For this episode of the Salted Spirit Podcast, I invited my friend and fellow surfer, Sara Price to take the mic and host! Sara is a writer for the American Crime TV series, Mayans M.C., she's a close surf friend, comedian and one of my favorite people to roadtrip with! 

She interviews Vanessa Joy Smith, the Director of Photography for Mayans, and Vanessa opens up about her unique perspective as a female in a male dominated industry in Hollywood. She also shares her journey with 16+ years of sobriety, traveling through Thailand and finding Buddhism. 

Giselle Carrillo is a first generation daughter of immigrants from Mexico, born and raised in East LA. She recounts how sports were non-existent growing up, and she was pre-diabetic by age 24. Giselle shares her quarter life crisis at 25, when it all began to change, starting with her first surf lesson.

We dive into what creating a new journey of health and wellness looks like when someone doesn’t have the tools at their disposal from a young age. She also shares how she stepped into the role of caretaker, the joys and challenges she has navigated, and how there's no onboarding manual to caregiving. Giselle's latest passion project is El Barrio Athletic Club, a space she created in her garage for her local community to learn physical health and nutrition, because health is a human right, and everyone deserves the chance to understand how to take care of their bodies.

Zee van Gils is a 30-year old Dutch artist who unearthed her devotion for resin when she worked alongside surfboard shapers in Indonesia.

In this episode we go deep into mental health, specifically Zee's journey with an eating disorder. She shares her lowest lows, and how she emerged on the other side after finding surfing and making a deep connection with the ocean as her muse. Zee's story is one of self discovery, perseverance and leaning into her own power as a woman to take control of her life again. Please share this story with anyone who may be struggling too. 

Soraya Simi is a documentary filmmaker, photographer, and writer. Her work focuses primarily on themes surrounding human resilience and the ocean. Soraya just returned from four months in Nazaré, Portugal, home to one of the biggest waves on the planet, a geomorphologic phenomenon, where she shared she was "deconstructing, and putting the pieces back together."

Soraya recently suffered a tragic loss, that of her friend Angela Madsen, who was a 3x Paralympian, 14x Guinness Book of World Records holder, Marine Veteran, World Renowned ocean rower, and she was aiming to be the oldest and openly gay woman to successfully row from Los Angeles to Hawaii, with no motor, unassisted. Solo.

Tune in to hear more about Soraya and Angela's story here.

Linzi Hawkin is an expert brand strategist & environmental educator living in a tiny house on a tiny island. She's obsessed with all things ocean, and happiest when she's in, on or under water. Linzi is the founder of Protect Blue, an ocean focused creative agency as well as SUPKids, an environmental education program for kids on SUP’s. She's also the co-founder of Wavemaker Collective, where social innovation & creativity meet the sea.

Laura Day joins us from Pasadena, California in between salty surf sessions, hosting her own podcast, and designing her latest wearable surf collection for an all inclusive community of women. Laura shares some really personal details regarding her recent breakout, how she has navigated the new single life and the move to a new city, and how surfing has helped support and heal her through these significant life changes.

You can hear more of Laura by tuning into her podcast, Confessions of a Surf Lady. 

Finn Ni Fhaolain from Ireland and the creator of saltwalterstories.me gives us a crash course in finances for our weekly 'wellness for waterwomen' tea talk. She talks about the deep stigma and hush hush mentality of talking about money in Ireland, and how she broke free and took a stand and created her own voice for this critical topic of wellness. As a female entrepreneur, she shares tangible tips such as her favorite youtube channel for learning, must have books to read in 2021 and how she created a private Whatsapp community for women investors. 

I'm thrilled to kick off 2021 with my personal friend and an inspiring waterwoman, Katie Falkenberg. Katie joins us from Jacksonville, Oregon in between her journalism projects, capturing beautiful photography and fly fishing with her female crew on the river. Katie previously worked for the Los Angeles Times as a photographer and journalist, and is now an independent photographer and filmmaker with a passion for telling stories at the intersection of environmental conservation and outdoor adventures. Her mission is to bring awareness, spark interest and create change where needed. Katie can often be found fly fishing the rivers of Oregon or surfing in the Pacific Ocean, and talks about the importance of finding community later in life, aka the breakfast club.

Today’s episode is a live recording with my friend Ame Flournoy. Ame talks about finding an unexpected yet fulfilling community. Each week she works with a team of people to refill their local community fridge for people in need. She talks about having to step away from her beloved fitness community due to COVID, but how serving her neighborhood community has brought her a renewed sense of purpose and joy.