How Do You Sk8!
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How Do You Sk8!
Skateboarding at 25 and Beyond: Jennifer Barilaro on Family, Entrepreneurship, and Empowering Young Girls
What happens when you take up skateboarding at 25? Join us as we chat with Jennifer Barilaro, a remarkable woman who discovered the exhilarating world of board sports later in life, inspired by her skater husband. Across 22 years, she's thrown herself into skateboarding, snowboarding, and even surfing the chilly waves of Lake Erie—all while balancing family life and entrepreneurship. Jennifer shares her passion for these thrilling pursuits, describing how they have become integral to her family's shared adventures and personal growth, particularly emphasizing the importance of fostering confidence in young girls at skate parks.
In our conversation, Jennifer opens up about her multifaceted career journey, which includes everything from bartending to operating heavy machinery and selling wellness products. Her story is a testament to the power of pursuing passions, even if it means making sacrifices. We explore how she transitioned from a stable union job to embrace a lifestyle that prioritizes family and personal fulfillment, underscoring the struggles and triumphs of balancing work and family in a modern world. Jennifer's entrepreneurial spirit is palpable, and her insights into skateboarding and health are both inspiring and practical.
We also dive into Jennifer's skateboard setup, her admiration for skating legends like Lance Mountain, and the vibrant community she finds in groups like the Cleveland Misfits. As we wrap up, Jennifer shares her enthusiasm for electrolyzed reduced water, exploring its potential health benefits and urging listeners to consider sustainable living practices. Join us for an episode filled with personal stories, fascinating insights, and a celebration of board sports as a source of vitality and connection.
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Hey there, Welcome to how Do you Skate, the ultimate destination for all skating enthusiasts. We cater to everyone, from beginners to pros. Whether you love inline and ice skating or prefer quads and skateboarding, we have it all covered, and we bring you exclusive interviews with professionals, talented amateurs and influencers in the industry. So sit back, relax and get ready for an exciting journey into the world of skating.
Speaker 2:Welcome to this week's episode of how Do you Skate Podcast. I am your host, sean Egan, and my guest today is Jennifer, and I know I'm going to butcher her last name, even though I just pronounced it Bar-ee-ah-ro.
Speaker 3:Bar-ee-lah-ro.
Speaker 2:Bar-ee-lah-ro. Yes, all right, there we go. So welcome to the show.
Speaker 3:Thank you, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2:So now, how old were you? And?
Speaker 3:when did your whole skating journey start? I was 25 years old when I started skateboarding. I'm 47 now, so it's been a little over 20, 22 years that I've been riding.
Speaker 2:Okay, and how was that whole start for you?
Speaker 3:So yeah, I know, isn't that funny to start skating at 25? It's kind of odd.
Speaker 2:Not really, I guess. So 25?
Speaker 3:It's kind of odd, not really, I guess. So yeah, it's not too bad. So I, my husband, has been skateboarding, for he's coming up on 40 years skating. He's 52 this year and he's from my hometown. I I've known him since I was 14 and I moved away when I was 22 and I went and I just left Ohio I live outside of Cleveland, ohio and I moved out West and I wanted to just kind of, you know, just be a free spirit. So I just left the state and I lived in Oregon, alaska, utah and Wyoming. And then I came back home just to kind of recoup, see my family and see, just a visit, right, and I met back up with my husband and I just couldn't leave.
Speaker 3:He's been skating, like I said, for years, so he'd always go skate and it was always his get, like his getaway from his ex-girlfriends. He'd be like, hey, I'm going to go skate with my friends. And then all of a sudden I was like, oh, what does that feel like? Can I try? Can I try? No-transcript.
Speaker 3:Like they were always looking at, like the guys out West, and they were, you know, trying to be like Tony Alva and they were like imitating and just doing what they want to do, and so finally, like everything's starting to like we're making our own. They're old enough now Like my husband was old enough, where, you know, they've been building ramps their whole lives Um, but all of a sudden, more and more people were building you know backyard bowls and empty swimming pools, and we were like starting to figure they were starting to like get more and more into transition. And so that's how I started skating is that? My husband has been doing it for years and I just kind of I jumped on his tail feathers, and then I just literally I haven't stopped. It's like it's changed me. I love skateboarding so very much. So that's that's kind of how I started.
Speaker 2:Now I've seen some of your videos. Is that the only board sport you do?
Speaker 3:No, not at all. Actually I'm addicted to all board sports. I teach snowboarding at a small Vail resort called Boston Mills, brandywine. It's right outside of Cuyahoga Valley National Park and Vail from Colorado. Vail Resorts bought it about three years ago and it's a small little, you know, beautiful learning hill. I mean it's obviously not like a Vail resort but it's perfect for kids to learn and to start out. It's great. I love it. So I teach snowboarding. I had my level one certification back in the early 2000s and I let it expire because I wasn't really using it. So I don't really have the level one, but still you don't have to have it to teach. So I teach and I'm the hill supervisor at the resort. And then I also. I surf on Lake Erie all the entire year. I love surfing, especially in the summer. In the winter, in the fall months are that the waves are better and the lake. A lot of people don't know that you can surf on Lake Erie. It's not wind, it's not ocean, you know.
