Natalie Krishna Das photo by Feral Rust at HELL BOWL

Queen of Hype, Natalie Krishna Das always brings the good vibes. Natalie lives many lives and brings so many positive things to her community in skateboarding. While she first caught our eye through Las ChicAZ Slice of Hell, we grew to become obsessed with her photography.

Natalie captures the spirit of skateboarding in every photo she takes. Every photo makes you feel like we’re apart of the ride.

First, what are your pronouns?

She, Her, It

How did you start skateboarding? How old were you? Where did you grow up?

My little brother left his skateboard at my mom’s house in Glendale, AZ. I picked it up when I was 16. I had just moved to Arizona from Jackson, MS. I started by rolling off of curbs and skating around my hood. I met my best friend Nicole Pothen at school playing soccer and we would ditch to go to the skatepark.

What made you want to pick up the skateboard? What inspired you to keep skating?

I started skating 22 years ago. I always wanted to learn how. I loved how punk rock and rebellious it was at the time. I remember traveling to skate all of the All Girl Skate Jam events. That’s what really lit the fire in me to continue skating, traveling and competing. I ended up skating all of the Southern California CASL contests along with some smaller series of contests where I met Lacey Baker, Lindsey Pastrana, Ocea Lei and many others.

When did you start being interested in photography?

I’ve always loved shooting photos. I had a Vivitar film camera when I was about 10 years old. I took it everywhere with me. My dad handed me down a super nice Nikon SLR when I turned 15. At Arizona State University, I minored in Interdisciplinary Arts where I studied black and white photography and photoshop. This sparked my deep down interest in photography. My view of photography morphed from a classic style to a more artistic style of setting up the shoots.

When did you start taking skate photos?

I drove across the US with a crew of skateboarder photographers about 15 years ago (I know, I’m old) and we took turns shooting each other for a photography blog. The crew consisted of Mike Tindle, Mikey Duran, me, and a one more.

Throughout the years, I’ve picked up tips from friends and legends along the way. Rhino from Thrasher helped guide me into getting my newest camera addition of a Canon 7D Mark II.

Did you take skate photos before going on this trip? or was this an all immersive experience?

Prior to this trip, I shot skate photos, but I was more focused on shooting fashion photography.

How would you describe Las Chicaz? What is your mission?

Las ChicAZ started as a small crew of girls in AZ. It’s now evolved into a crew of 25 girls and 12 dudes spanning across the globe. We have riders in Canada, Mexico, Norway, and The USA. Our mission is to have epic road trips as team builders while skating some iconic spots and new spots. We also throw monthly events where we team up with various non profits and a different brewery each month.

LasChicAZ group photo at the famous backyard HELL BOWL DIY in Tucson, AZ

How do you select what non profits to work with as Las ChicAZ?

We try to team up with non profits who help women in need who are local. The last non profit we helped was TQPuebla. We were able to supply a misplaced trans couple from Cuba with furnishings for their new apartment. The couple had just been released from ICE detention. We’ve also helped the Caring Coalition with their food bank for high school kids without lunches, HOPE for women and men of domestic abuse, and many more.

How did Las ChicAZ form?

About 7 years ago, The Berrics hosted an online video contest. We had a crew, but no name. I called us “Las ChicAZ” and we entered the contest. Our crew is always evolving. More members join and they move closer, and some move away.

We were invited to judge a contest in Puerto Peñasco, Mexico years ago and when they announced “Las ChicAZ” we realized that it sounded lame. THE GIRLS… what was I thinking?! LOL So we added “Las ChicAZ SLICE OF HELL”

It seems like from the start you were skateboarding with women and are a part of so many groups or organizations that support women.

How has surrounding yourself with women helped you grow as a skateboarder?

When I first started skating, I was one of the only girls at any skatepark from 1999 until about 2012. It was intimidating to show up to a new park to be surrounded by only guys. Don’t get me wrong, the guys were super supportive. Skating with girls is an entirely different experience though. I was always the “token girl” on my various guy skate teams. We would go skate a spot and it would be a huge gap or handrail. I was more of a vert skater, so I would just skate the red curbs off to the side. Once I found more girls to skate with, we would skate similar things and I would actually enjoy skating different spots.

Katie from HELL BOWL & Skate B.A.B.S. by Natalie

What do you do with Exposure and Skate Rising?

I’m the Manager of Social Media for Exposure Skate. I interview skaters, repost everybody’s awesome videos, and create new content for the brand. With Skate Rising, I am the Program Director for Arizona with my counterpart Stacy Lovell (mother of badass young ripper Mia Lovell.) I also handle the social media for Skate Rising.

At Skate Rising we teach girls ages 4-18 how to skate. They learn empowerment through skating and compassion through service. We have a theme for each event that is in line with the selected charity. A guest speaker comes and the girls do a hands on activity to get involved with being charitable.

How did you get involved in those organizations?

I started out as a volunteer for Skate After School and Tim Ward suggested that Stacy Lovell reach out to me about volunteering for Skate Rising as an assistant event manager. Since then, I’ve been promoted to Program Director and I was also hired onto the management team for Exposure Skate.

Skate Rising is an incredible way to support young skateboarders and work with children. How do you balance being a mother and a skateboarder?

No joke, it’s rough. My daughter just turned 4. Anytime I try to leave the house to go skate, she asks to come with me and gets upset when I leave. Luckily, my husband is super supportive and he hangs out with my daughter when I go skate. If she comes with me, I can’t focus on learning new tricks. It’s exciting when she wants to skate with me, but it’s important that I have some adult time for some skate therapy.

Does your daughter have an interest in skateboarding?

She does. She will do rock to fakies if I hold her hand. She just turned 4 and has a love for adrenaline like her mama and I’m excited to take her on this skate journey with me as long as she wants to go.

What advice would you give for someone who wants to start skateboarding?

It’s never too late to learn. It doesn’t matter what age you are. If you want to learn a new skill, it takes time and effort. Skateboarding is 90% mental. It definitely helps to be in good shape though.

Interview by Adrian Koenigsberg
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