their coupleship with the work that they do. We also interviewed the first African American principal at ABT, Misty Copeland. She talks about the sport, how she uses her platform to amplify ballet voices, and more.

This month, we have a number of culinary stories that we're so excited to share with you. We covered Food Network's New York City Wine and Food Festival presented by Capital One. We give you an inside look on the events we attended as well as including interviews we have with Chef Brooke Williamson (Chef/Owner - Playa Provisions), Chef Antonia Lofaso (Chef/Owner - DAMA Fashion District, Scopa Italian Roots), Chef Andrew Zimmern, Chef Robert Irvine, Chef Philippe Chow (Chef/Owner - Philippe by Philippe Chow), Chef Franklin Becker (Chef/Owner - The Press Club Grill), Chef Alain Allegretti (Partner Culinary Director - Fig & Olive), Chef Alez Guzman (Chef/Owner - Archer & Goat). We also cover the Concorde Hotel as they were a great partner in this story as we enjoyed a staycation there while covering this food festival.

Our food coverage continues with Hortus NYC in addition to this month's The Art of the Snack which brings the Hamptons to the city, Sagaponack. This month's Athleisure List comes from Paros Tribeca which makes you feel like you're enjoying a Grecian getaway, along with Seasoned Vegan which has opened recently in the East Village. We also caught up with Gaby Dalkin who is known for her take on food to tell us a bit how we can prepare for holiday entertaining as the season is around the corner as well as her latest cookbook. We also talked with Doreen Winkler, a noted sommelier who will bring orange wines to her 2nd Annual Orange Glou Fair. We talk about her boutique, her passion for orange wines, the event, and mroe.

This month’s 9PLAYLIST comes from EDM DJ/Producer, Miley Cyrus. Our 9LIST STORI3S comes from EDM DJ/Producer, Honeyluv and from DJ/Producer/Rapper/Singer/Songwriter, Jesse McFaddin. Our 63MIX ROUTIN3S comes from icons Laird Hamilton and Chuck Norris.

Read the OCT ISSUE #94 here.

TAKE IT TO THE WAVES | MONICA MEDELLIN

We enjoy a great docuseries where we get to follow our favorite sports and get behind the action to find out how it all comes together. Prime Video's 4 episode series, Surf Girls Hawai'i follows 5 native Hawaiian females as they take their shot on obtaining a spot in the world tour. We follow Moana Jones Wong, Ewe Wong, Maluhia Kinimaka, Pua DeSoto, and Brianna Cope as we see them navigating their season, training, and interacting with their friends and family.

We caught up with Monica Medellin, Creator and Executive Producer of this docuseries. We wanted to find out more about how she became a fan of this action sport, being a surfer, working in the surf industry, and the importance of storytelling to amplify voices that are underrepresented but have powerful points of view.

ATHLEISURE MAG: We’ve personally been a fan of your work for awhile so it’s exciting to be able to talk with you to know more about you’re your docuseries, and what you’re working on that’s coming up!

MONICA MEDELLIN: Amazing! I’m so excited! I think that this is perfect because every body that knows me makes fun of me because athleisure is all I wear.

Thank you so much for highlighting me. I feel like a unicorn in this space. I just turned 30 and this all happened before then and it seems like the tides are changing and there are very few women that are like me in this position. So I really want to share my story and to hopefully inspire more storytellers in narratives like this.

AM: Absolutely!

Before we get into talking about the docuseries, we want to know more about you. What was the moment that you realized that you wanted to be a filmmaker?

MM: Oh, I mean, I feel like I was destined to be a filmmaker ever since I was a little girl. I couldn’t really identify that that was what I wanted until later in life. I've always been involved in sports as a child. My mom was a single working mom from Mexico and she raised me on her own.

Through that, she found different sports programs and extracurricular activities and that’s where I really fell in love with different sports and it started with more traditional sports like volleyball, basketball, and soccer. Then I moved into gymnastics and then we both discovered surfing while we were walking along the Santa Monica Beach and at that point, I had started skateboarding, surfing, and exploring these non-traditional sports.

I actually used her old camcorder to film myself skating! That’s what I did with my friends on the weekends, so obviously the production value was what it was!

You know, I started documenting sports from a young age and I started documenting myself as a young girl participating in those sports from that time. You know from there, I obviously played sports in high school – I was the team captain of the volleyball team, I would teach at surf camp over the summers and I moved to university and I studied Journalism at the University of Oregon. So, this theme of filming our experiences as women in sports has been something that has been a thread throughout my entire life!

AM: Wow! It also seems that a lot of your films as well as commercial work that you have done has also focused obviously on sports, but also covering underrepresented groups as well. As someone who is Black and has enjoyed sports such as snowboarding where people don’t think of us playing it, I like that you’re showcasing what is being done that people don’t necessarily think of.

MM: Right and I think that that’s something where you want to be niche, but not too niche where you miss out on telling other stories as well. I think that my main thing is highlighting and shining a light on stories that are underrepresented in the mainstream. That is the essence of my work. It doesn’t just need to be sports, it can be in anything. I mean, when I worked at the Los Angeles Times in 2015, I was helping launch a new platform that talks about this emerging American identity with race, immigration, identity, what does it mean to be American, but also never to really see yourself represented in the story in that way. So, I think that that time at the Los Angeles Times and producing documentaries around those topics really did shape the direction of how I approach my storytelling. Like sure, if I’m telling a story about an athlete, that’s in sports, but I want to uncover who the person is behind the athlete, what is the human experience that we can all relate to because ultimately, even when you see Surf Girls Hawai’i, it’s not just about surfing. It’s about coming of age, it’s about sisterhood, it’s about supporting each other through challenging times, and navigating life. So, I think that that is my approach through all of my storytelling that makes it universal whether you are interested in the sport or the topic itself.

AM: Absolutely!

What was the first project that you did that you realized that you wanted to do this as a career?

