Snowboarder, mother, activist, feminist, producer, the list of Kimmy’s achievements as a professional snowboarder and beyond is endless. She’s an icon of the snowboarding industry, the first female snowboarder to land a double backflip in the park, multiple time winner of rider of the year.

Despite all of that, it’s her role as a vocal ambassador for women in the sport that really stands out for me. She has created events and platforms to accelerate women in snowboarding, but that focus peaked in the last year with the release of her film, ‘Butterfly in a Blizzard’. 

Initially created to chart her journey into motherhood as a professional snow athlete, the film resulted in covering five years of Kimmy’s life as she navigates the birth of her first child, the death of her mother, childhood trauma that came to the fore as she embarked on motherhood herself; and later (as if this wasn’t all enough), advanced breast cancer resulting in a double mastectomy. 

It’s a film that makes you question just how much one person is capable of overcoming, but what really connected with me was that it is the most honest portrayal of navigating parenting as working parents that I’ve seen on screen. Kimmy is articulate and humble, and I loved talking with her. 

In this episode we cover: 

• Being at the peak of her career and finding out she was pregnant 
• Choosing to stand up to sponsors to ensure they supported her contractually
• Deciding to publicly portray the real story of parenthood + being a professional athlete
• The film evolving to cover more than they ever expected as a family 
• Why she chose an all female crew to bring the film to life 
• Navigating cancer & family & choosing to come back to snowboarding 

And so much more. This one is searingly honest, and it sucker punched me more than once as it chimed with my own experiences of parenthood, I hope you enjoy it. 

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Host: Caroline Keylock

Producer: Selma Chalabi 

https://weareboardwomen.substack.com

Find more on Kimmy here: https://www.instagram.com/kimmyfasani/

Watch the film here: https://www.butterflyinablizzard.com/

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