CINDY WHITEHEAD: INTERVIEW

Today I had the awesome opportunity to sit down with a most amazing woman. Her name is Cindy Whitehead, and if you have never heard of her, now ya know. Cindy has skated pro for SIMS, and currently works in sports fashion. Her most amazing act so far is designing a deck for a Non-Profit called BOARD RESCUE. BOARD RESCUE, has helped provide skate gear to kids whose families may not be able to afford it otherwise. We'll let Cindy expand on that, and her bombing the 405 fwy 2 in LA, to raise funds for the non-profit.

GROW : Hi Cindy, I must admit I had never heard of you until we got talking about women and skating, but now that I do I am totally amazed and admire all your work:

CINDY: Thanks, I was a pro vert skater back in the late 70's and early 80's & I am still very involved with skateboarding to this day. Most of us old school pro girls are - we believed in it then and we believe in supporting it now.

GROW: Let's start by talking about your pro skater days with Sims. What was it like for you? Did you find it difficult being a girl in an industry dominated by boys?

CINDY: I didn't find it difficult because I grew up with an older brother and spent a lot of time surfing with guys and having guy friends since I was very young. Plus if you give respect, skate hard, don't expect people to "let" you drop in because you are a girl, guys will respect you and the gender thing doesn't become a huge issue (in my book). The only time it was hard was when we traveled - sometimes I was staying in a room with my male teammates and I'd get the floor as I was usually one of the youngest - not because I was a girl.
 

GROW: How did you get into your current career?

CINDY: I started working as a fashion stylist working with a very young Mary Kate & Ashley Olsen, Angelina Jolie, Lyle Lovett, etc. and about 8 years into that I met a photographer who just shot sports and I thought how great it would be to merge my two loves (fashion & sports) together. So I focused on creating a niche and coined/trademarked the name Sports Stylist®. People in my industry thought I was crazy, as at that time there were not tons of sports ads like there are now. My agency told me if I refused to do other types of styling they'd drop me. So we parted ways and here I am - doing what I absolutely love everyday for the past 15 years. Getting to work & style incredible pro & Olympic athletes for some of the raddest ad campaigns & editorial shoots you can imagine.

GROW: Do you feel like you help girls and women be their best?

CINDY: I sure hope I do! I feel that women don't need to drag one another down to get ahead. A compliment or a leg up to another female is not bringing you down - it's lifting us all up. If we all promote & respect one another we all get ahead. It's really that simple. When I am working I am very aware that when I have a female pro athlete on set and she is not entirely comfortable in something that perhaps is not her image, that maybe we can subtly tweak the wardrobe so she feels confident and who she is shines through. I love being able to do that to some extent, by working with the athlete, the creative director and the client to find a solution where everyone is happy (and comfortable) with the final look.

GROW : Can you tell us more about BOARD RESCUE and what your mission is?

CINDY: Board Rescue is a non-profit organization run by Judi Oyama (a former pro rider that I am friends with and used to compete against back in the day) and Gary Holl that helps provide skateboards and safety gear to underprivileged and at risk youth. It's a cause I believe in 100% and I really appreciate Board Rescue asking me to be involved. About 30 pro skaters and artists are asked to design a one of a kind board or art piece that then is unveiled at the Board Rescue party/event in Santa Cruz. Right after the event, all the boards got up for auction on Ebay to raise money for the cause. Its a great chance for people to own a one of a kind board designed by a skater they know or love, and to help some great kids in the process.

GROW: Tell us how you came up with the idea for the deck you designed? Did you borrow from certain inspiration and things that have effected you as a woman?


CINDY: Last year I designed a deck called "GIRL is not a 4 letter word" and it sold really well due to its female inspired message (I even had guys telling me they had bid on it!). This year I designed "It's Not About Pretty" as I feel that sometimes young girls and young women need a gentle reminder that life isn't just about being pretty, its about being pretty KICKASS at whatever you choose to do. There is a lot of emphasis in our society about looks, and while I think everyone wants to feel pretty & look their best, there is more to succeeding life than "just" that. 

GROW: How did it feel to skate the 405 fwy 2? Did it take you back to your pro days? Was there tons of media? And most importantly, what did you wear? HAHA.

CINDY: It felt pretty awesome. It's something I had thought about for a few months as I knew Carmegeddon was coming up (where they were shutting down the 405 fwy for 10 miles in each direction to demolish a bridge) but 2 nights before the closure started they had LAPD on the news warning people that if they were caught trying to "play or access" the freeway they would be arrested. So at that point I thought it probably wasn't a great idea. But Saturday night my husband and I started talking about it a bit more and decided to get up at 5 AM, head out there and see if there was a spot we could get on and do it. All exits and on ramps had 1 to 2 police cars on them & they had patrol cars going up and down the 405 watching for people. After trying to access 4 different posts with no luck we were ready to call it a day and head home. All of a sudden we saw a spot with no one around, fairly easy access and we just went for it! Turned out to be the ride of my life - smoother than I thought, a huge adrenalin rush and not getting caught was a bonus. Once I posted the picture on Facebook and instagram that's when the media found it and the news crews started arrived to have me talk about it and show the sequence of photos. Turns out 7 people were cited or arrested that weekend and I was the only one who made it onto the fwy and was not seen. It ranks up there when I was 15 years old and was told that I had the centerfold in a skateboarding magazine riding vert. Two amazing moments in my life that have to do with skateboarding. As for what I wore, the long sleeve tee with the smiley face was to hopefully let the police know that this was all in "fun", the bright pink Vans sneakers were actually because of ULA BOWMAN (her dad is pro skater Brad Bowman) as she told me I had to have them when we were shopping together a few months ago - that little girl is my fashion icon! The Wes Humpston Bulldog Skateboard is stable and old school (they way I like it) & was outfitted with soft Kryptos for a smoother ride as I had no idea how rough the fwy would be.

GROW: Well thank you so much for your time. I know our readers, fans, and friends will be inspired by your story. We'll be keeping our eye on you.

CINDY: Thanks so much for asking me! I love what you are doing for women's skateboarding - keep up the good work!

Follow Cindy on her site: It's not about pretty