Speaker 3:Obviously it's a lake so it's freshwater, so it's not tide generated, like most oceans are, it's wind generated. So when the waves are good, you know you have to pay attention and you have to get out there and do it. And usually we're in our wetsuits Cause, you know, like I said, in the summertime the waves aren't that good. So I have, like I don't know, probably four or five different wetsuits, like I have a whole quiver of, you know, boards and suits, because in the winter, like I have a six mil wetsuit. So I like going out when there's not a lot of people, because the lake's not the biggest place.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't like being cold. I do HVAC now full time and being up on roofs during winter. I'm outside a lot, so I kind of do enjoy the heat. I'm not putting on a wetsuit to go in the water.
Speaker 3:Yeah, fair enough. But I mean, by the time you get into that damn wetsuit and you're sweating and by the time you get past the break, I just it's, it's, it's fun, it's like I enjoy the rush. I don't know why I in in to life, I like I like adrenaline, I like rushes. That's why I like riding vert. When you drop in on a vert ramp you're literally like your stomach just comes up to here and you feel that g-force.
Speaker 2:It's just, I don't know, I I sure enjoy it now how similar, because I snowboarded once um and skateboarded way back last century and never surfed. But like the balance factor between all three, are they very similar, or how do you?
Speaker 3:are they a?
Speaker 3:little different they're a little different each one, but they're basically the same concept. Where you're riding sideways, you're either regular, you're goofy, um, snowboarding is weird because you're strapped in and that's kind of hard, like to me, I. I see people bmxing and I I kind of get scared because that's like 30, 40 pounds of metal that's coming down on you. Like with your skateboard you could just throw it away. You, you know, you, you bail out on a trick. You literally learned to slide out. Like sliding out is a trick, that is a you master. Sliding out and falling, that's like part of it. Um, so I guess to me I don't really like being attached. Snowboarding I get.
Speaker 3:Out of all three sports, snowboarding I get hurt the most because the speed, like you can fly and you literally can catch your edge, or you can just, like I, go so fast on my snowboard and I love it, but it's definitely I feel like I get hurt the most. And then with surfing, the water could be very, um, brutal, like you can smack it out and like you have to be a good swimmer, but also like I don't know it, just I'm a lazy, I'm a lazy surfer and I don't like to wait. Like, like with surfing you have to have variables, you have to be in the right spot, you have to paddle out, you have to you know, do this, this, and X, x, y and Z. I don't want to do that. I just want to go like give me a concrete bowl or give me something that I could just drop in and go Like I feel like surfing you have to really have like patience yeah and it's, it's wonderful.
Speaker 3:But I just feel like I'm a little like I'm kind of spoiled.
Speaker 2:I just like I said I want to, I just want something I can, just a concrete bowl and just go yeah, and with surfing, a lot of times you have to wait for that wave to come in, so you can be sitting out there for a while too, right?
Speaker 3:well, the lake is not like that. It doesn't come in sets like you think it would. You know, like rolling sets, like a beautiful, like three sets come in. No, it's a fricking washing machine, like you are. If you're like, it does set up nicely sometimes but like for the most part you have to get used to just like being taken in different directions and the current I'm like 115 pounds soaking wet. So like to me the current's just like screw you, you're coming with me this direction and so like you almost have have to.
Speaker 3:Like what we do when we surf is we surf at a place called edgewater is usually like my home break. But if you go on a surf line it's hilarious because there's different like names for each. Like you have jackson hole pier, you have like jackson pier, you have like different spots that you know you can see if the waves are good. At my home break it's called edgewater and it's called pinched loaf. It literally is called that because sometimes the sewer pipe opens and it actually it's. It's really not good. Like the lake is a lot cleaner than it ever used to be, but it's still like on surf line. That's what it's called. It's called a pinched loaf.
Speaker 2:It's so bad oh, that just does not sound good it's not, but you know it.
Speaker 3:That's only when the water like the runoff, it's only when a really big storm comes and, like the sewer system's old so it can't hold all of the run. You know the one the runoff. So, yeah, it doesn't open that off and maybe like once a year it's still, but it's still like it opens, which you know. And they're working on it. They just did and that's what's kind of fun, they just did a whole new project, the Westerly Shore I think it was Westerly Shore District Sewer Company where they just rebuilt a bunch of storage holding tanks. And the really cool thing was is I was an operator with heavy machinery and I worked down in the tunnel.
Speaker 3:So I was actually operating a locomotive machine where the train would take the muck buckets into the, I guess into the tunnel, and then this thing called tunnel boring machine, this tbm machine, would, like you know, muck, muck all of the inside of the matter of the, the tunnel and then it would go on a conveyor belt and then the conveyor belt would dump all the like muck muck into my buckets and then I would back the train out of the tunnel and then the crane would come in and pick up the bucket and then dump it and then put it back on and then I'd go back in and do it again and I would do that all day long. So it was really cool to be a surfer and be like an operator and helping like clean up the lake. So that was kind of fun. But nice.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. So now it, does your husband still skateboard too? Oh yeah, definitely, but he would rather surf. He, he kind of is like, yeah, skateboarding's fun, but he just would rather just kind of go. And you know, surfing is a little bit easier.
Speaker 3:I guess on your body, I don't know you'll see people last a lot longer surfing than skateboarding, I think. But I guess he's just been doing it for so many years and like he doesn't care to ride like the big shit, like I do, like I, I I've been like doing like roll-ins of 16 foot, like like revert ramps, like I love doing like like a Jackson uh Kona skate park. They have a huge vert ramp and I love doing that roll-in. It's like there's a 16 foot and then a 19 foot and I haven't done the 19 yet but I did the 16 and he's like, yeah, screw that, I don't care, I'm good.
