Today we’d like to introduce you to Amelia Brodka.
Amelia, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I was born and spent the first decade of my life in a small town in Poland as the country faced complete economic upheaval in its transition from Communism. In a desperate effort to create a better life for his children, my father entered a U.S. Visa lottery and to his surprise, he was granted the opportunity to travel to a country we all revered. His experience solidified his belief and he worked hard for years in order to move us to the U.S.
My parents left everything they knew to struggle in the U.S. because they felt it would ensure a bright future for their children. Imagine their disappointment when their only daughter suddenly developed an obsession with skateboarding. Little did we know that the hours spent tirelessly kicking around the skateboard would lead me to a college scholarship, global travel and philanthropic work. I maintained straight A’s in school because I knew that would ensure that my parents would never keep me from skateboarding. In middle school, my parents convinced me to enter a competitive academic program that secured private school scholarships for low-income students by offering to send me to skateboarding camp.
I advanced through the stages of classes over two summers and a year of Saturdays. I secured a full scholarship to Gould Academy in Bethel, Maine. Despite my heavy academic load, I always found time for skateboarding. By age 14, I started entering every skateboarding competition I could find. Typically, I was the only female amongst a sea of boys, but I usually placed top 3 and even won the New England High School series. By 16, I began competing in professional women’s skateboarding events around the country and I won my first pro contest at 17. My travels lead me to discover the mecca of skateboarding: Southern California. I was determined to move there after high school and I knew that a college scholarship would be my ticket.
I worked tirelessly to prepare for standardized tests, to get straight A’s in my AP classes and on my college essays. I received a full scholarship to USC where I studied two majors: Communication and Narrative Studies. I competed professionally in skateboarding throughout college but in 2010, opportunities for female skaters suddenly disappeared.
Determined to find out why I set out to make a feature-length documentary about the state of women’s skateboarding I didn’t know the first thing about filmmaking but skateboarding taught me that even the seemingly impossible could be accomplished through perseverance. I finished the film by the end of my senior year and it served as my thesis for my Narrative Studies major. Upon graduating, I was awarded a Discovery Scholars Honor for my academic standing and unique senior project.
I spent my first summer out of college traveling to film festivals with Underexposed: A Women’s Skateboarding Documentary. The screenings inspired a team of volunteers and philanthropists such as Lesli Cohen to reach out and offer to help alleviate the issue. By the fall, I called upon these volunteers to help me implement a solution: a skateboarding event that would garner exposure for the growth and progress of women’s skateboarding and inspire women and girls all over the world. The event also raised money for a scholarship for survivors of domestic violence. The success and excitement of the event lead Cohen and I to start a nonprofit dedicated to empowering women through skateboarding.
During the first few years of Exposure Skate, I worked as a contractor in marketing, social media, web design and taught skate lessons all while skateboarding professionally and slowly grew the nonprofit on the side. Today, I run Exposure Skate full-time, was crowned 2017 European Skateboard Park Champion, won the Game Changer Award at the San Diego Women of Influence Awards, serve on the board of World Skate, the advisory board for the Tony Hawk Foundation and volunteer at the Poseidon Foundation.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
When I first started skating in New Jersey I was called a “poser” and told that I was actually a guy because of my interest in skateboarding. However, I focused on the fact that girls like Lyn-Z Adams Hawkins and Elissa Steamer were out there supported for their skateboarding. I usually just skated alone so that I could focus on what I love without getting hassled. Living in New Jersey and Maine was not ideal for skateboarding because of the weather and the fact that skateparks were few and far between.
Once I eventually moved to California, it was like night and day and it seemed like I was on the path to getting invited to the top competitions, which seemed like the only way for a female skater to “make it” because companies were not supporting the women via sponsorships in the way they supported the men. I was finally invited to be an alternate in the X Games Women’s vert contest and as I watched from the sidelines, I vowed I would make the cut the following year! So I organized all of my classes at USC to happen in the mornings and then in the afternoons, I would drive down to San Diego to skate a vert ramp.
I progressed a lot and made a video that impressed the selection committee. They told me I would have been on the invite list but the women’s event was canceled. It was then that I realized something had to change. There was a growing number of female skaters who were progressing the sport and yet the amount of opportunities was dwindling. I wondered whether there was a disconnect between what I was experiencing and what the action sports industry assumed to be true. This lead me to create Underexposed: A Women’s Skateboarding Documentary.
Please tell us about Exposure Skate.
The premier of Underexposed inspired philanthropist Lesi Cohen to partner with me to start Exposure Skate, a 501(c)3 dedicated to empowering women and girls through skateboarding. Currently, we run Exposure, the world’s largest women’s skateboarding event. Exposure brings together over 160 amateur and professional female skaters from 15 different countries to pursue their dreams. We feature bowl and street events and bring in Tony Hawk’s vert ramp for a vert event. Our video contests have given girls who aspire to become professional skateboarders the opportunity to win all-expenses-paid trips to California, the mecca of skateboarding, for the event. We also include a vendor village that showcases a healthy lifestyle.
Each year, the event serves as a benefit for survivors of domestic violence. This year, Exposure will fall on November 3-4 in Encinitas. Our youth program, Skate Rising, teaches compassion through service and empowerment through skateboarding. Each event consists of a teaching moment about a need in the community, a community service project and a learn to skate clinic. Past service projects have included making bracelets for victims of bullying, assembling homeless support kits and creating empowering journals for We also run women’s adult clinics, public speaking engagements as well as girls clinics and sessions all over the world.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
One of my favorite memories from childhood is the celebration of the Polish water fight holiday called “śmingus dingus.” Every Monday after Easter, everyone in the neighborhood prepares their makeshift water guns out of old soda bottles, water balloons and buckets and the entire town engages in a huge water fight. I distinctly remember leaving my communist-style apartment completely unarmed and unprepared one śmingus dingus and did not think twice when my grandma asked: “are you sure you want to go out there like that?”
As soon as I stepped outside I saw the mayhem; Kids in raincoats were chasing each other with homemade water guns, adults were on their balconies dumping buckets of water on unsuspecting passersby and there I was — empty handed and wearing cotton. As soon as they realized that I was completely helpless, the kids joined forces to chase me. I ran back into the building but eventually got cornered in the stairwell.
I returned to the apartment minutes after I left, soaking wet, only to be greeted by my brothers who proceeded to continue the attack. That śmingus dingus, I learned to always be prepared. I distinctly remember waking up before dawn the following year just to attack my brothers with my top-secret water gun while they were still in bed.
Pricing:
- Booth at Exposure – $300 for a two-day booth space
- Bronze Sponsor of Exposure – $600 for branding at the event site, booth space and social media mentions
- Title Sponsor – $20,000 – company name becomes bound to the exposure event
Contact Info:
- Website: www.exposureskate.org
- Email: support@exposureskate.org
- Instagram: exposureskate
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/exposureskate
- Twitter: exposureskate
Image Credit:
Blair Alley, Jaime Owens, Dave Swift, Nina Seibert, Pete Santos
Getting in touch: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
