Wheels and wanderlust: an interview with Cierra Xavier

I spoke to Cierra about the film, her work as Marketing Coordinator for Skateboarding at Vans, traveling around the world with the skate team, growing up snowboarding in Tahoe, cycling from SF to Long Beach, relearning to skate at age 30, and more.

During our conversation one thing was very clear: Cierra has as much love and appreciation for skateboarding as any die-hard skateboarder. When she talks about it her eyes light up with eagerness and excitement. For her, it’s not about the tricks. It’s about the culture, the community, and chasing the stoke with friends.

Warning: seriously wanderlust-inducing content ahead.

Let’s start with the classic question: how did you get into skateboarding? I know you’re into a lot of other board sports like surfing and snowboarding as well — which one came first?

Well, I was born and raised in South Lake Tahoe up in Northern California and my parents skied so they got me into it when I was really young, but I kind of hated skiing. I met Joanie and Stacie Anderson in gymnastics class, we became great friends and they introduced me to snowboarding. They are siblings from the Anderson clan — Jamie Anderson, the 2x Olympian snowboarder is their younger sister. So, snowboarding came first, that’s my foundation.

I got really into snowboarding. I was on the Sierra-at-Tahoe team and I competed and everything. In the summertime we would just naturally gravitate toward skating because there wasn’t any snow and it kept us busy. We skated in the summer and biked, camped, fished and did a little bit of everything. I hung out with a big crew of guys during middle school and high school and they were really into skating and were getting good. But I was more so the filmer and photographer. I followed them and would push in the streets and they would be skating stair sets and stuff that I couldn’t skate. So yeah, I just skated for fun and to keep up and to hang, but never really pushed myself. I also didn’t want to get hurt skating because I wanted to be healthy for the snowboard season.

I competed in snowboarding until I was 20. I broke my ankle in 2008 and after that I quit competing and decided to go back to school, moved to San Francisco, and I hardly touched a skateboard for almost 10 years — so most of my twenties. I didn’t get back into skating until I think maybe 2017 or 2018.

What was it like coming back after all that time?

It was, and still is, so hard [laughs]. It’s been so fun though. It’s hard to explain but getting back into skating has been such a pleasure. It’s painful, but it’s fun, and then you learn something new and it’s just that feeling… I don’t know… that feeling that you get when you learn something on a skateboard is just so gratifying and exciting and keeps me going.

You mentioned before about camping and fishing in the summer. You also spent some time at Skate Camp, right?

Yeah, my boyfriend Dylan is a longtime YMCA skate camper. He started going to skate camp when he was really young — I think like 9 or 10 — as a camper and then he became an intern for the non-profit program that was called Elemental Awareness but has now shifted to Skate Wild. So he went from camper to intern, then managed Skate Wild with our good friends Todd Larson and Mike Kershnar for years. He would go every summer and spend weeks up there and I would follow and got to hang out at camp. It was actually before I started skating again, but it was still one of the most magical places in the world to go and watch people skate, work on primitive skills, hike, camp, fish, and swim.

Did that inspire you to get back on your board?

Totally! Yeah, for sure. There were a couple of people that really inspired me. A few things happened around 2017 and 2018 — I started working a lot more in skateboarding with Vans and felt like I couldn’t work in skateboarding unless I was actually participating in it. Ginger [Caranto] and Mason Silva were up at camp and Ginger was learning to push and drop in. She was starting from scratch. And another good friend of ours, Jennie Mull — who is the younger sister of the Mull brothers from the Worble crew — she was also learning how to skate from scratch. I was seeing these girls push themselves and having a good time and learning to skate, and I was like, oh, I want to get back into this. They’re doing this, I want to do this. They really inspired me to get back on my board.

I saw that you were skating some curbs the other day.

There’s a spot pretty close to the house that’s down by the water in Long Beach. It’s pretty much just manual pads, curbs and flatground. But the curbs there are really tall so I don’t skate those ones, mostly just the flatground — just working on my ollies, and 180s, and pop-shuvs. But yesterday we went to a DMV nearby and they have different sized curbs so that spot was really fun.