MM: Hmm, it’s actually funny, because my first film that I created was about a young Latina surfer in the Bay Area. She was part of a program that helped underrepresented youth get into the sport of surfing, get into action sports, and that film actually premiered at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival here in LA. That moment of seeing my work and my film, premiered at The Chinese Theatre, in Hollywood was such a monumental moment for me because I could see that this kind of storytelling was valued. I could see the reaction of the audience and I could see the emotion and I could actually feel the energy in the room. So, I feel like the LALIFF selecting my film to premiere at the Chinese Theatre in that way was a really defining moment for me. I knew that I could really make something out of this career and hopefully, tell more stories. At that point, I was still in my early 20’s so it was just the beginning, but I think that that was the moment that I decided to pursue this full time.

AM: We love surfers! This year alone we had the honor of speaking with Carissa Moore as well as Kai Lenny as covers for Athleisure Mag. You also surf – what is it about this sport that you enjoy so much?

MM: I think surfing is such a unique sport because it’s not just a sport. It’s a lifestyle, it’s a culture, it has deep roots around the world, and had I known that this sport is originated by people of color and women of color, I would have felt that I belonged in it sooner. (Editor’s Note: The origin of surfing can be found in various cultures as far back as the Incas in 1590 when a Jesuit missionary José de Acosta published it in Historia Natural y Moral de las Indias. In West Africa’s – Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, and Senegal and Central Africans in Cameroon have had various accounts of this activity in 1640, 1679, 1834, and 1861. In Polynesia in 1769 there is documentation of he’e nalu which translates to wave sliding by Joseph Banks as he was on HMS Endeavour during the first voyage of James Cook while the ship was in Tahiti.) I didn’t know anything about the history of surfing until I met another Latina surfer who shared with me this deep history. After discovering that, I made it my life’s mission to try to tell the world that this is the truth and that this is the history of this.

I think that with surfing, it’s so special for that deeper reason, but also I think that it’s a way of connecting with nature to get outside and get off your phone. You have no way of communicating with anybody when you’re out there. It’s your time to exist and enjoy yourself and I think that it resonates with a lot of people. I think that when I first started surfing in Los Angeles, the lineups looked a lot different than they do today. Today I actually paddle out and I see more women, I see more women of color and I actually see friends every single time that I go. I think that this surf culture has been defined by advertisements, brands, the industry, but we are reclaiming what it means to be a surfer and you’re seeing that happening in your local lineups. You’re seeing that happening through Surf Girls Hawai’i, you’re seeing that happen through different lenses, I think! I think that that is what makes surfing special. It’s just, there’s nothing else like it honestly.

AM: As the creator of Surf Girls Hawai’i, what drew you to telling this story?

MM: Surf Girls Hawai’i is what I have dreamt of ever since I was a little girl. We saw Blue Crush released back in 2002, which was my favorite film, and I really identified with Michelle Rodriguez (Fast and the Furious franchise, Machte franchise, Resident Evil franchise), who was another Latina and I mean, that’s just one part of it. When I was working in the surf industry, I noticed that major mainstream platforms just had more coverage of male surfers. You barley saw women and in advertisements, it’s still really common to see a surfer girl in a bikini and a man on a wave surfing.

AM: Right.

MM: You walk down to any surf shop and that’s still the reality of our time in 2023! Actually, while I was working at the League (World Surf League), I started a personal archive of my favorite surfers who were women, who I thought deserved the spotlight and I pitched an idea that would eventually push the company to promote men and women equally on our social platforms. I think that since then, we have seen a shift. I just really wanted to be able to highlight women that I felt didn’t have a seat at the table. I think that through Surf Girls Hawai’i, they are finally getting the recognition that they deserve. That’s really cool that I helped spearhead that effort and identified this talent early on.

AM: For those that have not seen this docuseries, can you give us the premise of the show, and also, how did you decide to select the 5 Native Hawaiian female surfers that are featured in the docuseries.

MM: Surf Girls Hawai’i follows the next generation of native Hawaiian, female surfers as they compete at an elite level to earn a spot on the world tour of professional surfing. Surf girls is about a sisterhood of native Hawaiian surfers who are on the cusp of becoming pro and this is the most elite level that they have ever competed on and they are competing against each other, but also together in a lot of different ways and they support each other through that. I think that what makes it special is the fact that oftentimes when you see shows that center women, you see maybe cattiness or drama between the women. You see this marketable yet damaging portrayal of female relationships.

I think that what’s different with Surf Girls Hawai’i is, even though they are fierce competitors, and they are competing for one spot, they all support each other through this journey. That’s because they all know that if one of them makes it, everyone makes it because this is more than just winning for their own personal gain, this is about representing native Hawaiian culture at the highest level of surfing. I think that carrying that responsibility, and that legacy, is what makes this highest stakes in a lot of ways. You don’t need that cattiness or drama between the girls. I think that that is the premise, but also what makes it different.

AM: From your perspective as a filmmaker, how do you go about creatively organizing all of this. As you said, they’re all there for that aligned goal, but they are also individual people. How are you weaving that story and kind of planning it in your head especially when it’s only 4 episodes! By the end I was wanting to see more about these women, wondering if there would be another season, would the same surfers be followed – so many questions!

MM: The response to this show has been so overwhelmingly positive and I have been told that it is over performing. It shows that there is a gap and this storytelling was absolutely needed and 4 episodes did the trick! I think that that worked and I think in going back to your question, this cast is so special because on the surface, they are all native Hawaiian pro surfers that share this bond and share their culture together. But what I wanted to really accomplish with this series was to show them as multi-dimensional, multi-faceted women. They’re all different and all have different interests and different mindsets. They’re all different because you have on the one hand, Maluhia who is 26 years old, considered older to be competing and is at the crossroads of deciding on whether she wants to be a professional athlete and fulfill that lifelong childhood dream or pursue her education. She did both. She got her degree from Stanford and she is pursuing her PhD at UH Mānoha – all while competing on the WSL tour. I think that that is super unexpected. That defied expectations and I think that each character defies expectations of what you would think of them on the surface. So that’s just one example of how we approached the storytelling around each woman. How do we paint them as more than an athlete? Because each character is more than an athlete.