Speaker 3:So he would rather he would be, I think, much rather surfing. So I kind of let him go surf and he kind of lets me go skate, and like we used to be a lot more but we have two kids. So it's like sometimes like it's it's good to have the kids, but you know it takes away from like we take them with consistent. Now it's like, eh, we'll get to it when we can and we, it's not as consistent as it we used to but it's it's our fault for not being Kids will do that yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so are your kids getting into skateboarding then? Or yeah, so I don't know We've had. Where we used to live in Parma cause I'm born and raised Parma, ohio, represent Parma Um, we, um, we had a seven foot tall half pipe, so it was seven foot tall, 20 foot wide, um, eight foot or it was eight foot transitions, and it had pool coping on the one side and metal coping on the other, so it was a perfect ramp for, like, just in our backyard. It was great. So my kids they're 12 and nine.
Speaker 3:I have a girl that's 12 and a boy that's nine and so when we came home from the hospital, like that's literally the first thing that we did was we put the kids on a board on the ramp, like before they even came in the house they were like three days old, like the kids were on the board. It was great. So, like we, they've grown up with it. That's always been around them, but we never pushed it. You know we're like hey, you, you want to skate, cool, if you daughter got hurt. Actually, she got, um, she fell off the side of the ramp and got four stitches on her forehead.
Speaker 3:So she's been a little bit kind of hesitant and now she's starting to get into it, like I do girl, like all girls skating and I try to do like um lessons for girls, because girls get intimidated at skate parks. They don't really want to hang with the boys, they don't, they don't have the balls, just be like I'm going, I'm gonna snake you or I'm gonna there, and so like we have like just all girls sessions. So my daughter's been helping me teach those and it's building her confidence up, which is really nice, because she didn't realize that she could skate. She's like holy cow, mom, I can actually pump and I can. I could do this. I'm like I know, cause you've been skating your whole life, but you know you can't tell her. You know she's got to hear it. Then my son just learned to drop in for the first time just a couple months ago. He learned to carve around the bowl. It's definitely been kind of fun.
Speaker 2:Like I said, I don't push it, but if they want to, they're kind of forced to because we do the nice thing about it is.
Speaker 3:That's kind of a family activity you can all do together. It's so nice. We're not necessarily like organized sports and you got to go to football and stuff. It's like no, I like I love skateboarding and we go um, I have my kids. I signed them up because my school wasn't, my kid's school wasn't doing the ski club. So I became the advisor of the ski club at the resort and so they go every single week, now like once a week and it's a five week program and it's. It's great. Yeah, it's. It's a family event that we do on our terms.
Speaker 3:It's not like we have to be there at this time and practice this time and do that. So it's definitely I really enjoy that as a family yeah.
Speaker 2:The nice thing is about skateboarding and we talked about like freestyle and artistic skating is that like with hockey and speed skating, there's like rules that you have to follow and that kind of stuff, but when it comes to skateboarding it's like wide open yeah free for all. You just keep pushing better and better. I mean, I was actually at the X Games that Tony Hawk hit the 900.
Speaker 3:No way years ago. Oh, that's awesome.
Speaker 2:So that kind of tells you how old I am. I think me and your husband are about the same age, yeah that's awesome, but it you how old I am. I think me and your husband are about the same age, but, um, yeah, that's awesome. So, but it's just like one of those things that it's just, it just keeps evolving, it, just it just doesn't get stale and you know.
Speaker 3:And then it's nice to see how kids are coming up and yeah, it's like a whole new. These grounds are just like you look at them, you're like, how are you doing this? And it's great, like I love it.
Speaker 2:It's exciting. I think it was either the X Games. There was a 13-year-old girl that hit the 900. And she was like the first girl and I'm like dude and she's only 13.
Speaker 3:Is she Japanese? I think it was a little.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know she's Asian, but not sure so. So, but I mean it's just amazing how it's going. So now, with you teaching the girls and everything, are you getting like a big response for girls getting into skateboarding?
Speaker 3:then where you're at, Um, yeah, and we're, like I said, where we're at. Sure, the more girls that realize that we do it, the more girls are coming out of the woodwork, because a lot of girls know and they want to, but they're hesitant and if somebody like advocates it, like me, that's a girl and they're like, wow, I see her doing it, it's great. Um, so I have. My friend is um Amelia Brodka. She's out in California and she started doing exposure skates. Exposure, it's like um, all girls skate competition. I think this year was their 13th or 14th year, maybe even more, now 16th, I can't remember how many years she's been doing it, but they're like absolutely dominating the all girls skate scene and like they're in Encinitas.
Speaker 3:So she she is doing so good with this, just like getting all these girls out and about and like learning that it's okay. Girls can do it too. You know, just cause the guys are doing it doesn't mean we can't. We just have to have the initiative to just go and do it and push ourselves. Because I mean, what's the difference, girl or guys? That's what I love about skateboarding Nobody cares, nobody gives a shit. Like if you're, it doesn't matter what level you are, it doesn't matter how good you are. Everybody is at their own level and everybody is pushing each other at their own level, and so that's what I love about it there's no competition.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And just that's how. That's what I think about it. I love skateboarding for that aspect of it and that's why I don't like to compete. I've been to a couple of competitions and people ask me why don't you compete, jen, and I'm like cause then I have to get better for my sponsors or I have to do like. I don't want to do that. I just want to have fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:You know, it's something that they're like, wow, you're grinding the deep end or something. And they're like what kind of trucks do you got? What kind of bearings? And I'm like I don't give a shit, it doesn't matter what kind I got. Are you having fun? And that's what it's about is just having fun.
