A highly-visual celebration and cultural overview of skateboarding through more than 60 profiles of the biggest names in the sport.
Skateboarding is about movement. Movement of the body. Movement of thought. A movement toward better days. A movement to turn strangers into friends and family across the globe. Through 65 dynamic, strikingly photographed profiles of skaters, The Skateboard Life reveals and revels in how skateboarding—still (bizarrely) against the law in so many places—has permeated and elevated our global culture, influencing media, art, fashion, music, sports, business, and education. Covering the legends, the innovators, the activists, the Olympians—the best of the best—it is a celebration that’s as energetically engaging and highly visual as the world it centers.
About the Author
Dr. Neftalie Williams is the Director of San Diego State University's Center for Skateboarding, Action Sports, and Social Change. With a background in both academia and a deep personal connection to skateboarding, writing, and photography, Dr. Williams has made significant contributions to the study of skateboarding culture. He has published scholarly works, written op-eds for mainstream publications, and provided commentary for various traditional news outlets and documentaries, including The New York Times, CNN, ABC, Forbes, and the documentary Reaching the Sky featuring Olympian Sky Brown. His research on race and skateboarding, conducted as part of the 2019-2020 USC x Tony Hawk Foundation project, was prominently featured in The Los Angeles Times and The New York Times.
Dr. Williams’s extensive experience also includes positions at the Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism, as well as serving as a Yale Schwarzman Center Visiting Fellow in Race, Culture & Community. His scholarly expertise is complemented by his personal history as a skateboarder, writer, and photographer, which has led to features in publications like Transworld Skateboarding Magazine and Thrasher Magazine.
Currently, Dr. Williams provides consultation on skateboarding and action sports for Disney Studios and Burton Snowboards. He is also a co-founder of the College Skateboarding Educational Foundation (CSEF), a non-profit organization dedicated to providing scholarships for young skateboarders pursuing higher education. Furthermore, he serves on the boards of the Tony Hawk Foundation/The Skatepark Project, Skateistan, McKinnon Center for Global Affairs, and chairs the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee for USA Skateboarding.
