Beatrice Domond: the first female skateboarder to be sponsored by Supreme

Beatrice Domond is the epitome of skateboarding. Cool, unbothered and relentlessly obsessed with it. While many try to emulate the attitude, Beatrice, she’s just got it. And plenty of others have noticed – heavyweight brands like Supreme, Fucking Awesome and Vans have each co-signed the skater, Bill Strobeck is her pen pal and Thom Browne enlisted her to model his golf collection last year. It’s hardly surprising. In a culture that weeds out posers and respects authenticity, Beatrice stands tall.

Beatrice first picked up a skateboard at the age of seven as a prop for a school photo. She went home later that day and begged her parents for a board of her own. She finally managed to wear her dad down, he bought her one from Walmart, and she hasn’t stopped skating since.

Beatrice spent her childhood in Florida rolling around her patio and cruising sidewalks – unfamiliar with the culture and community surrounding the sport (and blissfully unaware that you could do skateboarding tricks). She discovered grainy DIY skate videos on YouTube, and everything changed. Beatrice soon started filming and uploading her own low-fi, self-made tapes.

Buzz started to build, Beatrice became more immersed within the facets of skate culture but most importantly, she just kept skating. She struck an unlikely friendship with Bill Strobeck, after finding his email online, and a string of exchanges led to the iconic skate videographer choosing to include Beatrice in Supreme’s skate film Cherry. A feat that would unnerve most, Beatrice admits that she didn’t even know what Supreme was at the time. Now she’s the first female skateboarder that the brand has ever sponsored.

With a lifelong infatuation that shows no signs of slowing down and a talent that’s sent her to the top, Beatrice has a lot to shout about. But she doesn’t – that’s not why she got into skateboarding.

Are you an early riser?

Yeah, I prefer the morning. By the time it’s 12 I’m like, ​“Oh, my day’s over.”

So what time do you normally wake up?

Like, 5? I eat breakfast, get ready and try and go skate as early as possible. It’s better in the morning ​‘cos it’s not too hot.

What’s the perfect skating conditions?

70 with a little bit of sun out.

You recently moved to New York, have you found a fave skate spot yet?

I like Tompkins cos it has flat ground. It’s a public park but there’s this basketball court that’s empty and has little obstacles that you can skate on – you know, flat ground tricks. You don’t need anything, you just need yourself and a board to have some fun, so it’s a cool spot.

What drew you to skateboarding over other sports when you were younger?

I guess with skateboarding it’s all you. You don’t need to rely on anyone, it’s a personal sport and I guess that’s what drew me to it. I didn’t need anybody else to play with or anybody else to stand in the goal and I think that’s what made me get into it. I could just be by myself and it would still be fun. I like solitude.

Skateboarding can be such a relentless and sometimes toilsome hobby – it’s really repetitive.

If you’re not into repetition and you don’t have patience then skateboarding’s maybe not for you. I love a good challenge and I enjoy figuring things out. It’s like you unlock a new space in your mind.

What are your fave skate mags?

Thrasher. TransWorld, even though it’s no longer around. I’m really into Free Skate mag. We don’t really have a lot of magazines in the US anymore – just Thrasher.

Are there any parts of skateboard culture you don’t like?

It’s something different to what it was. People don’t get into skateboarding because they love it anymore. They get into it because it’s cool or trendy and that’s super annoying.

How did you first reach out to Bill Strobeck?

I was a really big fan of his work when I was younger. I made a video and then I sent it to him on email. He responded like, ​“Oh, super cool. Keep doing your thing!” I just took that as him saying, ​“Send me every single one you ever make.” But he was super nice about it and would watch all my videos and give me feedback. Eventually I guess I started progressing and he was super hyped. Then he said that he was making this video and at the time the video was Cherry, the Supreme video. I was like, ​“Oh, I don’t know what that is.” I didn’t even know what Supreme was, so I was like I dunno, sick, I’ll send you some videos.

What were you doing the day you found out that Supreme wanted to sponsor you?

I think I was probably just skating.

What advice do you have for people wanting to get sponsored?

If you want to get sponsored then don’t try to get sponsored. Enjoy your youth, just skate and it will come to you if it’s meant for you. Don’t go looking for it. Put in effort, if you have a favourite company then send in your sponsorship tape. You shouldn’t be out skating with the purpose of this will get me sponsored. One, it won’t because people can see right through it. And two, it’s not worth of your youth.