An interview with Proper Gnar team rider India Williams

Let’s start with the basics…. Can you give us a little background about when and why you started skateboarding?

I started playing Tony Hawk when I was about 8 years old, I believe, and that used to be my favorite game. For some reason I didn’t click that what he was doing was skateboarding, I was just playing because my brothers had the game and it was really fun. My brother got a skateboard and I would just look at it; I never rode it but I thought it seemed cool. Then my friend invited me to skate around the neighborhood with him. When I started, I was bombing hills first try and I was like, oh my gosh, this is so fun! Why didn’t I start this earlier? My friend gave me the idea to skate and then I fell in love with it and it felt very natural to me. I started being more consistent with it and it became my life.

You’re from Atlanta, right? What’s the skate scene like there?

The skate scene out here is… honestly I love it. I see a lot more girls, and specifically, Black girls, skating now. At first, it wasn’t like that and I honestly think it has to do with the influence of the girl skateboarding community and knowing that they can do it too. One of my favorite skaters is Briana King and when she came to a meetup in Atlanta, she was like, wow, Atlanta has the most skateboarding Black girls I’ve ever seen. When she’s in Cali, of course there are girls that skate but you don’t see a lot of us, you know. That honestly inspired me to keep going, knowing that I can have friends like me I can skate with. I just really love the scene out here. It’s pretty dope.

Are there any skate organizations, or groups, or crews, in Atlanta that you’d like to shout out or that you think are doing awesome things in the community?

Yes! Definitely! There’s Money Team, they’re a little skate group out here. There’s Pretty SB and Public Transportation. I skate with them from time to time too. They represent Atlanta really well.

You’ve recently joined the Proper Gnar team — Congrats! How did that come about and how did you connect with them?

I saw Proper Gnar when they had 11K on Instagram and they had followed me. I was like, oh my gosh, this page is going to be big. They just seemed so cool, and I love what they represent. They reached out to me to take some pictures wearing their merch and stuff. When I started taking pictures with them, I was already getting boards from this other company and they actually did not like the idea of me wearing Proper Gnar stuff so it started a whole thing. Latosha [founder of Proper Gnar] was like, I want to work long term with you because these people aren’t doing you right. Ever since then she’s always had my back. As the brand kept growing she always had support for me and I always had support for her. It’s been really, really good.

In your eyes, what do you think makes Proper Gnar special?

I love that it’s the first Black woman-owned skate company. And they’re encouraging more girls, and anyone that feels different, to get on a skateboard and do anything you might feel is unconventional or outside of your comfort zone. It’s really inclusive and [Latosha] makes that known. They support beginner skaters and skaters that have been skating for a long time. They make sure that you know you can do it, and they instill confidence within you, just by being the brand that they are.

What does it mean to you, to be on a team with an ethos like that?

If I could represent any skateboard company, they are so perfect to my world and to everything that I believe in. I honestly get a lot of crap when I go to the skatepark, and since I’m a girl, there is a lot of attention, and sometimes it’s not always good attention. But repping Proper Gnar makes me feel like I’ve got this. You can judge me if you want to but I know I have a community out there that loves me and is supportive of me. I love their artwork, I love the concepts that Latosha has, and I love pink so that alone is like my swag. If I could put my style in a skateboard company, it is literally Proper Gnar.

I want to talk a little about your experience being a model and a skater. I’ve heard other skaters who model say that they’ve been criticized for not being authentic in one because they do the other. It seems like people often treat the two as being mutually exclusive. Have you experienced this sort of judgment?

If I do photoshoots at the skatepark, people will be like, oh my gosh, what a poser. I posted a promotion for Proper Gnar, where I was modeling for them, on a Facebook skateboard group and I was getting a lot of hate comments for modeling and being a skateboarder, and being told I can’t be both. I love doing both though. I love being able to have two different sides. I can be super uppity and put-together with makeup on doing photoshoots, but then after my photoshoot, I go straight to the skatepark and I’m shredding. I think it’s the best of both worlds.

Yeah, I mean, why not be you and 100% you, with all the things that includes. I’ve seen you mention before that having confidence helps you in skateboarding and in modeling. I’m wondering if there is anything that you do to find confidence or if you have any tips for people that struggle with it?

When I’m out and I’m doing a photo shoot and there are people looking at me in a public spot, usually it would make me scared and give me anxiety. That also happens if I’m at a skatepark and people are looking at me or I’m not doing that well. I just do my best and do what I can and show up for myself, and it really does bring confidence. You’d be surprised that there are people who actually motivate you at the skatepark. Sometimes there are haters but there are always people who will encourage you even if you’re doing something really small. It’s the same with modeling. When I have the time to actually be creative with my modeling, to me it’s like a form of art and it helps me in my confidence. Especially when I see the photos and I’m learning about my angles and all that. I’ve already started doing some model coaching and I want to start teaching girls how to skateboard too because it kind of ties both together with confidence. I want everyone to feel like they’re the most beautiful and the most confident at all times.

You’ve also been in front of the camera working on the pilot for the new DC comics series, Naomi. You were a skateboarding stunt double, right?

I was one of them. The experience was life-changing for me. Now I know for sure that I want to do more skate filming and acting because that is so fun. How it came about was, I was in this skate girl group chat on Instagram and they sent the casting. I submitted and they hired me as an extra first, but then they were like, well you look like the lead so we’re going to bump your rates and you can be her stunt double and all you have to do is skate around.

Can you tell me about the environmental and sustainability work that you do?

I have a little volunteer group that I am trying to expand to be really big. I would always volunteer with tree planting and stuff around my community. I’m very passionate about the environment so I wanted to expand that to the community and allow people to join me and teach them that mother nature needs loving too. I’m always trying to learn more about what I can do to help the environment. I usually have project calendars every month and I will clean up the parks and stuff like that. The last thing I did was like a skate trail and we picked up trash and recycled or composted some stuff. The more that I learn about environmental stuff the more that I try to share with others. There’s a lot of stuff in the works when it comes to that and I’m just trying to expand it. I want others to be more environmentally conscious about what they do and how they make an impact.

We recently published an article by Indigo Willing about skaters doing their part to care for the earth and it included advice from skaters about how other skateboarders could take steps to have a more positive impact on the environment. Do you want to add to that with your thoughts on some basic steps that people can take?

You can start by being conscious of the products you buy. There’s a shoe company that is super environmentally friendly — I think it’s called Cariuma — and then there are board brands that are made strictly from recycled materials or every time you buy a certain board they plant a tree or something like that. If you already have a board and shoes or you don’t want to spend money, I would say just clean up around your park. All the skateparks have so much trash. There’s a skatepark in Riverdale that I’ve already talked to and I’ve started cleaning up their area. But just do your research and follow others who are environmentally friendly and conscious. And if you’re going out to skate, bring your own water bottle. Little actions like that really help.

They are great tips! Thanks, Indy! What should people follow to keep up to date with all the things you’re doing?

My main Instagram is @indygrabz. Indy grabs are a skate trick that I haven’t mastered yet but my nickname is Indy so I just thought that would be a cool handle. And then my other Instagram where you can find all my volunteer stuff is @greenbeanzatl. There you’ll find environmental tips and project calendars. And @propergnar of course!

Interview: Sarah Huston