Beatrice Domond Steps Into the Center of Skateboarding

Beatrice Domond is the future of skateboarding. Top-shelf sponsors, including Fucking Awesome, Supreme and Vans, work with her. She’s on the radar of Louis Vuitton. But why is Beatrice unique? Art shows and intimate interviews are several factors that have won her the respect of fans, friends and peers. From humble beginnings in Florida to footage in high-profile video productions and publications, there’s a flair and relatability to Domond’s approach that cuts through the more macho tropes of skateboarding.

As a Black woman in an industry historically driven by and marketed toward white men, Domond’s accomplishments have established her as a role model. She’s representative of a seismic shift in skateboarding culture, and has cemented herself as a name driven by perseverance, creativity and a smartphone. A self-proclaimed loner, Domond started out filming herself in her sleepy suburb of Delray Beach, Florida, taking inspiration from the wealth of skate videos uploaded to the internet. She gravitated toward the more eclectic side of skateboarding at a young age, and cites Alien Workshop as a major influence. She documented her progress on her own, DMing brands on Instagram and creating her own lane by mixing sincere innocence with a yearning to connect with the larger industry she admired.

In the 2010s, Domond’s journey was as much an outlier in skateboarding as it was predictive of its future. Continuing to broadcast her progress on sun-drenched streets and local parks, she caught the attention of videographer William Strobeck, who offered constructive criticism and a vital connection to the most high-profile brands in the business. Domond’s ensuing career across skateboarding, fashion and art is as much an industry anomaly as it is symbolic of a larger sea change.

Following a recent collaboration with Vans; footage in several Supreme video projects, including cherry, Blessed and Play Dead; and a clip for Fucking Awesome’s debut full-length video, she’s become entrenched in a world that both sponsored and unsponsored skaters can only dream of. She’s reached these pinnacles by being unabashedly herself.

If Domond represents everything progressive about skateboarding today, it’s trailblazers like Elissa Steamer whose shoulders she stands on. A fellow Floridian, Steamer is often cited as a key figure in opening the door for women skateboarders. She made her breakthrough in the ’90s as the only female member of the original Toy Machine team, appearing in the company’s influential 1996 Welcome to Hell video. Steamer’s reputation grew further as the first woman to be featured in the iconic video game series Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater.

Here, the two Floridians open up about their roots, process and shared addiction to skateboarding.