There comes a crossroads moment in the young lives of talented skateboarders where they have to ask themselves where all this is headed. While skateboarding is always its own reward, pursuing it full-time is by no means a guarantee of success. It’s a lifestyle full of uncertainties: injuries, sponsorship, rained-out contests where a third place could have paid your rent. So it’s not for everyone, even among those good enough to make it. In that context, you can forgive a parent for asking ‘Are you serious?’

Fabulous Brazilian transition queen Yndiara Asp faced that life-defining decision. Part of the fabled Florianópolis bowl-skating tradition that gave the world Pedro Barros, Yndi was originally headed for an adult working life in education when she was spotted by Santa Cruz Skateboards while riding the bowl at a skate guesthouse right by the beach.