We caught up with skateboarder and artist Nora Vasconcellos to see what it’s like to navigate life on four wheels. Having been introduced to skateboarding at a young age, Nora maintains the goofy, authentic attitude of her youth. Learn how she channels them into her passions for skating and art as we spend a day in Hawaii with her.
How the little things keep her moving and grooving.
Nora Vasconcellos is her absolute best when she’s on a skateboard, or maybe it’s when she busts out a rhyme during soundcheck. We caught up with her in Haiku, Maui, Hawaii in the middle of a rainstorm; but that didn’t stop her from appreciating how beautifully green and saturated the island looks when it’s wet.
We learn quickly that Nora appreciates the simple things in life. When asked about the five things she needs every day, she starts out with the practicals: her contacts and/or glasses (of course), and then rambles off at least ten more things including her skateboard, pens and paper for art, surfboards, her friends, her boyfriend, and her family, and the need to send them memes. “Any form of sugar. I have a problem and that’s something I’ll address at a different time in my life,” and then, “the quiet,” and birds chirping, and the smell of fresh cut grass. Nora may need a handful of things each day, but she certainly doesn’t need to check her priorities.
Nora received her first skateboard around age five. She fondly remembers it as being “totally ridiculous.” Skating didn’t become her priority until middle school, where she spent a lot of time at a vert ramp known as Rye Airfield in New Hampshire. It was there that Nora became obsessed.
The industry is so male run…it was super hard to be taken seriously as a skater.
Nora describes her middle school skate years as “living a double life,” where her and her skaterat friends would be so enmeshed in the sport and the culture, and those who didn’t skate just didn’t understand it. In the beginning, she was driven by pure passion, not contracts or making money. Only when she decided to pursue skating professionally did Nora realize what a male-dominated sport skating was. “The industry is so male run… it was super hard to be taken seriously as a skater.” Nora was often the only girl among a crew of boys. This challenge could have scared her away, but instead it fueled her commitment and she just rolled with it. Nora calmly reflects on telling herself at that time, “alright, failure’s not an option I guess.” It’s this sense of quiet confidence that Nora carries her throughout everything she does.
When she gets down, Nora says that she reflects on the past and thinks about how badly she wanted to be where she is today. It helps her deal with the demons of self-doubt and “the darker stuff.” Nora lives by the idea that attitude is greater than ability — “if I have my attitude and my overall outlook in check… my ability is so much greater than, than if I don't… in my relationships… in skateboarding… in my work, and my art.” She uses this mantra as a tool to navigate through life and be her most authentic self, something she holds so dear. Nora says this as she asks us, “what’s the grossest thing you’ve ever seen? Is it me eating ice cream?” You can tell she doesn’t ever miss a chance to have fun.
If I have my attitude and my overall outlook in check, my ability is so much greater than if I don't.
Nora also finds authentic expression through artwork. The first piece she shows off? A tattoo of a dolphin with a mullet that she designed for a friend. Integrating skate culture into her art, Nora paints on skate deck grip tape and then cuts it up, configuring the shapes into a totally new, geometric, abstract piece. She tells us, “whenever I have a skateboard that I’ve done some artwork on or that I think looks pretty, I skate so much better on it.” Even in Nora’s art, it’s understood that little things make up the bigger picture. The same way her cut-up squares make a great piece of art even better, it’s her small affirmations to herself, her goofy jokes, her deep relationships with friends and family, and her appreciation of the stillness of nature that fit together to create a fully realized Nora.
So what does success look like to her? True happiness, and true investment in something, which for her is skating. Nora has realized her passion in skateboarding and that is success enough. Finding that “magic little line…”
‘Taking 5 With’ is an all-new video series profiling athletes redefining what it means to be a woman in sport. The episodes curate intimate portraits of athletes who have found their flow state by being true to themselves.