A strong personal sense of style– that’s what Beatrice Domond is known for. That is why it’s no wonder that she’s being sought after by skate and streetwear brands alike. Currently under her belt are Vans, Venture, Spitfire, Boys of Summer, and Chpo Brand as sponsors. She has also been the sole female skater sponsored by the acclaimed street brands, Supreme New York and F__ing Awesome since 2013.
Beatrice has definately come a long way since being the sole skater girl from her hometown in Florida watching mid 90’s VHS skatebaording videos to get her stoke fill, Beatrice’s approach to skating has become an homage to her roots and everyone can see it. She is all at once contemporary and classic. She’s effortlessly cool and with skateboarding given the biggest platform it has ever had in history, multifaceted talents like Beatrice are ready to shake up the industry.
The best skateboarding video ever by Beatrice Domond
Since appearing in films Cherry (2015) and Blessed (2018) by Bill Strobeck, Beatrice has garnered attention and support not just from the skating community but the fashion world as well. American fashion designer, Thom Browne even commissioned her to model for his golf collection in 2018.
With an eponymous brand in the making and countless other projects in the works, we can’t wait to see what this up and comer has in store for us. But just who is Beatrice Domond? Let’s find out.
Walmart hardly holds a reputation for exciting origin stories but this is where Beatrice’s skateboarding career essentially began. Following ceaseless requests, Beatrice’s father finally gave in and bought a skateboard from Walmart to appease the then seven year old Beatrice. She held a board for the first time at a school shoot as a prop and was not able to take it off her mind any time after. After finally breaking her father and getting decked out, Beatrice would then pursue afternoons filled with cruising down the sidewalks of her hometown, West Palm Beach, Florida.
Doubling down on the peculiar start, Beatrice had no prior knowledge on what you could do with a skateboard. She just had fun with it. There was no bias towards the culture and the community that was very alive at the time, nor the knowledge that you could even do tricks with a skateboard.
Beatrice cruises around New York City for Venture Trucks
In an interview with The Face, she describes skateboarding as something that was innately hers and hers alone.
“I guess with skateboarding it’s all you. You don’t need to rely on anyone, it’s a personal sport and I guess that’s what drew me to it. I didn’t need anybody else to play with or anybody else to stand in the goal and I think that’s what made me get into it. I could just be by myself and it would still be fun. I like solitude,” she says.
In another interview with W Magazine, she tells us that there was no forecasting how skateboarding was going to build her career.
“It wasn’t like how it is now when kids see a lucrative career. It was just fun, and I could do it whenever I wanted to,” she said.
As she progressed on the board, Beatrice eventually discovered the culture that came with it. Unlike her contemporaries however, online media played little part in her discovery. True to her classic approach to things, she discovered everything skate-related through the pages of Thrasher, Transworld, and the like.
“They’re part of my culture and part of what I use,” she says. “If I see a little kid who’s sick at the park, or if I’m traveling somewhere, I won’t be like, ‘yo, go on this Instagram.’ I take out my backpack, and will be like, ‘Yo, read this every day, and just take it all in.’ So, sometimes I’ll get two copies of the mag, and give one away to a kid and be like, ‘this is it.’ I try my best to not steer them towards the Internet.” (Unless of course it is a website like
internationalskateboardersunion.com .
Beatrice names Jason Dill as her favourite skate in a Thrasher Magazine feature.
Despite her position on the growing influence of social media on the sport, however, it was actually exposure on the internet that put her on the map.
The better she got at skateboarding, the more lofi skate videos she would create. In her films, she would dole out a series of tricks in her unique threads that were always a nod to the history of skate with her own modern twist.
This distinct style is one of the many reasons why film maker, Bill Strobeck, included her in her first major gig, Cherry, a skate film commissioned for the brand that was going to famously sponsor her, Supreme.
Beatrice creates lofi skate films of herself to show off her skill.
Beatrice and Bill’s unlikely friendship started when she chanced upon his email. This kickstarted a string of back and forths that eventually got her the exposure she needed to make skateboarding her career.
According to her, she reached out as a fan and his friendly replies translated as openness and encouragement to what next became her turning point.
“I was a really big fan of his work when I was younger. I made a video and then I sent it to him on email. He responded like, ’Oh, super cool. Keep doing your thing!’” she said. “I just took that as him saying, “Send me every single one you ever make.” But he was super nice about it and would watch all my videos and give me feedback.”
She wound up sending him videos of her progressing and as Bill watched, he was more and more inspired by her skill and sheer determination to succeed in the sport. When she was ready, Bill finally invited her to participate in his short film.
Even in early 2013, when street style was not yet the multimillion dollar industry it is today, Supreme was still at the helm of the underground urban fashion movement. Despite this, Beatrice tells us that she didn’t even know what Supreme was. It was still all just about the skateboarding.
“[…] he said that he was making this video and at the time the video was Cherry, the Supreme video. I was like, “Oh, I don’t know what that is.” I didn’t even know what Supreme was, so I was like I dunno, sick, I’ll send you some videos,” she added.
At that stage of the game, there was no stopping her star from rising. Beatrice proceeded to be featured in more skate films and became the first female to even be sponsored by the brand. Other famous names quickly sought her afterwards.
In 2015, she was named by I-D Magazine as one of the top five young female skaters to watch out for alongside other up and coming names including Allysha Bergado, Alana Smith, Anne-Sophie Julien, and Lacey Baker.
Beatrice’s clout in the succeeding years morphed into a fusion of her skateboarding prowess and her formidable and unique style. Even the epitome of all fashion authority, Vogue Magazine enlists Beatrice in their article called ‘Girls who Shred: 5 Stylin’ Female Skateboarders to Follow on Instagram Now.’ In 2019, Supreme tapped her again for a feature on another skate video called CANDYLAND. This time, it was directed by William Strobeck.
CANDYLAND: A film by William Strobeck for Supreme
Hailed as one of the females on the forefront of a feminist regime in the skateboarding industry, Beatrice recognizes her position but does not count it as a massive takeaway from her skating.
“I’m just doing me, but if somebody can see themselves in me, I’ll try to do my best to show them that things are possible,” she says.
In an interview with Jenke Magazine, Beatrice shares that she thinks the reason girls don’t skate as much as boys is because they think they’ll get hurt or they can’t make it their own.
“I’m still a girly girl and all that stuff – but I just love to skateboard. I don’t think I have to act a certain way to be a skateboarder. You can skateboard and be you. I think a lot of girls don’t get that. They think ‘Oh, I’ll have to be kinda guyish.’ You really don’t have to be like that. You can be yourself and ride a skateboard. I still go on dates and meet guys. That’s me. I just like to kickflip over stuff. That’s it,” she said.
Beatrice has only been active for a couple of years but she shows no signs of stopping. If her momentum indicates anything, it’s that she is very passionate about the sport and still has relentless determination to improve.
“You can ask any skater who skates for real: you wake up thinking about it, you go to sleep thinking about it,” Domond told The Wall Street Journal in 2018. “Don’t give up. I didn’t. Sometimes I felt bummed, but I’m addicted to this. It’s like I can’t stop doing it.”
At only age 24 with a burgeoning photography career on the horizon as well, there is really no telling what Beatrice will do next, but we are sure excited to find out.