AM: What was it like working with Hello Sunshine on this project?

MM: I’ll start with Hello Sunshine. Hello Sunshine was honestly a dream partnership. Like we were aligned in our values before we even made the show together. I think for me as a creator, it was really important that the team working on Surf Girls was women-led and women-run, that is the essence of what makes Surf Girls Hawai’i what it is. I think that Hello Sunshine’s mission of changing the narrative for women aligned with my mission well before the final product. I think that Surf Girls put this native female Hawaiian experience at the forefront and Hello Sunshine invested in that, believed in that, and they saw that from the beginning. I think that that’s brave. This talent, they’re low profile, lesser known names outside of the surf industry, but that didn’t matter to them and I think that they just saw the magic. I also think that the Hello Sunshine team was very collaborative and supportive of hiring women behind the camera and making sure to work with my recommended Hawaiian and Hawaii local creators and crew. I just felt like the set was forward thinking and they understood the importance of picking a team to tell a story and in the best way.

I actually created and directed the original digital series that sold the show, and the vision stayed true throughout the process. I think that that is really hard to do actually. I feel that the women were really portrayed in a positive light and the culture wasn’t sensationalized. That was really really important. That’s my bit on Hello Sunshine!

AM: That’s amazing to hear. What has been your biggest takeaway in doing this docuseries?

MM: Oh my gosh, so much! I mean, creating and executive producing my first TV show, was an experience that I learned a lot from. I think that a big takeaway from the series is that you see the reactions from people that watched this and people are hungry for this kind of storytelling and they’re hungry to see women and women of color in sports. I think it’s interesting because this was technically made for Gen Z young women to identify with. But you see women of all ages responding to this and you see men of all ages intrigued, interested, and inspired by this story. So, I think that this is a story for everyone and that’s the takeaway – this story is important and deserves a spotlight and we were the first to do it and that’s really, really special. We were the first female sports docuseries on Hello Sunshine’s platforms and this was the first female sports documentary on Amazon.

AM: That’s a pretty big first!

MM: That’s big!

AM: That’s awesome!

I’m sure you’re always working on different projects, is there anything coming up that you are able to share that we should keep an eye out for?

MM: Yeah, so 2 things! I just got back from Tahiti for a shoot with the Olympic Channel, so that’s coming up. Then, I have another underreported, but fascinating field that centers women of color and Black women in sport that is not highly covered that I am currently developing. I’m developing projects constantly so we can leave it at those things.

IG @monicamedellin_

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | PG 52 Ryan Gladney | PG 54 Brie Lakin | PG 57 Katie McDonald | PG 58 - 63 Prime Video |

Read the AUG ISSUE #92 of Athleisure Mag and see TAKE IT TO THE WAVES | Monica Medellin in mag.

WITH LOVE AND ATTENTION | CARISSA MOORE

Earlier this year, our FEB ISSUE #86 was covered by Team USA Olympic Gold Medalist and 5X Women's World Surf League Champion, Carissa Moore! Since we spoke to her, she's halfway through the season and at the time of the release of this issue is #2 in the World Surf League, won the Billabong Pro Pipeline as well as most recently, winning the Margaret River Pro in late April!

She is a force on the water and we also enjoy how she gives back to women by empowering them to be who they want to be as they navigate their lives and take on wherever their goals lead them! In the midst of training and making her own goals, we caught up with her to find out about her recent win, the second half of the season and her latest collaboration with Hurley for her May Moore Aloha collection by Hurley.

ATHLEISURE MAG: What did your recent win at Margaret River mean to you?

CARISSA MOORE: It was a very validating and empowering win. It had come after a string of average results that had me questioning my process and formula. I feel like things start to fall into place when I reconnect with what’s most meaningful to me and let go of everyone else’s expectations. It’s very easy to get distracted on the journey and this win was a nice reminder to trust in my preparation, process and believe in my purpose. I love Margaret River and winning with my team there made it really special.

AM: Why do you enjoy being at Margaret River?

CM: It feels like things are more simple in Margaret River. There isn’t a lot of fuss, bells and whistles. People are kind, the towns are small and there is a ton of open space. The nature is raw, the waves are wild, you can still find an empty beach or watch the sunset all by yourself. That is rare. It is a place that brings you back to yourself and the present moment.

AM: What tournaments are you looking forward to this year?

CM: The second half of the WSL Championship Tour season, I am truly looking foward to all of the events but especially Teahupo’o, Tahiti (SHISEIDO Tahiti Pro).

AM: What’s your routine on the morning of your competition?

CM: I wake up around 5am, kiss my husband good morning, make myself a warm drink, activate my body for about 45 mins and then head to the beach for a surf before the first horn blows usually around 8am.

AM: When you finish competing, how do you switch gears into relaxing mode?

CM: I like to relax after competing by taking a hot shower, eating a healthy meal, going for a nice beach walk, reading a book, journaling or putting on a good tv show.

AM: Tell us about your May Moore Aloha collection by Hurley!

CM: This Moore Aloha X Hurley collection is my favorite one yet! Created from start to finish with love and attention to all the details, this collection celebrates Hawaii, femininity and combined woman power. So grateful for the opportunity to work closely with local Hawaiian artist, Aloha de Mele, on all the prints and the incredible team at Hurley Women to create a line that combines function with fashion. It is my goal with every collection to create pieces that spark joy, empower females to feel comfortable and confident while chasing their dreams. To add, one of the things I’m most excited about is this is the first of our collections available in girl sizes!

AM: What does it feel like for your collaboration between Moore Aloha and Hurley to come together like it has?

CM: It is so cool to see my favorite pieces come to life, displayed at my hometown stores and being worn!

