Beatrice Domond never set out to become a professional skateboarder.
She just wanted to be part of skateboarding. She wanted to be around it, to feel like she belonged. Now she rides for FA World Entertainment and is reflecting on how it all came together.
In a recent interview with Living Proof New York, Domond opened up about her early years skating in Florida and what motivated her to keep going. “It still chokes me up because I work so hard, you know,” she said. “And it’s so funny because like, I had sent my footage to everybody. I was obsessed with Element growing up because it just spoke to me. They had girls on the team, people of color, you know.”
She explained how her friends would always talk about Jason Dill. One skater told everyone that Dill skated like the one skater in their crew, so out of curiosity she looked him up on YouTube.
That’s when she discovered skate videos like Mind Field, Photosynthesis, and Mosaic. It opened her eyes to another side of skateboarding that felt more personal and raw.
“And I was like, f*cking Bill Strobeck,” she said.
After realizing Strobeck was the one behind many of those iconic videos, she sent her own footage to him. She did not expect anything to come from it. All she wanted was for someone she admired to say she was good. “That was all I needed,” she said. “Someone I look up to be like, damn, you're sick.”
Strobeck responded. They started talking, and eventually he asked her to send clips for a new project. She admitted she regretted sending some of the same tricks at different spots, but that did not stop her from getting invited to the Cherry video premiere.
Being in New York changed everything. She skated with the FA and Hockey crew, hit the streets, and felt like she belonged. “At that moment, I was like, oh, I did it,” she said.
What made the moment even more meaningful was that her mom got to be there. Domond flew her mom out to New York so she could be part of it all.
As a kid, she just dreamed of being near skateboarding. In New York she saw it for real. Pro skaters like Alex Olson and Mark Gonzales were just hanging out. No one was acting like a star. They were just there.
Domond kept skating because she loved it. She did not expect recognition. She just wanted to be involved. That mindset brought her exactly where she needed to be. Now she is pro and still doing it her way.