Pippi Boards
When Christina Zagarino thought about a better world to raise a daughter in, that world included girl gangs on half-pipes and women’s art on skateboard decks.
“I asked for a woman writer. It was my way of vetting if Content had a woman writer on staff. I want a woman to tell our story, but also, I want the editor to know it’s important to have a woman tell stories.”
That’s Christina Zagarino — she shoots straight — a Santa Cruzian born in the Bronx, co-owner of Pippi Boards.
The company is made possible by the partnership between Christina and her husband, Tyler, and wouldn’t exist without the two of them working together. But the brand is also about being a woman and empowering other women. “Tyler is home watching our baby…so this is not anti-man, pro-woman; it’s just that there is something missing in this world, and if you can advocate for it in an effective way, then you should.”
Tyler is a skateboarder, and before the inspiration for Pippi was conceived, Christina was getting comfortable getting on the board and moving, but any skate shop she walked into did not feel comfortable. Skateboarding is a male-dominated industry with shops sporting floor-to-ceiling skate decks adorned in boobs and skeletons. “You want to pick a board that’s a reflection of you. I didn’t feel like I had a place in that shop.”
Two years ago, Christina got pregnant and was very excited. For a while, she was convinced that she was having a girl. She really had to ask herself, “What does it mean to raise a girl right now, and how do I make the world better for this little girl that I’m going to raise?” So she pitched the idea: “Let’s make skateboards, but they have to have art exclusively designed
by women.”
Then they found out that they were having a boy.
“I was definitely not having a girl! But I was already so invested in making something and pulling women into this world, so I thought, ‘Well, what’s a great way to raise a boy in this world?’ ” It occurred to her that learning how to be a great partner, learning how to be empathetic to underrepresented people, learning that people should have equal representation may be a great way to start a boy’s life.
Though she wouldn’t recommend starting a company when you’re having a baby, Pippi Boards launched in September 2019 at the Art Cave and became available at Bill’s Wheels, a local spot to Santa Cruzians and one of the biggest skateboard shops on the West Coast. A month after launching, Christina answered a phone call from the skate shop and braced herself to hear that none of the decks sold and they wanted the stock space back. She instead heard that the shop had just sold out of
Pippi decks.
The next milestone for this mom and pop will be a website with a way to ship boards that doesn’t include packing boxes by hand from their living room. The challenge in 2019 is the common expectation that when a brand launches, it should be everywhere with plans for scaling and domination and disruption. There’s a sentiment that you’re a failure if you don’t have a social media strategy.
“But that’s not us. Pippi Boards is literally a mom and pop company; it’s part of our every day and our family. We’re going to build it slowly and make it right. Yeah, I don’t have an Instagram campaign because my kid stole my phone. It’s more about continuously checking in with Tyler, like, ‘Do we still want to make this? Is our relationship still solid to be business partners?’ At the end of the day, that’s the foundation of our family and the foundation of
the company.”
The two met in New York. And while moving from the Bronx to San Francisco to Santa Cruz (home for Tyler and all new for Christina) was a drastic and difficult change, the pace of the South Bay’s coastal city can also be a relief. If you’re going to make it work, you need to
slow down.
“What I’ve found in Santa Cruz is really a place that feels like home. There’s definitely an element of entrepreneurship in Santa Cruz that doesn’t exist in Silicon Valley. I think here [in the valley] it’s about playing the Silicon Valley game — how do you scale and how do you disrupt — and in Santa Cruz, to me, it’s like, ‘I have this great idea for something that I think would make this place we live in better — I’m gonna do it.’ Everything feels possible here.”
One lifelong influence and source of inspiration is Jack O’Neill, who lived in and based his global brand out of Santa Cruz. When O’Neill died two years ago, there was a paddle out at Pleasure Point for him–thousands of surfers and boats came out and the Coast Guard flew in. “You see this guy who made a product that fulfilled a need, did it well, and cared about where he lived. The kind of impact that can have on a community is really special. So I think that’s been really inspiring — how you build something that makes change
for people.”
Women are carving their own path in skate culture, and female skateboard groups are popping up all over the country — Brujas in the Bronx, Girl Swirl in Southern California, and the Lady Lurkers in Santa Cruz — with, essentially, this idea of getting together to skate, make each other better, and hang out and have fun. “I wish that existed when I was, like, 15 years old. I think as a woman, this is a sport where, yeah, you’re going to fall down and scrape your knees, and you’re going to have to get back up and do it again. I think that’s super important to tell girls and boys, but especially girls. And having community around you encouraging you to get back up is so empowering.”
It’s empowering to know that there is a place within a community of women cheering you on. It is empowering to know there’s a skateboard made for female skaters by female artists. And it’s empowering that when skateboarding debuts as a new sport in the 2020 Summer Olympics, women will have equal representation in those competitions. There are going to be girls around the world who see competitive women skateboarders. Pippi Boards hopes that every girl walking into a skate shop for her first board will feel like the sport was made for them.
Available at Bill’s Wheels
1240 Soquel Avenue
Santa Cruz, CA 95062
Instagram: pippiboards
www.skatepippi.com
Written by Rah Riley
Photography by Daniel Garcia