AM: What is your process of designing your collection?

CM: I’ll start by sending the Hurley Women’s team “inspo” pics and they’ll create a mood board, pick a variety of prints and colors for me to choose from. Once we nail that down, they’ll create a line up of silhouettes for me to look at. There is a bit of back and forth refining the selection and giving feedback. Then, they will make samples and I get to product test! I’ll send some suggestions until we get the fits just right.

AM: Tell us about your next Moore Aloha event.

CM: I am planning the next Moore Aloha event for this fall on the island of Oahu. Our work focuses on Mental Health, Education, Community Relations, Culture, and Environmental Conservation. Our main goal is to share valuable tools and resources with girls and women to create a positive life driven by passion, fueled by purpose. We integrate the Hawaiian culture to promote mindfulness and community. The ocean and surfing is a tool to empower girls to step outside their comfort zone and live fearlessly. Our welcoming atmosphere allows for open, honest conversation and soulful connections. Some of the activities we include are a tag team event, lei making, yoga, journaling, hula, a beach clean up and surfing. Depending on our group and our focus we will sometimes include a goal setting workshop, CPR and water safety courses, work in the lo’i (taro patches), plant trees, and invite other empowering females to talk and share their inspirational stories.

IG @rissmoore10

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | This feature + 9PLAYLIST PG 118 Hurley

Read the MAY ISSUE #89 of Athleisure Mag and see WITH LOVE AND ATTENTION | Carissa Moore in mag.j

RIDING THIS WAVE | CARISSA MOORE

There is something empowering about seeing those who dominate their area of expertise regardless of the vertical as well as putting good back into the world! This month's cover is 5X World Surf League Women's Champion, Olympic Team USA Surfing Gold Medalist and winner of countless accolades, Carissa Moore. This powerhouse takes to the waves with a focus and competitive spirit that we can appreciate. When we had the chance to talk with her as she was waiting for her call time for the Hurley Pro Sunset Beach earlier this month. We were also struck by how she brought the Aloha spirit with her as she talked about her love for the sport, going pro, walking us through her surfing schedule, her documentary and how she strives to inspire the next generation of women through Moore Aloha.

ATHLEISURE MAG: We’re so excited as we have been a fan of yours for awhile. So to be able to chat with you as well as for you to be this month’s cover, is so exciting and our readers are going to want to know more about you and the sport as well as what you have going on!

CARISSA MOORE: Perfect! Let’s do it!

AM: So when did you fall in love with surfing?

CM: I started surfing when I was about 5 years old and it was my dad who pushed me into my first wave at Waikiki. I think you know that it was a love that deepened over time, but I really fell in love with it at the very beginning. Being in the ocean, spending time with my dad. In the very beginning, it was just something that I loved to do with him and then over time, it became something that was more my own and I just love being in the ocean and it feels like a bit of escape from reality at times. It brings me back to the present moment which I feel like that sometimes, there are so many distractions and our world is going at such a fast speed sometimes that it’s hard to stay present. I think that that is one of the greatest gifts of being in the ocean. Just being here and now. It just brings a lot of joy.

AM: Was it hard for you because you do love it and it’s your passion – to know that it’s also your profession? Do you see it differently and how do you navigate that?

CM: I just feel extremely fortunate and grateful that I get to do something that I love as a profession! You know, the sport has evolved to a place that we can make a living out of it as professional athletes. At times, it’s definitely more intense than others, but what’s the coolest part is that in a jersey or not, I still want to go to the beach everyday and see the ocean which is awesome!

AM: That’s really cool! What’s an average day like when you’re training?

CM: An average day pre season, is waking up early. The crazy part about surfing which you were a little bit shocked to learn is that you’re kind of at the whim of Mother Nature right? So every day, you’re trying to find the best time to surf and whether that’s based on the tides, the wind or the swell that’s coming in and hasn’t arrived yet. Surfing is very fluid as the schedule depends on where the waves are. So I find the best waves that I can train on. I train with an on-land trainer 3-4 times a week and we’ll meet at a park or sometimes a gym at her house for like an hour or so. My day definitely includes a time to eat, refuel and to rest. Rest is very important for me so I like to set up at least an hour a day to read or go for a walk or watch some TV with my husband. Then maybe I surf again in the afternoon or check in with my sport psych so that’s kind of what a day looks like. Sometimes it includes sponsorship stuff or interviews like this!

Actually, between surfing and the ocean, it has taught me so many lessons and that's just one of them. There is so much that’s out of our control so you have to let go and surrender and say, ok, this is what we’re doing today – so yeah!

AM: It’s very cool. So what do you do, in terms of workouts that allow you to optimize yourself in the sport? Obviously, you’re in the water and surfing, but what other kinds of things do you also do to assist with that?

CM: I mean it’s pretty cool that as a surfer, you have to be fit in all different kinds of areas. Depending on what kind of event or wave we’re surfing at, some waves are big and powerful. Like the next event we’re competing at, we’re going to be on Sunset Beach on the North Shore of Oahu and it’s a very big playing field. So I like to say that endurance definitely factors in as well as power and strength, I don’t use a lot of weight, but we have been using a little more weight. Most of the workouts that we do are a lot of bodyweight stuff. I love HIIT workouts, stuff that’s fast paced for me is really mentally engaging, but we also work on agility, strength, cardio and core. I do go to Pilates once a week and incorporate yoga every morning for at least 30 minutes. There are a lot of different things that I do and I kind of do it all.

AM: At the Tokyo Olympics, that was such an amazing Olympics as both surfing and skateboarding were both brought in for the first time for the Summer Games. You won the first Gold medal which is amazing as it was the first time for that sport! What did it mean to you to have that Olympic experience?