Speaker 2:Those questions are coming up later in the podcast.
Speaker 3:Well, all right, I'm ready.
Speaker 2:So, but it's uh, it's really cool that you do all this stuff and everything now, thanks, and you do it as a family, which is really cool. So it's not like your husband's like oh, you're going skating again, or anything like that. But then at the same time, he couldn't use that as an excuse to get away from you, like he did his ex-girlfriends.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, and that's what's so funny. He would always be like like I feel like I'm cheating on you. I'm sorry, dude, it's so cute and he's like damn it.
Speaker 2:So now, has there ever been a time since you were 25 where it's kind of like you went through like a low, where it's like you almost you didn't want to do it anymore? It's kind of like you weren't sure, like because I know you said it was good for your mental health and everything and I find that a lot. But sometimes you know we do something and then all of a sudden we go through that, just that, where we need that mental break.
Speaker 3:No, never, because I don't compete, because I only do it for fun and I do it for meditation.
Speaker 3:It's like my um, it's my getaway, Like you don't think, when you skate I just that's why I love riding bowls and like, actually like parks where you could just like you drop in and you just flow. It's very and these skate parks that these guys are doing nowadays they are building this like organic skate park where you don't ever have to kick again, you drop in and then you're just like pumping and it's so organic is like the only way I can describe it. It's so beautiful.
Speaker 2:That works. So now has skateboarding and skating and snowboarding and all that led to other things for you.
Speaker 3:Um, I mean, being a girl doing it. I guess it has just, you know more and more people, don't they? Guys, if you skate, yeah, you're a guy that skates. But if you're a girl and you're dropping in on vert or you're like doing a big backside carve on a vert ramp, like they're like, wow, that's a girl, that just did that. So, yeah, I guess by being a girl, it kind of you know, set me aside, but nothing's really like I don't know. I guess I never pursued it to have it come out. I just do it, Like I said, I do it for fun. I don't do it to get sponsors or to get better. I I do it as a hobby and I just do it for fun.
Speaker 2:Okay, now the business. You said you have your own business. Now is that a business that you have, that you met someone in skateboarding that led you to it, or is that something that you came across?
Speaker 3:No, yeah, so okay. So I was an operator, so I'm a career bartender. That's where my career was. I have been a bartender my whole life and I quit drinking like two and a half years ago because it just wasn't fun anymore. I just was so hungover and I know the older you get it just I, I wanted to get healthier, so I decided to try to go to a different path and so I became a machine operator, you know, with the union. So I was a heavy equipment operator and I thought that was it. I said, oh sweet, I can do this job. It's got a great pension, it's got a great pension, it's got a good insurance. Both my husband and I applied for the job and I got the job. And I think it's honestly I don't know if you have young kids, but I apologize if you do, but I got the job because I have that little patch fur between my legs and he's a white male he didn't get it.
Speaker 2:I don't know if young kids listen to it, but we talk about stuff here, so okay.
Speaker 3:Well, I got it because I I think I got the job because I was a female, because it's a union, so I had more. I was a minority, so both of us applied. I got the job and so for two years I was an apprentice and I was, you know, doing the operators union and I loved it. It's like, honestly, my most favorite thing, like being an oiler for a crane or operating. I had my skid steer certification, a front end loader, rough terrain forklift, industrial forklift, what I said skid steer signal person for cranes. And then I basically I got my CDLB. So I love heavy machinery. Like I said, the tunnel boring machine is probably like the sexiest machine I've ever seen in my life.
Speaker 3:But as a mom I was missing out on my kids. I wasn't able to be there for them. You know they're growing up and if they were sick I couldn't just be like, hey, I gotta go, I gotta leave this. You know, construction job because my kids are sick, or if they needed me at school, I couldn't just walk away and I didn't want that. I was. I was so stressed out going to work, sean, like it sucked. I didn't like it. I't like I said, bartending, you're just like, okay, I gotta go. Like my kids are sick. It was a real big girl job and I thought it was what I wanted, and so I realized that it wasn't, and so I walked away from it. I said, all right, I can't do this. I'm stressed out. I don't like this feeling. My kids are more important. Those machines will be there, the union will be there, my kids won't. Um, so I walked away from the union and it was scary because I was like, well, I'm just going to be a stay at home mom and one income man. That that was hard man. You can't live on one income. Let me tell you, nowadays especially, it was fricking stressful.
Speaker 3:So I'm online and I'm looking for ways and I'm in, you know, in the internet, and I'm due to do looking for something. I need a hustle, I need something that I could do. Skateboarding is not going to pay the bills. I mean, does it really? You know? No, it never does you know, unless you're a pro skateboarder and you're doing great and I'm like, I'm good, but I'm not that good and I don't want to be that good, I don't care, like I don't, I don't think, anyways.
