Posts tagged wheels of fortune
Legends Live On: An Interview with Jaime Reyes

Jaime Reyes is arguably one of the toughest people in skateboarding.

At the height of her skateboarding career in the mid 90’s, you could catch her breezing down Lafayette with the Supreme squad, or doing kickflips in the Rookie loft with Lauren Mollica and Lisa Whitaker.  We had the pleasure of interviewing Jaime Reyes on our podcast about her skate beginnings and career in the 90s and early 2000s. After getting to know her more and more since the podcast, we wanted to catch up with Jaime on what skateboarding means to her now and her plans for the future.  We invited Jaime to Brooklyn for a whole weekend to find out.

While we already know Jaime is a badass, we were impressed when we witnessed her push through a stomach bug (we’ll spare the details) on a humid, 95 degree Saturday. She busted out a pivot to fakie on a crusty bank and promptly re-named it the ‘puke to fakie’ - a true legend.

Jaime played a little backseat DJ, made a necessary fried chicken stop a la Harold Hunter and never missed a Yankee’s score update. She even admitted she has 23 blue Yankee’s fitted hats (the brim color changes, obviously). But what stood out to us even more, was that Jaime made sure we felt as good about skating the spots as she did, even pushing us to land our tricks before moving onto the next spot.


Kristen Scalise: I don’t want to call it a comeback, but it feels like you’re making a comeback to skateboarding. I don’t know if that’s more because of social media. Have you been actually skating more recently?

Jaime Reyes: I’ve been skating for the last three years. I went on a seven year hiatus. 2009 I just went into a dark place after my pops passed away. When he passed away I completely stopped skating. I had been miserable for seven years. Three years ago, I was like ‘you know, I need to skate because that’s what always made me happy.’ So yes, I’ve started skating.

KS: And do you feel happier?

JR: Fuck yeah. Relearning some stuff gets frustrating but hey if I did it before I can do it again. It’s all part of skateboarding and I love you skateboarding.

KS: It doesn’t matter.

JR: It doesn’t matter because I fucking threw down some shit.

KS: Laughs you paid your dues.

JR: It’s like being in a union. I paid my dues and I fell today hard. Still paying dues. 

KS: What’s the union?

JR: The skate union. You know, like union workers.

KS: Get that insurance.

JR: No yeah, I love skating. Trying to be the best I can at it. I’m slowly getting all my stuff back. Flipping the board, jumping on ledges. I’m not going to jump down handrails and stairs anymore.

KS: What tricks are you trying to get back next? 

JR: Everything, I just want to skate. Darcy [Jaime’s Partner] said I was way happier now that I’ve been skating. I mean I built a fucking mini ramp– sweat, blood, tears and empty pockets!

KS: Does she skate?

JR: No. She’s the complete opposite of me. I am so much happier and better of a person when I get to skate. 

Adrian Koenigsberg: What about skateboarding really makes you feel that drive and that love?

JR: It’s a feeling you can’t describe.

KS: I can’t imagine trying to describe that too. You’ll know it.

Abi Teixeira: It’s just you on
that shit. 

KS: That’s something I love about skateboarding. You go and do something by yourself but with your friends.

KS: Do you think your love for skateboarding grew over the years, or was it love at
first sight?

JR: I think it was love at first sight. When I stepped on a skateboard I was like dude I love this. I ate shit, I still love you. It’s like my best friend. I call it my purse because I carry it everywhere.

AT: How long have you been
skating for?

JR: Since ‘92. Before you were born probably. I got the cover [of Thrasher] when you were in your dad’s nut sack.

AT: What year? 

JR: ‘94.

AK: That’s the worst way to phrase that. Laughs.

KS: Jaime what are you
scared of?

JR: I don’t know. Disappointing someone, or people.

KS: That’s a real fear though. Not as good as butterflies [Adrian’s fear]. I’m also afraid of that.

AK: Yeah I’m all about the crippling anxiety of disappointing people.

KS: You probably have it worse than I do. Laughs. This is an out of the blue question: Max Fish then versus now.

JR: I miss the old Max Fish, but I am grateful it’s still around!

KS: I feel like Max Fish is not only a bar but a spiritual place.

AT: What’s different about it?

JR: To me it was more of a dive bar. Now it’s a little more clubby. For the most part the peeps are the same. I love going to Max Fish when I am in town!