CM: It was such a special experience. I didn’t really have that many expectations because surfing had never been there before. So, I was just excited to be part of it all and to be in a team atmosphere and get to go to the Village. Everything was a bigger and grander scale than I imagined. But just getting to be in that arena is the epitome of sports. I think that for the surfing community, it was a really huge moment to be elevated on that level and to get to perform on that platform. As a native Hawaiian, it means a lot to us and surfing is kind of our sport. It was really great to see and be able to get that representation of our people and our sport. That was really cool too.

AM: Are you thinking ahead to Paris?

CM: I kind of think that we all are because this season on the Championship Tour is a qualifying season. So for countries like America, Australia, Brazil, and some other countries, we qualify with our rankings at the end of the year through the 10 events through the season. So we are definitely all thinking about it. It’s really exciting, it will be quite a battle because there are so many Americans on tour and so many Australians on tour – it’s just a focus of doing our best on this season and hopefully it works out.

AM: You’re a 5X World Surfing League Women’s Tour Champion, you’ve won so many different accolades, how important is it to you to have balance and to implement self-care into your mental and physical practices?

CM: Oh, it’s huge! I think that for me, from a pretty young age, I realized how important it was to have a balance. For me, I finished school, I was getting to have a social life and being grounded at home was super important. It definitely gave me an appreciation for the time that I got in the water and it helped me learn how to use my time wisely and to train efficiently. Also, my dad has always stressed to take the time to rest because then you can come back stronger. Taking that time physically and mentally, I am definitely learning over time that in order to love others and to share more love with the world, you have to love yourself and take time to fill your cup so you can fill others' cups. I definitely think that it’s super important to slow down, take the time to appreciate the little things that you have done to improve yourself or to better yourself and it helps to give you momentum and the confidence to go forward.

AM: Absolutely! We were just talking about the surfing season. What is the surfing season in terms of when it starts and stops and what are your favorite tournaments that you like participating in?

CM: So our season just started at the end of Jan and goes all the way into Sep. We compete in 10 events and then we have 1 final event. We go all over! So we start in Hawaii, then we go to Portugal, then Australia, California, El Salvador, Brazil, South Africa and Tahiti.

AM: Wow!

CM: We get to go to some pretty cool places.

AM: Um yeah! We want to go!

CM: There are a lot of great ones that I look forward to. I really love Western Australia. There’s something about that place, the raw beauty and there isn’t much fuss. It’s about surfing and getting in the ocean. I really like Tahiti, it reminds me a lot of home and the people there are just full of Aloha and good vibes! South Africa, it’s definitely a bit of a trek but once you get there, the waves are incredible and it's just like awesome!

AM: This month, you’re competing in the Hurley Sunset Beach World Championship, what are you looking forward to in this tournament?

CM: I’m super excited that my sponsor Hurley has stepped up to sponsor a World Tournament event and to see their support of all of us on that level. It’s really cool! I guess that being able to compete on home turf in front of my family and friends on beaches that I have grown up surfing on my whole life is super cool. I think that just trying to push myself competitively and to put forth some good performances hopefully, I’m just looking forward to getting in the water, putting the jersey on and competing at home.

AM: That’s awesome! You were just talking about all of the places that you travel to, because you do so much travel, how do you make your hotel rooms feel like home, and then when you’re on the road, are there things that you like to do when you hit certain cities or do you just focus on hitting that tournament?

CM: Since I have been traveling, you know it’s the 13th year that I have been on the Championship Tour, after doing it for a little bit of time now, out with the hotel rooms in with the Airbnb’s that have kitchens and living rooms – places that can feel like home and feel more homey. Just having kitchens which is so nice because you can eat what you want to eat and know what you are putting into your meals. I think that is super important and just having the room to spread out and train. Because we do have a lot of downtime and we have a 2 week waiting period most of the time. But then it only takes a day and a half – two days to run the women’s event. So there is a lot of downtime. Like you mentioned, the beauty of getting to do this is that we get to go to some amazing places and getting to go sightseeing to really get to immerse yourself in the culture, the people and the towns – it’s such a gift! I definitely like to take those lay days and take advantage to see those places.

AM: You’re sponsored by Hurley, you have a collection coming out in March. What can you tell us about this as you shot this in your home and hometown which seems amazing!

CM: Ahh thank you so much! This is my 3rd collection with them and I couldn’t be more excited as I think that it keeps getting better and better. This one is super sweet because we actually got to partner with a local artist, her name is JT, and her art name is Aloha de Mele. So all of the prints that are incorporated in the collection are from her. So it just felt really synergistic to get to use my platform to also uplift another woman who is from Hawaii and is very talented.

Look her up, her artwork is amazing.

I got to work really closely with the team at Hurley to create designs, patterns and colors that are really important to me as well as silhouettes that are very feminine, very beautiful and flattering, but also super functional. I think that it’s really come together in this line and it’s a quality line. Like you mentioned, we got to photograph the collection at home and we actually did it in my backyard!

AM: Oh nice! We’ve had the pleasure of doing collaborations and there is nothing better than when it’s something that comes from you and your home, your backyard – that is so cool!

CM: Thank you so much! I can’t wait for you to see it. Hopefully there are a couple of pieces that you like from it that you can wear!

AM: Oh yes! I’m sure. Also as fashion stylist, it’s always fun to see items that you can style into shoots that we work on!

CM: Sweet!

AM: Yeah! Obviously at Athleisure Mag, we love things that are functional but when it’s great for transitional wear – life just moves so quickly, you want to be able to be prepared for anything. So I love anything that’s like that!

You had the Red Bull documentary, RISS. A Film About More Love with Carissa Kainani Moore, that talks about you and your life. Why did you want to do this and how does it feel to have your lifestory available so others can get to know more about you?

CM: Thanks for checking it out and bringing it up! I have always wanted to do a fun piece and it was important to me work with a director like Peter Hamblin who had kind of a different eye and an approach to things. It was super fun to work with him, we got really close in the process so it didn’t feel like it was really invasive at all. It was like just hanging out with one of my friends.