Speaker 3:So I'm online and I'm looking and all of a sudden, I find this ad, and this ad is like a woman and her kids and her pitch was, I thought, homeschooling my kids. I thought that, you know, being a one income was always going to be a one income family, but I found a better way and I was intrigued and I was like, okay, this is, this is interesting, tell me more. So I, you know, clicked on the ad and I met this girl, Wendy. Wendy Wynowski and the freedom finding family is her Instagram and her Facebook. So I I clicked on the ad and I started talking with her and I befriended her. She was amazing. She was homeschooling her kids, which is something that I wanted to do.
Speaker 3:Um, I'm trying to live more of like a holistic quit drinking, trying to feed my kids, you know, non-processed foods and I'm trying to get healthy, for the fact that life is too short and I want to be the best at everything I could do. I want to be healthy, I want to eat right, I want to drink right, and so I found her and I'm watching her and she's talking about this business model that she's her and I'm watching her and she's talking about this business model that she's. You know, she found a way to have passive income and be a stay at home mom but still make money. And I'm like, ooh, this looks kind of cool. But I'm like, shit, it's online, it's. You know, I don't trust it. I don't trust many things. When you see something online, you're like, yeah, I'll be weary, you know what you have to be.
Speaker 3:Um, so I sat back and I watched her for a year, sean, I literally watched her for a year and I was like, all right, what's she doing? How's she making money? How's this working? Right? And, um, so she was talking about this business plan, okay, and I was like, all right, I'm curious, tell me more. And I watched her. So, basically, it's a business plan that is a high ticket affiliate marketing, and how it works is you have these amazing things now, which is automation. You have ads running, you have things that you're utilizing social media for. And then I was like, well, what are you advertising for? And so then it's.
Speaker 3:I dive deeper and I realized that she has these. She was, she's working for this company that is a 50 year old Japanese company, and what it is is they're selling these water ionizers and they're called K8s Kangen water is the name of the water and these water ionizers. It's a premier water ionizer that basically changes your tap water. It transforms everybody's tap water that you hook up in your kitchen and it was started in Japan. It was just started into these hospitals in Japan and all of a sudden they're like, well, we could do it residentially here. And this company has been around since 1974. They've paved the way for this water ionizer. So you hook it up to your tap water and it basically transforms your tap water into alkaline reduced, electrolyzed, reduced water. Okay, and I'm like, holy shit, I skateboard. I want to hydrate myself the best that I can. So I was like, oh my goodness, have you ever drank in molecular hydrogen water or have you ever heard of it?
Speaker 2:yes, I have. I've been involved the I was involved in the health and fitness industry for a long time and went to conferences like Expo West out in Anaheim, so I seen a lot of stuff and and I even saw a. What was it? It was a almond milker that you could buy for your house, where you pour the almonds and make your own almond milk.
Speaker 3:Okay, interesting Okay.
Speaker 2:Interesting. Well then you know a little bit.
Speaker 3:Have you ever drank in the water? Have you ever seen what it does for you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, but not on a long term. There was a company called Roex that I used to have one too, but I mean, I don't know if they're still in business or I know they got bought out in the original, so I think they're just more still supplements. But yes, I understand what you're talking about and I have tasted the water. It is good.
Speaker 3:Okay, yeah, no. So basically it's not even like. I found that she had a business model that has a patented compensation plan, literally, that has generational wealth, and that actually I could get willed to my children, like I could pass it down to my children Once you hit like a certain ranking and and then I realized, well, wait a second, there's a business model that works, there's a product that works that I have already been hydrating, but I've been hydrating with my wrong type of water. Like honestly, like people drink, like like this shit, this is horrible.
Speaker 3:The microplastics that are in this and the water, the quality of the actual bottled water you don't even know what's in that water. And then drinking tap water too there's so much chlorine, there's fluoride, there's all these different chemicals that are in this water that I honestly I did I was poisoning my, like I don't want to drink that water anymore. So just by hooking up the water, it is honestly the best feeling I've ever felt in my life. It is so rich in antioxidants and because of the process that it goes through and what it does, so it's basically you plug it in, excuse me, and it basically goes through a process of electrolysis and it separates the water into alkaline and acidic water and there's two hoses and there's a different pH balance where you can literally change the pH settings to five different settings and they go as low as 2.5 and you go all the way up to 11.5. And there's 86, 85 uses for this water not only for drinking, it to be hydrated, but you can use it for cleaning, which is crazy to me, because I want to green my house, I want to have a better house, that I don't have to use bleach, I don't have to use chemicals. Well, this water you can use to clean. It's called hypochloric acid.
Speaker 3:So how do you use water for these properties? It blew my mind. I'm like what are you talking about? All right, then you can use it for beauty water, you can use it for your toner, you can use it for shampoo, you can use it for conditioner, you can use it for laundry detergent, and then you get to like the alkaline water where it goes 8.0, 8.5, 9.5. I mean, it goes all the way up to like 9.5, and that's the drinking water, and that's like where it gets good, because it literally goes to the hydrolysis process and it shocks the water, it literally makes the water alive, which to me, like I get so excited. I'm like, what do you mean? Water that's alive, like how is that possible? And then what it does to you, it's it. I'm still like just so excited about it. It's kind of ridiculous. People are like wow, jen, you're really excited about this water. I'm like, because I love it, I drink water all the time.