KS: I can’t think of any other place that is a more open arms place to skateboarders. If you’re a skater you have a home at Max Fish.

JR: When I go to Philly I go to Tattooed Moms. It’s just like that.

KS: What do you think about the skate scene in Richmond? [Where she currently lives]

JR: In Richmond I go to my friend’s house called The Lost Bowl, and it’s awesome because he has a transition park in the backyard and the front yard he has a slappy curb. Thank you Pat Lowry. I learned how to slappy on that curb, it’s awesome. There’s a planter on the front curb. He built all that stuff. Look up #TheLostBowl.

KS: Why did you like the Seaport Ledges so much?

JR: I don’t know, they were dope. There were the old wooden benches and they put the metal corner coping on the ledge. The ground was so smooth.

KS: What’s your favorite trick you got on that ledge?

JR: The switch backside 5-0 and the switch back tail line. That was probably my favorite.

KS: What do you think about skating in Brooklyn?

JR: Everything is all new to me here. Obviously these spots weren’t here when I was skating back then. It was cool.


AK: Do you feel like a lot of Manhattan spots have changed since you skated them?

JR: Hell yeah! There are like 20 Manhattan spots parks now. Back in the day it was just Riverside and the one on the West side and like Canal Street. Before they re did the LES park, it was so bad before. 

KS: Do you use wax?

JR: We talked about this. I shellac a curb.

KS: What is that?

JR: I buy these spray paint thing, and when you gloss up the curb it’s so much better.

AT: You don’t need that in New York, with the metal and shit.

JR: Yeah but did you see that spot where I did the nose slide? That has so much wax on it.

KS: People love wax in New York City.

JR: Jaime points to a three inch scar. This is why I don’t like wax.

KS: What happened?

JR: Someone waxed a
metal curb.

KS: Oh cool.

JR: Metal. Angle. Curb. I slid out and caught the corner. I had to get 20 stitches and 5 internal stitches. This was recently.

KS: I’ve never heard of internal stitches.

JR: Go look at the photo.

KS: I don’t want to look at your injuries anymore.

JR: It was so bad that the doctor thought I got bit by a dog, and I kept skating, drove home and I told my girl that I had to clean my arm up… I didn’t know. It was cold, so it must have been the fall and then blood started dripping down my arm. As soon as I took my long sleeve off, she was like you have to go to the ER now.

KS: Oh my god.

AK: Is this going to make me so nauseous?

KS: This looks a lot like the steak picture next to that post.

JR: That’s a prime rib by the way, that I cooked to a perfect medium rare, it was delicious.

KS: You earned it with those
stitches yo. 

JR: I didn’t know the whole time. The doctor was like you drove from Richmond to home, an hour, and back. Yeah, I didn’t take my long sleeve off. He was like ‘you didn’t feel that?’. He thought I was crazy.

KS: It is crazy! We skated around all weekend and you definitely skoached me.

JR: Yes, I would like to be an Olympic Assistant Skoach. Mimi Knoop, holla at ya girl.

KS: Can we start a petition? Like the Alex White Petition? It does make sense to have a park skoach and a street skoach.

JR: I would love to be a skoach.

KS: What do you like about skoaching?

JR: I just want to get people hyped.

KS: I think you’re really good at that. You really pushed me today, and I could see how you can push someone who really has skills. Laughs.

JR: I recently skoached some kids last weekend. That was fun.

AK: Do you feel like that just comes naturally because you’re interested in seeing other people skate?

JR: I am interested in everyone having fun. If they want to learn, I’ll skoach the shit out of you.

KS: Can you tell if people want it?

JR: Yeah. I hate “I can’t”. Fuck it, at least try. I think that’s probably the most important thing in the skoach. It’s not that I can’t do that, it’s I haven’t done it yet. You at least haven’t tried.

AK: I think that’s cool though, that that’s your approach to it. Especially because you don’t have to be that person.

JR: I can tell, if you want to learn, I will be your hype woman. I am going to be so hyped when you land it.

Abi T: It’s always good to have that one person.

KS: You’re hyped for yourself but you kind of feel like you did it for that person too.

AT: That shit does get me hyped. 

JR: You did a kick flip today!

AT: I tried.

JR: We all made you do a rock to fakie. 