I think that those kinds of things, when I’m watching sports docs or sports movies on incredible athletes or athletes that have an inspiring story, it’s cool to see that they’re human, that they’re relatable and they’re tangible. I think that there is something so inspiring about someone being vulnerable and open. I’ve found that through other people sharing their stories. If it can help 1 person that is going through something, that’s the goal. If someone can relate to the story or take one little thing from it, that would be awesome.

AM: I just watched a sports documentary with NBA Legend Bill Russell last night. I’m always watching things like that. It’s great to get to know more about the sport but you get to see it and the person in the time that they grew up in. You then get to see how things have changed or progressive movements, it really lets you realign yourself and think about things in a different way.

CM: Totally!

AM: So when you’re not surfing, how do you take time for yourself?

CM: Number 1 is hanging out with my husband! He’s my pride and joy.

AM: You guys are so cute!

CM: He’s actually right here. It doesn’t matter what we’re doing. It doesn’t need to be much. Just hanging out with him and the dogs makes me super happy. My family lives really close to me so my sister, my mom, my dad, my grandparents so being able to check in with them and I still have some friends that are still in town. I think that surrounding myself with good people makes me really stoked and besides doing that, other things that make me stoked and fill up my cup, I started a charitable foundation, Moore Aloha in 2018. So, I spend a lot of time in investing in how to make it grow, grow programs and events that can make a positive impact on the next generation of females which is something that is near and dear to my heart.

AM: Are there projects with Moore Aloha that we should keep an eye out for?

CM: You are so sweet – thank you! I’m in the middle of competing and stuff so the bandwidth is pretty low at the moment. What has been fun is that we’re doing more online things. So we’re doing essay prompts where people are awarded scholarships every month; we just launched our first paid internship program this year; and we just did our 1st 6 week internship program with a former professional surfer Megan Abubo. So being able to connect the dots and create those meaningful mentorship programs for young girls is something that while I’m competing, I’m hoping to do at the same time! When the season is done, I have some really cool fun in person events planned on Oahu and in California. Hopefully, depending on if I make the cut, there’s a cut mid-season, so if you make the cut, you get to do the second half of the season. I would really love to be able to do an event before South Africa.

AM: Wow!

CM: Yeah! So if you want to be able to check anything out, please check out our website Moore Aloha.com.

AM: You’re a fan of scrapbooking. When did you start doing this and how do you approach putting one together creatively?

CM: I started scrapbooking in 2011/2012, but it was pretty close to when I started competing on the tour. You know, you lose more than when you win in this game. I think that for me, It was really important to be able to look back at all of the wonderful things and experiences that I had that still made the trip worthwhile. Because it’s easy to look back at an experience that you didn't win and say, "oh crap, I lost." But in reality, there is so much to be be grateful for and so much to celebrate. So it’s a little bit of time that I get to reflect and to see that we did this, you did that and even though I didn’t get the win, all of these other amazing things happened.

My process is, I don’t know – I get it all out and make a mess with stickers and colors. I get my scissors out and then I just lay out all of the photos and then I slowly just have them fit together like puzzle pieces.

AM: What do you want your legacy to be in the sport and even in life in general?

CM: Oh gosh! My legacy! I think that through my surfing, I want people to feel something. I think that the greatest athletes, at least for me in watching the greatest athletes – you can feel the joy. You can feel that they are having so much fun and love it. In return, it sparks that passion in yourself. I hope that I can leave that feeling with people. Not necessarily the wins, but how did I make them feel. I hope that if I can encourage people to just be kind, loving, patient, understanding and more empathetic with each other – that would be a huge win, you know? It’s like carrying that Aloha spirit. Aloha, I’m sure you’ve heard of it. It’s so hard to put into words.

AM: I was just going to ask you if you could put it into words?

CM: Yeah it’s something that I grew up with and It’s engrained in me from my childhood. Just being in Hawaii, it’s how you treat people with this unconditionalness and not wanting anything in return. There’s no judgment, it’s being open and I think that if we can do that more with each other and the world around us, I think that there would be more harmony.

IG @rissmoore10

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | FRONT + BACK COVER, PG 19 + 25 - 28 Hurley | PG 16 + 31 Billabong Pro Pipeline Jan 2023 - World Surf League/Tony Heff | PG 20 + 22 Hurley Sunset Pro Beach Feb 2023 - World Surf League/Brent Bielmann | PG 32 Red Bull |

Read the FEB ISSUE #86 of Athleisure Mag and see RIDING THE WAVE | Carissa Moore in mag.

ATHLEISURE MAG #86 | CARISSA MOORE

In this month’s issue, our cover story is 5 X World Surf League Women’s Champion and Team USA Surfing Olympic Gold Medalist, Carissa Moore. We talk about how she got into the sport, her passion for surfing, talks about the season, upcoming tournaments, traveling to exotic locals to do what she loves, her organization Moore Aloha and the importance of self-care. We also caught up with the first female snowboarder to win back-to-back Team USA Snowboarding Olympic Gold Medalist in Half-Pipe, 5 X Gold Medalist in of the Super Half Pipe in the X Games and ESPY Winner, Chloe Kim. We talk with her about her love for snowboarding, the importance of paying it forward to the next generation so they can have the thrill of competing her partnership with Mucinex Fast Max which supports YMCAs. We enjoyed having Leah Van Dale as our cover for our SEP ISSUE #45 in 2019 where we hung out with her during her cover shoot. This WWE star who wrestles under the name Carmella has won a number of accolades was on E! Total Divas and brings energy to the stage. We catch up with her to find out what she is up to as she is back to as she is back in the ring, how she prepares and comes down after her matches, upcoming tournaments, married Matt Polinsky/WWE’s Corey Graves, hearing how she navigates entrepreneurial opportunities as well as the importance of self-care in her life. We caught up with Restaurateur/Chef Tom Colicchio to find out we could focus on the Big Game in terms of creating dishes that we can all enjoy while also being sustainable with the use of Do Good Chicken. He also talked about when he realized he wanted to be a chef and of course he gave us the inside scoop on BRAVO’s Top Chef: World All-Stars which drops Mar 9th.