Speaker 3:I surf in it, I snowboard on it, I'm like water's my element. So I found something that absolutely resonates with me and my lifestyle and I can make money selling it and actually promoting it and bringing in people saying, hey, are you interested in changing your water and changing your life? Are you interested in actually not doing the nine to five anymore?
Speaker 3:Are you a stay-at-home mom, that doesn't want to do, just stay-at-home mom and not have passive income. It was like an aha moment. I'm like holy cow. I found something that I'm more passionate about than anything in my life and I can still be part of my kid's life. I can still be there and, as of right now, I have ads running. I have automated ads going right now that people are looking for. I don't have to go knocking on people's doors like, hey, you want to buy some water? They're online and if you're scrolling online, you might as well be making content and you might as well be getting paid for it.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 3:It just made sense to me, so I went ahead and I purchased the products. That's all that they ask you to do is you purchase one of the ionizers because they want you to test it. They want you to tell you, hey, how do you feel, what is your standpoint on drinking this water? And so they want you to buy the product, and that's what you have to do. I went into it with buying all of the products. We have more than one.
Speaker 3:We have the ionizer, we have a shower filter, we have some soap and supplements that are turmeric supplements which are amazing, for I mean turmeric or turmeric, however you pronounce it. It's same thing with the water. If you drink the alkaline water, it reduces your inflammation, which, as a skateboarder and somebody that's surfing and snowboarding, constantly doing stuff and falling, you're inflaming your body and like breaking bones and healing from bones like literally it is. I'm promoting hydration while detoxifying myself and overall wellness. So it was just like this overall. Like Holy cow, I can make money, I can hydrate and still be present with my kids. I'm hooked. Sign me up.
Speaker 2:There you go.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I'm doing that and I'm still bartending and I'm still, you know, teaching snowboarding. So it's like I'm like a jack of all trades. I kind of like to. I have too much energy to just sit and do like one job or like at an office sit at a desk Like I got to go.
Speaker 2:So now you're at a conference for your company in Texas. Now the question is is did you bring your skateboard with you?
Speaker 3:Oh my God, I hit up two skate parks yesterday. We were going and driving like we were riding to the um, the people were walking, making like content at the state building and stuff, and I'm like, oh my god, I'm skating. So of course, yeah, I bring my skateboard everywhere. I go every, any chance we go, like that's how we go. We're like my husband or my family, like we're going on a vacation all right, where's the skate park? And like you kind of map it out and you go, we go around the skate park and that's the sign of a true skater.
Speaker 2:You always have your skates with you, just in case dude, I skate, I skate through the airport.
Speaker 3:Yeah, on Thursday when I flew in, like I always I have my carry on and I skate through the airport and it's so funny, but like the only airport that I got messed with was in Hawaii. That's, hawaii is the one of the places that are like you can't skate in the airport. I was like, okay, and then on Thursday when I was skating, I had my headphones in Right and all of a sudden I took one out and I hear over the loudspeaker you can't skateboard in the terminal and I was like what? I put my headphone back in. I was like not me, you weren't talking to me, I didn't hear anything.
Speaker 2:Okay, me and my girlfriend were actually talking about this because at the aquarium out here I haven't been yet, but they have one of those moving sidewalks. Did you skate on that? Did you make it go faster?
Speaker 3:I did before. I Did you make it go faster. I did before. I did this last time. But I'm part of a company called the Cleveland Misfits. You got to look them up online. It's like CLE and then the Misfits like the band and we're like all ladies park through and these girls are insane. They do the rails, the jumps. They're insane in the park and snowboarding and last year about I don't know, there was maybe 15 or 20 of us I can't remember how many came out last year, but we all went to Colorado and we hit up all of these different resorts and there's a video of me skateboarding on the actual like escalator at the airport. It's hilarious.
Speaker 2:Nice, yeah, cause I just thought about that. I saw someone like skateboards you can do, but I think with me and skating just the width of it, I wouldn't be able to get the push like I would.
Speaker 3:Yeah Well, I don't want to get in trouble either. Like to me, I feel like when I skate at the airport, I just slowly go as like a slowly walk. You know what I mean. Like I'm only skating as fast as everybody else is walking.
Speaker 2:But you're a misfit, so it's in the name.
Speaker 1:You can't say you're a misfit, but take our cautious it just does not.
Speaker 2:It's a contradiction. There we go. That's the word I'm looking for, yeah.
Speaker 1:I try.
Speaker 2:But now like, what are your future plans with like skateboarding and all that kind of stuff? Is this going to be like? Are you going to be like 90 years old and using your walker to make yourself go, go?
Speaker 3:I know I hope so. Well, that's why it's funny. Like I said, my husband wants to, like he kind of surfs a little bit more because it's just easier on your body. I don't, honestly, I think skateboarding is the fountain of youth. It really is. I mean, you see these guys skateboarding and they're like, I mean 50s, 60s, they're still skating and like. That's why I like to ride bigger ramps. The bigger the you know the bowl, the bigger the transition, the easier it is to slide out. So, like I don't know, I guess I would like to skate forever. But you know, we'll see, I'm just happy doing it.
Speaker 2:So now I know with Tony Hawk he's had several concussions. Have you had a concussion from skating?
Speaker 3:Oh my God. Multiple Absolutely A hundred percent. And it sucks because you never come back Like and that's why.