There’s something about DMV’s — they always have the best curbs!

Yeah what’s up with that? We were saying the same thing. After living in San Francisco and knowing how popular that DMV spot is and then coming down here, it’s like, oh, DMV again!

Totally! You also cycle a lot, right?

I love to ride my bike. I lived in San Francisco after Tahoe and when I first moved there I sold my truck to help pay for school, so my main mode of transportation was my bike. San Francisco and the Bay Area are very bike friendly and so beautiful to ride. Being able to bike over the Golden Gate Bridge and around Mt. Tam, it’s unreal. I still love to ride, but have a car now too, so I don’t ride as much.

Tell me about the ride you did from San Francisco to Long Beach.

It had been a dream of mine for years, and I love camping too, so to combine the two was a no-brainer. We rode with a few friends from San Francisco to Long Beach over nine days and it was incredibly fun and very challenging. Big Sur was so magical. We renegade camped for most of the time so it was just kind of like, find a spot in some trees, make it comfortable, and try not to be seen. We were talking about doing that, or some other bike trip again last year but I was traveling so much with Vans that it didn’t work out, but hopefully again this year — we’re thinking maybe Utah.

You’ve been working at Vans for a while now. What is your role there exactly? What does it involve?

So my official title is Global Sports Marketing Coordinator for Skateboarding. Which means I work on everything that touches events, team riders, and content. I work alongside our Global Team Manager Matt Bennett. He and I make sure that the team is set up with product, travel, and all of the above.

I also have a heavy hand in Vans Park Series coordination for the entire team — guys and girls. For Park Series I book travel and coordinate meals, practice/contest schedules, get everybody to the park, and make sure everyone has their product and everything. We have such an enormous team that we break up who takes care of who, and I naturally end up catering to our women’s team — kind of an unofficial women’s TM position — which is so fun! I get to connect with so many rad team riders and people outside of Vans too.

There’s also a lot of marketing strategy and other office responsibilities. My team has given me a platform to voice the needs for the women’s side of skating, which is incredible. Vans has given me such a rad opportunity to speak on behalf of skateboarding in a different light. I feel very fortunate.

Are there specific gaps that you’ve identified that you would like to see filled in terms of women’s skate?

I wouldn’t say that there’s specific gaps. I mean I believe Vans is doing a good job at supporting women’s skating. But of course we can always do better. Credits is a video coming out this week. It’s Vans’ first big step into showing that we are supporting women’s skateboarding. I think moving forward it isn’t going to be segregated men’s skateboarding and women’s skateboarding. It’s just going to be skateboarding.

Speaking of the Credits film, what do we have to look forward to there?

Vans has created an all-women’s skate video, Credits, that premieres Tuesday, April 21st at 12 noon followed by a Q&A with the director and the three stars from the film — Shari, Breezy, Una and Fabi — and they’ll answer a few questions after the video premieres. I’m really excited. Shari had total creative control and it has such a good vibe and sense of camaraderie. It really showcases the tight-knit relationships within our team, traveling the world and having a good time, the struggles, and everything in between.

It’s going to be awesome. I feel like it’s such a powerhouse team especially with Shari leading it creatively. She has such a good eye.

It’s always so hard to film a skate video given scheduling, injuries, life, etcetera, but it came together! I think this will be the first stepping stone to a lot more content and projects moving forward. Credits will open up a door to more creativity and inclusivity in the future.

You went on the Barcelona trip for this video, right? How was that?

It was so much fun! This crew is such a riot. I’ve been on a lot of small skate trips with friends growing up and with my boyfriend and the Skate Wild crew, but this was my first real skate trip — street skating with the crew, out filming everyday and into the night. It was such a rad experience to see the struggles, the pain, the celebration and camaraderie, and just the good times all around.

Was there any particular highlight or funny moment that really stuck with you from that trip?