We are always excited to know more about our favorite DJs from how they started, their process and of course what we need to listen to next. We took a moment with DJ/Producer Martin Jensen to find out more about him and what we can look forward to. Elaine Welteroth is a trailblazer as the former Editor-in-Chief of Teen Vogue, Journalist, NY Times Bestselling Author, and Co-Host/Judge of BRAVO’s Project Runway, we talk about how she recently moderated an engaging panel for CIROC Stands For Black Excellence which was held at NFL House during the Super Bowl in Arizona. We talked about her takeaways from this event, how we continue to support Black journalists, the importance of NABJ and what she is working on. Whitney Cummings makes us laugh whether she is in front of the screen or behind it. She shared how her partnership with Baileys and comedy is a full circle moment, how she is celebrating St. Patrick’s Day and her upcoming shows that we should keep an eye out. When you think about nutrition that we eat for energy, fitness and to get the essentials that we need, an energy bar is our go-to. In this month’s issue, we met the OG who created this category. Jennifer Maxwell and her late husband Brian created POWERBAR in 1985 and even after selling it in 2000, her passion for staying in this category and innovating it led to her creating her latest venture, JAMBAR. We talk about how she went about starting this category, what led her to come back and how this bar combines her love for fitness, nutrition, community and music!

This month’s 9PLAYLIST comes from EDM DJ/Producer Martin Jensen. Our 9LIST STORI3S comes from Chloe Kim. Our 63MIX ROUTIN3S comes Founder of 8Greens which we have featured in a number of issues, Dawn Russell. Our 9DRIP, 9LIST STORI3S and 63MIX ROUTIN3S are 3 pages for each person’s spread.

Our monthly feature, The Art of the Snack shares a must visit to The Oval. This month’s Athleisure List comes from La Pulperia and The Juicy Lounge. As always, we have our monthly roundups of some of our favorite finds.

Read the FEB ISSUE #86 of Athleisure Mag.

CATCHING WAVES WITH COCO HO

We've always enjoyed watching surfing as athletes catch each of the waves and make maneuvers that push space and time. We had the chance to catch up with Coco Ho a few weeks after her recent performance at World Surf League in California. As a member of the Hawaiian surfing dynasty family, her lineage includes her late uncle Derek Ho, who was the first Native Hawaiian to win the world championship at the age of 29. Her father, Michael Ho also grew the sport by winning the Hawaiian Triple Crown, The Duke Classic, The World Cup and the 1982 Pipe Masters. Her brother, Mason Ho is also a pro surfer.

We caught up with Coco from Oahu's North Shore to talk about her effortless style at 5'2", her focus on growing her empire within and outside of the sport as well as her passion for the ocean.

ATHLEISURE MAG: We’re excited to have you in this month’s issue. We actually saw you at the World Surf League’s a few weeks back in California. You come from this amazing Hawaiian surfing dynasty with your dad being Michael Ho, your uncle Derek Ho and your brother, Mason Ho. What was the moment when you realized that you wanted to join surfing as well and then to compete professionally?

COCO HO: I probably didn’t recognize it until I was about 8 or 9 and I was already surfing because that’s what you do when you’re growing up in Hawaii. I was surfing with my brother after school and then all of a sudden, I recognized their power and then got super consumed into the sport and their accomplishments. I kind of already drew parallels and said, “I want to go to Australia with them” and I definitely used them as my mirror of what I wanted to be.

AM: That’s insane to be so young and to know at that moment. Do you remember the first time that you were on a surf board? Was it strange for you or because you were seeing all of these people surf, that you just felt like, “yeah this is what we do?”

CH: My dad played it so cool with us when we were kids. He was so consumed in his career so it wasn’t a focused effort on us. It became a natural thing. Thankfully, I had a big brother where I was able to follow his lead and that’s kind of how I learned how to surf – just with Mason. And then, once my dad kind of paused and looked, he was like, “wait, my kids really like it.” He started giving us his time and his tips. It was never from him like, I’m surfing and I need to make sure that my kids are surfing too.” It was very natural and I think that that’s why it was so successful.

AM: Wow, that’s really cool and because of the accolades that you have received and the way that you have been able to dominate in the sport, what is the legacy that you want to leave behind in terms of surfing?

CH: I think that the most important thing is that our family just oozes the love of the sport. It’s a true passion with my dad and with Derek who were over 50 and still surfing – the best that they have ever surfed in their lives. So I think it’s definitely about a pure love for surfing and obviously, Mason and I are coming in as more of a lineage to show and draw inspiration from family, friends and cousins. It’s just a really tight bond and strong love for the sport and for each other.

AM: How would you define your surfing style?

CH: I would describe it as definitely effortless. I don’t mean for it to look effortless, but sometimes I wish it wasn’t ha. As a competitor, you need to show that grit and grunt. So a little effortless, but hopefully very strong and graceful.

AM: You do make it look so effortless and as someone who is surfing competitively, how does one go about winning this sport? Many of our readers know this sport and have seen it, but how do you accrue points and how do you know when you have won versus someone else?

CH: Yeah, I think it’s pretty broad. Speed, power and flow are a big part of that and wave maneuvers are another part as well. Wow factor is huge too. It’s pretty vague and can be anything. In my career, I have noticed that being a little smaller and sometimes making it look too easy or that I’m not trying, but I’m technically doing harder things – it’s kind of been my downfall as it’s not being recognized in terms of what I’m doing. So I’ve been learning that and just to make everything look bigger because I am only 5’2”. So that’s why on certain beaches with bigger waves, from girls that are larger then me, it may look like their maneuvers are more powerful as they are bigger then me. But I am exerting the same power and technical ability.

AM: We don’t know if we’re using the right terminology, but when we’re watching you surf through what looks like a water tunnel, how does it feel? Is it like time stops – what is going on for you when you’re in that moment?