Speaker 3:I wear my helmet every single time I skate. Um, I just literally I was laughing. I was like counting all my helmets. I have my skateboard helmet, I have my snowboard helmet, I have my motorcycle helmet, like I have so many cause I protect my brain arm. You could break your hand and like your appendages, you know what I mean. Like you can, you could heal on your things your noggin that's no joke, man. And once you get a brain concussion, like an injury, you're not the same. Like I remember early 2000s, I took a snowboarding injury. Um, I caught, I got a new snowboard and my you know side cut of my my rails, like it was a different side cut so instead of like sliding out and like doing like that hockey, stop, kind of skid out on your snowboard.
Speaker 3:I caught my edge and it railed me and like I railed myself and I smacked into a wooden fence and I was out. I was laying on the ground and I was literally paralyzed. I couldn't move. I was looking up and I could see the people looking down on me and I'm like, oh, get up Jen, get up Jen. And I couldn't move and it was the scariest thing ever and it was back in the day.
Speaker 3:I didn't have a helmet on at the time because back in the day, like snowboarding, you didn't wear helmets now Like everybody does, which is great, cause those metal edges are no joke. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:And trees are no joke either. They don't move.
Speaker 3:They're not forgiving at all. Yeah, exactly yeah. So I'm constantly yeah, but this is what's good, is like the water that I drink is actually helps with the concussions. It helps with so much, it helps with so many things that I'm like, oh my God, I can't believe it that this water is healing people in crazy ways.
Speaker 2:So yes.
Speaker 3:Now, who is one of your biggest influences in skating? I like Lance Mountain, just because I like how silly he is. Who else? Let's see, I mean obviously the normal, like everyday. I'm trying to think A specific skateboarder. It's hard to say. I love Lizzie Armano right now. To me she's just killing it. She's doing so good. And then amelia brutka, like she's. I remember I I worked at woodward skate camp back in the day. Do you know what woodward is?
Speaker 2:I don't okay.
Speaker 3:So, uh, woodward skate camp there's started in pennsylvania and what it was was a all girl or it was like a um, gymnastic um, sorry, it was an I got gymnastics kind of a camp. And then all of a sudden they were like, well, hold on, we could do like extreme sports. So they started doing like bmx and skateboarding and snowboarding and so like they have a place out in state college, pennsylvania, and it's called woodward east. And then now they opened another one out west. There's one in copper, there's one in tahoe, and so basically woodward, it's like a skate camp or a. You could go snowboarding, you go inline skating, you can go and do all these different things and these kids can go for a week or however long and it's like it's very expensive.
Speaker 3:But I went to the camp for one year and then I actually taught there for one year and I it was back in the day let's see Amelia's 30 now.
Speaker 3:So I she was like 14 when I met her and so she was there as a camper and I remember seeing her and I'm like, oh my God, this little girl is got some desire, like she is pushing it, so like I watched her since she was 14 up until now she's 30, maybe one now 32. And so, like, just watching her evolve and watching she went to the Olympics, this girl, she literally represented Poland in theics just when the skateboarding was here. So I'm like that's probably like to me somebody that I I look up to because I remember being with her. But then I was like, well, I'm gonna go have a family and I didn't really want to continue to like you know better myself, for, like I mean, she just literally pushed the envelope to like she's in the olympics, like she's doing it. Yeah, so she definitely is like definitely a good inspiration for me to see that she's in the.
Speaker 3:Olympics, like she's doing it, yeah, so she definitely is like definitely a good inspiration for me to see that she's putting in, then starting exposure and having all these girls follow her and like look up to her, she's amazing.
Speaker 2:Nice. And now the question that we brought that I said I was going to ask you earlier what's your trucks, your bearings, your wheels Like? What do you prefer?
Speaker 3:Um, right now I have a black label deck and I've been riding the same set of trucks for 20 some years since I started. I've never, and they're, they're crux. So I wear those and like I don't know why, I like I just never changed them, I just that's. I haven't like. I guess maybe because I'm light and I don't like grind as much. I don't know. Like I said, I don't do like the street and the rails, like I just like to pump around and I just like to flow, like I don't I go for it. I guess I always go for it, but I just kind of like I just have fun cruising and like grind maybe here and there, do like a small air here and there, like I don't really. I guess I didn't really trash my trucks. And then, of course, like you know, the reds, um bushings, I mean the bushing and the bind, uh, the what do you call them?
Speaker 2:Bearings Thank you, that's the word.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I ride reds because they're the fastest, you know.
Speaker 2:Okay, and then how many boards have you actually gone through?
Speaker 3:Um, a lot, a lot, um, yeah, my, it's so funny. I wish I had a picture of it, cause I literally was laughing at my husband. I'm like do we gotta? He won't get rid of any of his boards. He's been riding for so many years. He's got like probably 15 stacks and stacks of decks and I'm like, do you know how much real estate this shit takes up? And like you can't tell him to get rid of his old boards. Like that's just, you know who he loves, every single one, every single one's got like that little chip that he's like I remember that, I remember this, you know, and so each one is a different page of his memories.
Speaker 3:It is yeah, and so I get it. You can't take that away from him. But I'm like, hi, between, my house is so full of like he loves vans. My husband is great. He could be addicted to a lot worse things, but he loves old school vans. We've got a 65 Chevy, a 77 Dodge, an 88 Dodge and a 1994 by Ford GMC. It's great. And then we own three, three Harleys and so. But it's like that's a lot of stuff.