AK: What is one of your favorite Skoaching memories?

JR: Having them land it. Everyone landing that trick. Their reaction is priceless, they’re so psyched. It doesn’t matter what the trick is.

KS: In the car, we were talking about music. Favorite song you’ve ever skated to?

JR: Gloria Estefan, Falling in Love.

KS: You said your friend Darin put the retrospective together. Who is Darin?

JR: Darin Lee is a dude I grew up skating with in Hawaii. He filmed 90% of my Hawaii stuff.

KS: What’s your favorite type of music?

JR: I like everything. Cage the Elephant. Modest Mouse. When in Rome. I loved Jay-Z’s first three albums. I used to always skate to the Pixies back in the day. Smashing Pumpkins were my favorite growing up. Let’s listen to Mayonnaise right now.

AK: How do you feel when people are making retrospectives of you? Or talking about your career in the past tense, even though you’re still here and still active.

JR: I guess it should bug me but I am just here to skate.

AK: I don’t mean to get in your head.

KS: If you’re here to skate and have fun, why should it bug you? Do you think social media has influenced skating?

JR: It glorified skateboarding. I don’t know if that’s the right word but you see more skateboarding now through social media period.

KS: Totally. Do you interact with skateboarding differently since joining social media? 

JR: I’m not sure. There’s a lot of good fuckers out there.

KS: Do you wish there was social media in the 90’s.

JR: No.

KS: I wouldn’t either

JR: I came up without it.

AK: The only reason I would wish there was social media in the 90’s is so that I could see better quality footage of the people that I really haven’t gotten to see.

JR: If there was social media in the 90’s, I think I spoke about this before, there would have been a lot more girls out there that we didn’t know about.

KS: Do you think there are more girls out there now because of social media?

JR: Oh yeah.

KS: What are some current skaters that are crushing it?

JR: Everyone’s killing it. Everyone. There’s too many to name.

AK: To go back to our social media question, do you think there’s a combined stoke that is pushing everyone?

JR: Yeah I think so.

KS: Do you think people are just as hyped to see it on social media as they are in person? Like I can see my friends land a trick in Australia.

JR: Yeah if you have a heart, you’re fucking stoked. You should always be stoked to see someone else land shit.

KS: This might just be because of my radar, but you’ve been at a lot more women focused events like Wheels of Fortune, or the SK8 Babes meet-up. Have you always attended women’s meet-ups? Is that something new?

JR: I go to wherever, whenever, whoever flys me out. Thank you to those sponsors!

KS: Are you seeing more women’s skate meet ups as
of late?

JR: Yeah in the last few years, there are more women’s events than before. It’s definitely due to social media and it is a positive thing. I don’t care if you’re brown, yellow, green, dude, chick…just skate.

AK: I feel like if you feel comfortable about the people you’re with, it’s such a good feeling.

KS: That’s what really interests me about you [Jaime] and interviews with Elissa Steamer. You are two people that have just stuck out to me as like ‘yeah I’ve just always skated’. I think there’s a personality type that is you and Steamer that is like ‘I just love it so I did it.’  I really connect with that feeling. I’m just going to show up to the park and you can just wait for me, I don’t care about how slow I’m going, I’m learning. I think that’s super sick.
    Anyway, there’s been a few movies featuring skateboarding lately, such as Mid 90’s. How do you feel about how people are portraying skateboarding?

JR: I think that Mid 90’s did a great job. They didn’t glorify skateboarding. They showed both sides, that everyone has their fucking problems. It reminded me of when I was in the 90’s growing up skateboarding.
     We all were coming from fucked up backgrounds. There were only a couple of us whose parents are together. I identified with Mid 90’s. It was the crew I grew up with.

KS: I do think the perspective they took was cool.

JR: You know, skateboarding really brings all types of people together.
     That’s a beautiful thing. 


Behind the Lens: An Interview with Photographer Zorah Olivia

Zorah Olivia is probably responsible for your favorite skate photos.

She’s a tour de force in the skate industry, covering everything from: the X Games to the upcoming Olympics and goofy portraits of our skate icons. Zorah’s crystal clear style stops each moment so perfectly. This photo series from the 2019 Dew Tour offers a snapshot of what Zorah captures best. We sat down to talk the contest, Zorah’s life, and everything skate photography.

