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\u201cIt was a problem I described as the great log jam of women\u2019s skateboarding,\u201d she said, and especially in the Midwest, \u201cthere were no images, no media or anything like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Professionally, women were afforded fewer divisions to compete in, and contests were limited. Sponsorship opportunities\u2014a necessary milestone to achieving career success\u2014were nearly nonexistent.<\/p>\n
Skaters outside of the mainstream (White, cis-gendered men) have had to work hard at creating their own safe spaces to learn, grow and showcase their talents. Growing up in her small town in Oregon, McGuire remembered how harsh the skateboarding culture could be toward women\u2014verbally, emotionally and sexually.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s come a long way since then, but there are still inequities,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
In the mid-2010s, skateboard culture began to experience a major shift. World champion skater and Thrasher\u2019s \u201cSkateboarder of the Year\u201d recipient Brian Anderson came out as gay. A year later, Leo Baker became Nike SB\u2019s first openly gender-queer nonbinary skater and designed the first-ever Nike skate shoe for women. And in a major win for women\u2019s skateboarding, the International Olympic Committee approved skateboarding for the Tokyo Summer Olympics in 2020, including women\u2019s street and park skating competitions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was sort of the catalyst for getting Bigfoot (formally) started,\u201d McGuire said. \u201cBeing on this world stage that we\u2019d never been on before with skating being in the Olympics, it was a big opportunity for us to get the word out there and have a part in telling our story.\u201d<\/p>\n
On New Year\u2019s Day in 2019, McGuire launched the Bigfoot Instagram account, eager to start spotlighting women skaters and coordinating local meet-ups. Three months later, she and Bigfoot co-founder Amy Caron, a professional skateboarder out of Long Beach, started a campaign called \u201cAlex for Olympics<\/a>,\u201d which sought to place professional skateboarder Alex White as an NBC Universal official skateboarding commentator for Tokyo 2020. The duo collected over 1,200 signatures at the Vans Pool Party<\/a> skate competition that year.<\/p>\n \u201cThe whole community really got behind it,\u201d McGuire said, though ultimately White was not selected for the role.<\/p>\n When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, much of the momentum behind Bigfoot stalled. With in-person meet-ups temporarily out of the question, McGuire set her sights on expanding the Bigfoot brand into a media company with a print publication.<\/p>\n \u201cMy goal was to create a magazine that was appealing to everybody,\u201d McGuire said, but emphasized communities that have historically been excluded from the scene.<\/p>\n She, Caron and her team workshopped what would become the \u201cnon-traditional skateboarding\u201d hallmark of the company, an industry term to reflect the skateboarding world\u2019s modern cultural and social makeup.<\/p>\n McGuire developed an online website<\/a> and moved to the Willmore neighborhood in Long Beach in 2021. By August, the first Bigfoot magazine issue was published.<\/p>\n Leafing through the pages of a Bigfoot edition may evoke a sense of nostalgia for veteran skaters, especially those who read Big Brother magazine\u2014McGuire isn\u2019t shy about admitting her love for the publication.<\/p>\n \u201cI used to read it cover to cover every time it came in my mailbox,\u201d McGuire said.<\/p>\n Aesthetically, the design depicts the characteristic loud fonts, bright color schemes and photo collages that were popular in the late \u201890s and early 2000s. Bigfoot\u2019s coverage\u2014from profiles to Q&A\u2019s to cultural commentaries\u2014features the playful, informal writing style many writers like David Carnie popularized at the time, sans the sexism.<\/p>\n Page after page is plastered with photos of skateboarders\u2014mostly women or gender non-conformists\u2014mid-trick.<\/p>\n On the Bigfoot website are monthly Skater of the Month highlights, spotlighting \u201cnon-traditional skaters\u201d from around the world.<\/p>\n But perhaps the cornerstone of Bigfoot is its social networking aspect. Online, users can browse a calendar that details various skate meetups and events around the U.S. There\u2019s also an \u201cUltimate Skate Map\u201d feature that includes locations of skate parks and other popular places to skate around the globe.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we\u2019re doing with Bigfoot in the messaging and the gathering of the non-trad community under the values that we\u2019re talking about, the conversation could have a bigger effect on the world at large, beyond skateboarding,\u201d McGuire said.<\/p>\n Since launching Bigfoot four years ago, McGuire said the company has seen some promising growth. According to their website, demand for Bigfoot Issue #1 prompted the company to reprint the initial 300 copies a second time. Issue #2 circulated 900 copies and the third issue, released in January, is anticipated to increase circulation up to 2,000. Website traffic currently averages at about 20,000 hits a month, according to Bigfoot\u2019s website.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been a lot of work since I\u2019ve been in Long Beach, but it\u2019s been super gratifying,\u201d McGuire said.<\/p>\n But all of Bigfoot\u2019s efforts have come at a cost, McGuire said. Though McGuire\u2019s career outside of skateboarding\u2014including a photojournalism bachelor’s, local news experience and an internship at SG Magazine, a women\u2019s surfing lifestyle publication\u2014gave her the skills to start, nothing could have prepared her for the mayhem of running a media publishing company that includes herself and four other contributing staff.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve sort of found myself in a place where I\u2019ve just exhausted all my resources and I need a little bit of help from the community that I\u2019ve been working to build this whole time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n McGuire launched a GoFundMe<\/a> campaign earlier this year asking for $5,000 to help the company maintain solvency. To date, the campaign has raised $3,855 of its goal.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a really encouraging gesture of support from the community,\u201d McGuire said of donors.<\/p>\n Those who\u2019d like to support can also opt to purchase editions of the magazines online or buy merchandise from McGuire\u2019s sustainable skate apparel company Curb\/Cut<\/a>, she said.<\/p>\n Though a family emergency has prompted McGuire to return to Oregon for the interim, McGuire said she\u2019s still actively organizing skate events. One she\u2019s excited about is the TRY.DIY West Coast tour that will promote Bigfoot\u2019s newest edition and also \u201cconnect the non-trad community with the DIY skateboarding world,\u201d she said. The tour will stop at three world-class DIY (skater-built) skate parks, including the Channel Street Skate Park in San Pedro. There will be a group skate and afterparty at The Good Bar in Long Beach. McGuire says the tour will happen in spring, with dates TBD.<\/p>\n Readers (and skaters) can keep up with all the Bigfoot happenings by following its Instagram<\/a> or visiting its website.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Female-founded skate and lifestyle magazine, Bigfoot, is a local media company that builds community for marginalized groups within skateboarding. Now, the company is seeking community support to keep its mission alive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":262,"featured_media":72243,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[256],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[8767],"class_list":["post-32833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hi-lo","tag-skateboarding","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32833\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32833"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=32833"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=32833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Bigfoot magazine is born<\/h5>\n
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Endangered species<\/h5>\n