There were so many funny moments! For me personally though, one of my favorite moments, which is so silly but, we were skating a spot and Breezy was trying to get a trick and a handful of us were just skating in the corner. Clara had taken off her shoes and I was trying to ollie over one of them. I was just practicing ollies and then everyone got into it. Una was like, oh, I’ll skate with you, and was switch ollieing it. It turned into this thing like, Cierra, you’ve got to do this! You’ve got to ollie this shoe! [Laughs] I finally got it and it was so special to see everyone explode in celebration over such a simple trick. They were so stoked and it made me feel so happy, and excited, and loved. It just proves, in skating, that no matter how small the trick may be, the stoke and the celebration are still equally the same.

There were a couple of days where the girls fought, and fought, and fought for tricks and didn’t get them. We’d go back the next day, and they’d push themselves, and struggle, and get tricks, or maybe not get tricks. That was really cool to see in person. It was awesome to support and work through their trials and tribulations, but have a really good time at the same time.

The ollie story gives me goosebumps. It’s the perfect example of what makes skateboarding so special.

I had that 8 or 10 year gap where I physically wasn’t skating but was still a part of the community, worked in the industry, and all my friends skated. It reminds me that skateboarding is not just a hobby, or a sport. It’s a community, a lifestyle, and a big support system comes out of it. People are like-minded and creative, and it’s just totally different to anything I’ve experienced before. I’m really thankful for my skate family.

You’ve done a whole lot of other trips with Vans as well, right? Like South Korea and China.

Yeah, working with Vans I’ve had the amazing opportunity to travel all over the world. Last March I got to travel to South Korea with Brighton Zeuner for a brand campaign trip. I’ve had an amazing opportunity to see so many countries that I never thought I’d ever visit in my entire life. Vans Park Series in Shanghai, China, last year was such a wild trip! I get to go to Europe a couple of times a year… I went to Japan last year for a couple of days after being in France for 2 weeks! So yeah, the last few years have been quite the whirlwind.

Is there a favorite place that you’ve been to?

I think one trip that stands out for me was when I got to go to Zarautz in Basque Country for the Vans Duct Tape Invitational. Zarautz is not only surrounded by the most beautiful landscape but the surf was really gentle at the time. There’s no crazy reef, rocks, sea creatures or anything. And on top of that there was a small skatepark literally right on the sand in front of the wave. So being able to surf with 20 of the world’s best surfers — which is kind of intimidating but really fun — and also getting to skate and then grab tapas and sit on the beach and watch other people surf, it was such a magical trip. Zarautz became one of my most favorite places in the world.

And if you could go anywhere right now that you haven’t been to, where would it be?

I think South Africa would be really cool. I’ve spent some time in Costa Rica but I’ve never been to South America, so maybe somewhere in South America would be really neat to experience. Anywhere with mellow waves, Sayulita maybe? But yeah, South Africa or South America would be really cool.

Is surfing what guides your travel when it’s not work related?

When I think of traveling for personal reasons surfing definitely sways my decision. Being able to sit on the beach and get in the water just sounds very chill. Also anywhere that involves snowboarding, camping, mountains are all chill.

Yeah that sounds pretty good. I’m feeling some serious wanderlust talking about this.

I’m really, really thankful for my job and feel really lucky to be where I’m at with Vans and getting to travel as much as I do. This position has given me the opportunity to connect with so many amazing people and to speak on behalf of women’s skate for the brand. I feel so lucky. It’s been a dream to be a part of such a solid crew in skating and watching the momentum grow with so many up and coming rippers.

Diversity and inclusivity in skate seems like it’s just starting to get support and I hope that it continues to get more and more. I want to do whatever I can to help skateboarding and the community it’s provided. And hopefully I’ll get better at skating along the way [laughs].

Well thank you for all that you’ve been doing for women’s skate and for being a voice for the community.

Trying! If anyone out there has anything they want to voice, you know where to find me! I can help try and make the change.

Catch the world premiere of Credits here at 12 noon (PST) on Tuesday, April 21st.

Interview: Sarah Huston
Photos: Cierra Xavier, Dylan Christopher, Michael Beck and Norma Ibarra