CH: Oh yeah that’s the barrel and it’s TOTALLY a water tunnel! It’s like a silent/loud moment where time definitely does stop and it’s just the best feeling in surfing hands down. It feels like slow motion.

AM: What is the surf season like typically? Is it a year round sport because you can go to other locations and then obviously as we’re all dealing with this COVID-19 situation, are there upcoming events that you are training for that we can keep an eye out for?

CH: Surfing is 100% a year around sport. I have never actually experienced a break ever in my life until I started dating a snowboarder and I was so confused how he could take the summer off and I was like, “you can’t snowboard for a month or two?” That was like foreign to me! We have so many elements with our sport like paddling and those are things that you kind of lose if you take a month off, but in the same sense, I found that there are a lot of positives to taking even a week off. You come back so fresh and excited. It’s year around and in Hawaii, you don’t even have to leave the island and you’re going to get waves – year around. I know that some places it’s hard for them to be year around, but everyone can travel and that’s what makes it so beautiful. During COVID-19. I never stopped, I never stopped training because I wanted to be at my best, I can still film and I can always still work. Through COVID-19. I never felt any less motivation because we’re always filming. My brother is a very big YouTuber so I hopped into a lot of his projects which is very nice because I’m kind of more the competitor and he’s the free surfer guy. It’s cool to be able to experience his world.

AM: Do you have certain workouts that you do that benefit you in the sport of surfing?

CH: Definitely. Nothing beats practice in the water. I definitely learned that after my knee injury that it is also important to maintain everything that supports the knees. I train with my boyfriend’s Olympic coach and we have been doing that on Zoom since April 1st about 2-3 times a week so it has been very beneficial for me. He changes it up and does things for my core, my legs. I think that I’m strong in my shoulders and then we will do something and I’m like woah – what is that? It’s good to do everything for surfing because we paddle and we hit it all – core, back.

AM: You also have your own fragrance line, Pirette Beach. Tell us more about this and why did you want to launch this?

CH: This is such a fun project. The flagship scent already existed before I became a part of the brand and it’s interesting because I already had it and loved it. It was in my purse and I had already gotten it as a gift. Years later, the brand was doing so well without marketing and a large team as ours is skeletal. I became a co-owner and it's awesome. It came at such a good time and I was already looking at other options in surfing besides the jersey and fashion was obviously one of them. But beauty and taking care of our skin was top notch. It fell into my lap and now it’s my baby!

AM: Last year, you became the Global Footwear Ambassador for REEF. So what is it about the brand that you felt was synergistic with you and what does this partnership look like?

CH: My thing about REEF is obviously the legacy that we have had with my late uncle Derek who was on REEF as a World Champ. So obviously, that was special to me. My brother is also a part of the team. Moving forward, it’s still such a lifestyle beach brand that represents surfing and this lifestyle so well and actually represents it the best! I want to make sure that everything that I represent is the best and having REEF and Pirette Beach doing that is important to me.

AM: You have been directing people to shop from your REEF picks. What is it about the assortment of shoes that you’re highlighting and want people to get that you embrace?

CH: My 3 choices involved my goal of traveling. You can’t really bring everything and look cute at night or be at the beach. My whole goal was to make it easy and to look cute for every time of day that you’re booked. I did a casual white slide that can go from the morning heading out to the beach to at night with a cute top and a cute skirt. I tried to make everything look day to night. My favorite was a wedge platform and it kind of spiced every outfit up. Sometimes, you feel weird to dress up and I love that this shoe did that so casually and cute.

AM: How do you give back to the surfing community?

CH: I have done a lot of things in the past with the Boys & Girls Community in Hawaii. That was a lot of fun. You can surf, chat and I think giving time is the most important thing. As a little girl, I liked to be able to go and to look at my heroes, touch them and I was fortunate to be able to do that. I was under the reign of a lot of the older pro surfers. So that was my goal with the Boy & Girls Club to sit in their classrooms and to interact with them. Let them ask questions, teach me games they want to play and let their goals and dreams spiral and blossom as they hang out with me.

Lately, with all of the ways of the world and where it’s going, I have been involved with Surfrider Foundation and trying to use my platform to help the environment, awareness and it’s such a crazy time. I thought we were doing so well and now we need to circle it all back.

AM: That’s awesome. We love Surfrider Foundation’s Long Beach chapter with their initiatives to clean up the beach and to get people involved.

CH: They are so consistent!

AM: For our changemakers, we know that you inspire a number of people within and outside of your sport. We always like knowing who are 3 people that have gotten you to where you are in life?

CH: I have my family as I have explained! I think the pro surfer women that I have gotten to know and love and admire since I was 10 years old is Rochelle Ballard and Megan Abubo. They gave me that model to hang out with the generation below me and to be there and present with them. That’s how I am now here in the North Shore. I hang out with every little girl. They have done a huge number on who I am today.

Thinking huge, Beyoncé. She’s been such an inspiration in terms of how to structure your career, be vulnerable, be honest and that’s what gets people to be able to believe in you and to know who your are.

I've been obsessed with her since I was 16. I have mimicked and copied how she has gone about dropping her collections or a cool interview. I model a lot of my big career goals and interviews off of her.

Lastly, I would say, Maria Sharapova and I would say that when I was 17, I realized that she showed how you could be so strong and yet feminine. That you could also do a number of things in terms of collaboration, fashion etc. That you don’t have to be ashamed to wear heels and that you can be a bad ass athlete and still into fashion.

IG @xococoho

Hear Pro Surfer, Coco Ho on our show, #TRIBEGOALS - which is a part of Athleisure Studio, our multi-media podcast network! Make sure to subscribe to find out when the episode drops. You can hear it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and wherever you enjoy listening to your favorite podcast.

Read Athleisure Mag’s Sept Issue #57 and see Catching Waves with Coco Ho in mag.