Speaker 3:you know between the skateboarding stuff, the surfing stuff, the snowboarding stuff. That is a lot of gear. It takes up so much space in our house. So I mean I would love to like say get rid of some things, but they're cool things. How do you say get rid of stuff that's, you know, so cool?
Speaker 2:Exactly. And then, when we start skating, we always start off with the cheapest and then, as time goes and we get older, it just gets more and more expensive for us.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, it does.
Speaker 2:Now, what is your advice to, especially since you're my first female skateboarder? What is your advice to the women that listen to this, that want to skateboard and want to come up and skateboarding?
Speaker 3:Don't be hesitant, don't be scared. Just because other guys are doing it, they'll probably support you. Like, get out there. Like if you put yourself out there, I'm sure that there'll be right there next to you, like you know, pushing you and supporting you. So don't be so hesitant.
Speaker 3:And I guess it doesn't matter what you have, like if you have the best skateboard, if you have this, like, who cares? Don't care what other people think, like that's just to me. My whole life I've always been like I don't care what you think, I'm going to just have fun and do it. And that's what I want more people to think about. Like don't, the person next to you is not worrying about what you know, what do you have? They're worrying about what do people look? You know they're looking at and taking it like, oh, what is what is everybody thinking of me? Everyone's taking it to their own personal way and I don't think that it matters. Like, just go have fun, be silly, be your silly self like. Like, just dance and have a good time. To me, people are so worried about whatever everybody else thinks and just don't worry about it. Who cares?
Speaker 2:Exactly so. I always say that too, because you get out there and it's a very expressive form too you get to express how you are, so don't worry what other people think.
Speaker 2:No, it's your own expression, yeah, and the nice thing is is we're just like one giant skate community and I think I pull in all forms together here. Your own expression, yeah, and the nice thing is is we're just like one giant skate community and I think I pull in all forms together here. But it's awesome Just to see the support that we have for each other, even the beginners, even at the roller rink on.
Speaker 2:Friday nights and stuff. That's great. Now how can my listeners follow you and find out more about you and your business, if they choose to?
Speaker 3:Awesome, for sure, yeah. So my Instagram is carving through life, if they choose to. Awesome, for sure, yeah. So my Instagram is carving through life. And I I I had my old one was Jennifer Ann's journey, because I was like it's a journey, right. But my, my Facebook got hacked just recently, literally with like this last month, and I'm like mother, son of a gun, so I, um, I had to change my name and I'm like thinking of a name, thinking of a name, and I'm like what am I doing? And I was like, well, you know what I'm actually? I'm skateboarding, I'm surfing, I'm snowboarding, but I'm trying to figure life out. I'm trying to figure out how do I become a mom and how do I juggle all of the things that come with being a mom trying to work, trying to do everything. So I came up with carving through life.
Speaker 3:Um, with all my boards that I'm doing. But I can also carve through life with just like trying to just be living life and carving through it. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So that's where you'll find me on Instagram and on Facebook, carving through life. And then, um, I'm a distributor for a company called a NADG and I sell Kong and water. It's K A N G E N, kongangen water, and I actually sent you my card. So if you're welcome, you're welcome to post the picture where it says green your home. So if you're interested in hydrating yourself or if you're interested in actually, you know, getting a business plan that you can, actually it's what it is to me.
Speaker 3:I was scared Cause I was like I don't know anything about social media. I don't know anything about um, sorry, my battery's low. I don't know anything about automation. I don't know, I don't. I fought social media Like I hated it at first, and so I'm switching my mindset completely around because, to be honest with you, um, if you change your mindset, it changes everything.
Speaker 3:Like I've been really working on me and my mindset and my limiting beliefs on what's working, what's not working. Well, this water is working. So I've been really working on me and my mindset and my limiting beliefs on what's working, what's not working. Well, this water is working. So I'm like if I can do a business and so, like, if people are interested in actually doing something for themselves. Being an entrepreneur, you're not going to, you're not going to advance. Being a employee no offense. Like you look and see like it's entrepreneurs and it's investors those are the people that are making the money.
Speaker 3:I don't want to work for somebody else. I don't want to do that anymore. Like there's a better way. I want to have financial freedom, I want to have time freedom, I want to have location freedom where I'm not stuck in one area. Like I want to be free to go skate and to go surf and to go do stuff on my time, and having automation is going to do it for me. And I'm like, holy cow, this is amazing. I just I still can't believe that. I found it. Like I'm just like blown away that it's actually. Like it's real, it's not just a pyramid scheme. People are like, oh, this is bullshit, it's a pyramid scheme. It's like, no, the pyramid scheme is working for a CEO. And actually there's that's the pyramid scheme is going nine to five work.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I think that's my opinion. So, yeah, you can follow me on instagram, um, you could do your research. I want you to know, I want these people to research, what's erw, what's electrolyzed reduced water, like? How is it good for you, what is it helping with, how does it hydrate you? Um, and, in addition to drinking it, like I said, the benefits that come along with it with the cleaning and greening. You know, just being green, I don't want chemicals in my house.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, my roommate's very much the same way.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, nice.
Speaker 2:Well, I appreciate you coming on the show. Yay Thank you for having me and I look forward to seeing your future endeavors.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thank you so much. Have a good day, you guys be safe out there about there. Thank you, thank you.