Kindred Journey 10 – Peggy Oki
Peggy Oki is a professional skater, surfer, environmental activist, visual artist, and an advocate for wildlife mammals. She grew up in southern California and began skating at a time when the styles were very conventional. Her style and that of her team was aggressive. She competed and won many competitions. Peggy was one of many pioneering women in skate culture in the 70s as the first girl to skate as part of the original Zephyr skate team . She was inducted into the skating hall of fame and adapted her style of skating to surfing, which she still does today. As she was skating she also went to UC Santa Barbara to study environmental biology and began a lifelong career in advocating for marine life. She created paintings of whales and has lead art shows and installations to speak about the murder of them. To this day Peggy still rides, paints, and fights. She even does speaking engagements such as TED talks where she speaks on her life’s work.
Sources: PeggyOki.com, Skategirl Documentary, TED