Photos by Zorah OliviaA version of this interview appears in Issue 004 of Quell Skateboarding. Buy a copy online here.


Can you give us a brief history of how you started skating and shooting?

I started skating when I was 10 years old. I remember watching my cousins play Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and I was hooked. I’ve honestly always been shooting photos. Both of my parents are photographers, so I grew up in an artistic household.  Naturally at first as a kid, you want to do the exact opposite of what your parents do, so skateboarding was my main focus for years. It wasn’t until I turned 16 that I really started taking photography seriously. 

How do you think going to Woodward for skating and for photography has influenced your approach to skateboarding and capturing skateboarding?

Going to Woodward as a kid absolutely shaped who I am as an individual, skateboarder and a photographer. Woodward was the first time that I was exposed to other female skaters. I felt free and able to fully be myself. When they introduced the photography program to camp in 2009 my entire world changed. For the first time, I was given access to top professional skateboarders, the best photography equipment, and real life photo scenarios. To this day, I’m still incredibly grateful for that time in my life.

Often skate photography is just about the ‘spot’ as it is about the subject or the trick - can you talk a bit about how you approach skate spots and angles?

The majority of the time, skaters and filmers introduce me to spots, so when I go out with them I’m seeing everything for the first time. You can make a creative image out of any spot, it’s all about using your eye to pull the best qualities out of any location.  The key is to pay attention to the details, colors, textures, and human elements. 

What’s your ideal setting for taking skate photos?

A spontaneous phone call from a friend, meeting up for iced coffee first, and exploring the city for unusual spots. It’s all about being spontaneous for me and my crew. 

Do you approach street, park and contest photos differently?

Street definitely comes naturally for me, park and contest shooting is always a necessary learning experience. I just observe first and pre-visualize how I want to shoot the skaters desired trick. Contest photography is more so about getting as much content as you can in a set amount of time. 

How did you get involved in shooting contest photography?

Contest photography was actually my first true introduction to the skate industry! In 2016, I emailed Kim Woozy from Mafia.TV and asked about internships. She emailed me back and really liked my portfolio. We ended up talking on the phone for over an hour. On that same first phone call, Kim invited me to shoot the X-Games in Austin, Texas! She flew me out to Seattle, WA first to introduce me to the female skate community. That was my first time at Wheels of Fortune, so officially WOF was the first time I shot a skate contest. 

Specifically, what were some of the exciting parts and some of the challenges of shooting this year’s Dew Tour? 

My only challenge with Dew Tour was gaining access to the course to shoot with the girls. But I did end up meeting a lot of amazing people who helped organize Dew Tour that want me to officially shoot for them next year!  The most exciting part about Dew was seeing all of my friends in one place. That’s what we all love about contests, no matter how much pressure we all feel, we’re just thankful to be with each other. It’s like a big family reunion.

How did you approach photographing practice versus the contest?

During practice, I always try to get as much action content as possible because on finals day they absolutely won’t let you anywhere near the course. Finals day I focus on the individual skaters, their reactions with not only themselves but with everyone else. I just want those viewing my photos to feel how they felt that day. 

If we came back from the future to tell 14 year old Zorah that when you get older you’ll be shooting some of the biggest pro skaters in the world, how would you react?

I probably wouldn’t believe you! But that would have saved me years of worrying about my future.

We heard, from you, that you’ll be shooting at the Olympics, would you like to share a little about how you got the opportunity and how you’re preparing for it? 

Yes! I recently signed with FujiFilm. I’m incredibly grateful for their support. I’m currently working on the early stages of a photo series leading up to the Olympics. More details coming soon! 

What’s your advice for people who want to get into skate photography?

Practice, be vulnerable and fully put your heart into your work.


Quell Party EP 09 – Kristin Ebeling

On this week's episode of Quell Party, we talk to Kristin Ebeling, Executive Director of Skate Like a Girl, founder of the Wheels of Fortune Weekend, and co-founder of The Skate Witches Zine on why it’s fun to have lots of hobbies, how to maintain a positive attitude, and so much more.

Listen to her special Quell Party playlist on Spotify. Thanks to our sponsor Queen of Swords. If you love us, please rate us 5 stars and write a review! DM us @quellskate on Instagram or email info@quellskate.com with any questions, comments or concerns. Thanks for joining the party.