Nicole Grodesky https://nicolegrodesky.com/ Documenting people, culture, and the spaces around them Fri, 22 May 2026 22:56:45 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://nicolegrodesky.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/NIcole-Grodesky-Favicon-150x150.png Nicole Grodesky https://nicolegrodesky.com/ 32 32 What I Always Pack for a Surf Trip After Years of Travel https://nicolegrodesky.com/blog/what-i-always-pack-for-a-surf-trip-after-years-of-travel-2/ https://nicolegrodesky.com/blog/what-i-always-pack-for-a-surf-trip-after-years-of-travel-2/#respond Fri, 22 May 2026 22:09:54 +0000 https://nicolegrodesky.com/?p=1324 A surf trip has a funny way of exposing the tiny things you forgot. Not your board. Not your passport. The weird little item that suddenly becomes more valuable than gold at customs, in a jungle rainstorm, or after six straight hours in tropical sun looking like a rotisserie chicken with fins. Some surf trip […]

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]]> https://nicolegrodesky.com/blog/what-i-always-pack-for-a-surf-trip-after-years-of-travel-2/feed/ 0 Interview: Marii Sugiura Bakker https://nicolegrodesky.com/blog/interview-marii-sugiura-bakker/ https://nicolegrodesky.com/blog/interview-marii-sugiura-bakker/#respond Thu, 21 May 2026 23:09:05 +0000 https://nicolegrodesky.com/?p=1317 Looking Back I met Marii while we were both working at a sushi bar owned by Japanese sushi chef Miki Izumisawa. We were both surfers, but I had no idea how accomplished Marii was until Miki suggested I interview her. The piece was later published in DYLA Magazine, the online publication I launched after college. […]

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]]> https://nicolegrodesky.com/blog/interview-marii-sugiura-bakker/feed/ 0 Who is Colleen Mehlberg? https://nicolegrodesky.com/blog/who-is-colleen-mehlberg/ https://nicolegrodesky.com/blog/who-is-colleen-mehlberg/#respond Mon, 11 May 2026 18:15:31 +0000 https://nicolegrodesky.com/?p=1300 Editor’s Note: Looking back on this interview 21 years later feels a little like opening an old tide-stained journal. I was around 25 at the time, freelancing in the surf world and still competing myself when I met Colleen Mehlberg in San Clemente. She was younger, still in high school and preparing for college, but […]

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]]> https://nicolegrodesky.com/blog/who-is-colleen-mehlberg/feed/ 0 Lauren Sweeney: Where Talent Takes You https://nicolegrodesky.com/blog/lauren-sweeney-where-talent-takes-you/ Tue, 28 Apr 2026 15:36:33 +0000 https://nicolegrodesky.com/?p=1264 Editors Note This piece was originally published in Surfshot Magazine in May 2007. Much of this work existed before permanent archives, and over time, stories like this slipped out of public view. I’ve been revisiting my early work to rebuild that archive and return these stories to where they belong, visible, discoverable, and on the […]

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]]> A Morning with Jen Smith https://nicolegrodesky.com/blog/a-morning-with-jen-smith/ Sat, 25 Apr 2026 20:48:44 +0000 https://nicolegrodesky.com/?p=1255 Editor’s note: In the years since this interview, Jen’s story has unfolded in ways neither of us could have fully predicted. She went on to win two World Championships, cementing herself as one of the most accomplished longboarders of her generation. But like many careers in surfing, the arc wasn’t linear. Sponsorships faded, competition took […]

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]]> Looking Back: The Day I Met Ornela Pellizzari at Trestles https://nicolegrodesky.com/blog/looking-back-the-day-i-met-ornela-pellizzari-at-trestles/ Sun, 12 Apr 2026 16:49:42 +0000 https://nicolegrodesky.com/?p=1230 I was surfing Upper Trestles, feeling like I was surfing pretty well. I had a good session and I was feeling good about it.  Then I got out of the water and looked back at the lineup. There was a girl out there, around my age, absolutely shredding. Turn after turn, throwing full rooster tail […]

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]]> Inside the Mind of a Big Wave Charger with Jenny Useldinger https://nicolegrodesky.com/blog/inside-the-mind-of-a-big-wave-charger-with-jenny-useldinger/ Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:31:14 +0000 https://nicolegrodesky.com/?p=1223 Editor’s note: This story was originally reported and written in 2014. Some details may have changed. There’s a moment, just before a wave breaks, where everything goes quiet. A massive blue wall rises out of nowhere, bending toward the sky. Wind skims across its face, hissing. Then the lip pitches forward. The ocean cracks. A […]

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]]> Getting Back to Video https://nicolegrodesky.com/blog/getting-back-to-video/ Tue, 24 Mar 2026 22:56:15 +0000 https://nicolegrodesky.com/?p=1165 There wasn’t a single moment where I decided to get back into video. It was more gradual than that. I picked up the camera again, started filming, and realized it still felt familiar. When I first started, most of the platforms were print. Magazines were where the stories lived, so I gravitated toward photography. It […]

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]]> How Mamala Surf Is Rethinking Wetsuits for Women Surfers https://nicolegrodesky.com/blog/how-mamala-surf-is-rethinking-wetsuits-for-women-surfers/ Fri, 20 Mar 2026 20:03:57 +0000 https://nicolegrodesky.com/?p=1103 The future of women’s surf gear is about designing from the ground up with women in mind. There is a particular kind of annoying distraction that only surfers can relate to. The drag of excess neoprene bunching at the forearms while you’re paddling. The cold flush down the back during a duck dive. The weight […]

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]]> A Long Wave West: Trust, Timing, and a Life Shaped by Surfing https://nicolegrodesky.com/blog/a-long-wave-west-trust-timing-and-a-life-shaped-by-surfing/ Tue, 20 Jan 2026 15:32:00 +0000 https://nicolegrodesky.com/?p=1099 In this conversation with Holly Beck on Surf With Amigas, I trace the long arc of my surf life, not just where it began, but how it carried me forward. I grew up in Florida with a single mom and a lot of energy, always moving, always outside, and surfing became a natural fit, a […]

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