Venice Ale House sits right against the L.A. beach landmark boardwalk where people-watching is at its ultimate prime. The last time I was there, an Amazonian Cindy Crawford-looking girl skated up to the edge of the bar and began chatting up a young man. The entire bar got slightly quieter as everyone looked on, pretending that they weren’t. As she got his phone number, I flagged down her friend and noted how impressed I was: “The ultimate cool girl,” I thought.
Her friend told me that they were part of a skating community called VibeRide LA, which partners on Tuesday nights with LA Skate Hunnies. Both groups intend to bring people together with the common interest of getting on wheels and cruising. I was in awe.
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After the two skater girls glided away, the whole bar, all of us eavesdropping patrons pretending to mind our business, suddenly erupted in applause. The lucky bloke turned and laughed at the support, saying he was glad he had witnesses because otherwise, no one would have believed him.
I was left feeling wonderstruck and curious about this club, full of women who seemed to be soaking in the best that life had to offer, oozing with confidence, freedom and self-possession. I wanted to know more. That’s when I sought out Jennifer Yonda, the founder of LA Skate Hunnies.
As expected, Yonda is a lively adventurer, always wearing vibrant colors and an infectious smile. She started LA Skate Hunnies, a female-founded skate community that welcomes “all humans on wheels.” Yonda’s preferred method of transport is roller skates, but she encourages people on all types of wheels to join the Hunnies at their various events, including skateboards, rollerblades and bikes. It is all about building a community of like-minded people.
When I got the chance to speak with her, she proudly confirmed, “Our community is open, inclusive, kind, nurturing and supportive.”
Yonda started LA Skate Hunnies about four months into the pandemic because she was desperate to find other women who skate. This was a time when, after being in forced lockdown for several months, everyone seemed to place a higher value on human connection. She was new to Los Angeles, and in an attempt to cast a wide net of potential new friends, she took to Facebook to announce her first event. She had expected the worst: to be alone with no takers. To her surprise and delight, four people showed up. It felt like a victory and she was encouraged to stay consistent to nurture that small group.
For months, the group remained small but dependable. After a while, the numbers started to explode. Each week the number of skaters multiplied by about 10 people, until she was seeing roughly 50 regular skaters by the year’s end. She reflected on how this motivated her to continue and to take on the growing pains she would come to face in the following months. “People kept coming and saying that the time was really meaningful to them,” she said.
One of the most difficult aspects of this level of growth was managing a group of that capacity. She would lose her voice shouting information to the group and had to invest in a megaphone. It was also difficult to get the support of the city for such a large gathering and they would get kicked out of spaces that the community loved, which would be disheartening. But with each disappointment, the pivot forced them to find creative solutions, resulting in new spaces that worked better for their needs.
Even after all this growth, it seems that this is only the beginning for LA Skate Hunnies, as it continues to expand and find partnerships to elevate the community experience.
The next step, which Yonda has been reluctant to take, is to develop a membership program so that they will be able to monetize the events and use the funds to enrich the experiences for their loyal attendees. Keeping up with the community is a lot of work, so this year Yonda finally leaped to leave her nine-to-five and commit to LA Skate Hunnies full-time.
She applied her previous experience as an event coordinator for a Culver City park to her work at the Hunnies. Looking ahead to 2024, she intends to be more proactive with the events calendar, implementing quarterly or yearly events that were previously successful. The hope is that the advanced notice will allow more people to attend and will help make the logistics easier, such as acquiring permits for larger venues. When speaking about the process of scaling a company with no prior experience, she emphasizes the importance of being humble and asking for help.
One of the expansions to the company is to provide opportunities for members to try different hobbies, such as rock climbing and hiking. The LA Skate Hunnies calendar was filling up: “We had ‘Thursday Night Skate,’ pop-up events on Saturdays and a lesson program. [Also,] some monthly events like ‘Ladies Night’ and ‘Climb Hunnies,’ which are bouldering meetups.” This is in addition to the skate park meetups they had been doing.
These manifold meetups helped Yonda get partnerships that have fallen into her lap organically. Many like-minded people saw what she was doing and wanted to contribute their skills, expertise or even their own companies, to build up LA Skate Hunnies. She was more than happy to allow them. She considers herself grateful for the ability to learn to navigate partnerships with people who were already excited about her work.
“[It] gives you tidbits of practice with someone who is super stoked on you already,” she explained, “[and] to learn and grow in a safe space.”
At the core of the company, Yonda says her mission is all about “connecting people with experiences that light them up.” Her commitment to such an active lifestyle is inspiring.
When I asked how she stays motivated, she thanked the “power of collective accountability” and talked about the ways that people in a community can positively impact each other. That has helped her stay committed to the work. Even on her worst days, she knew that getting to see her friends would always make the activity feel worthwhile.
Looking ahead, another initiative that she would like to roll out is a more robust lesson program. To help interested skaters get comfortable on their wheels, LA Skate Hunnies offers a variety of classes but for people who would rather “build Rome in a day,” they offer day camps.
Los Angeles is the type of city where it is easy to get lost in the shuffle. People tend to isolate themselves to avoid traffic, the heat or the chaos. There is a massive need for people such as Yonda to come into this type of place and help others remember that they have neighbors and plenty of land to explore. Getting people together brings life back into a city that can feel so disconnected.
In conversation with ShoutoutLA earlier this year, Yonda inspired with her list of ideas for tourists visiting Los Angeles for the first time: devouring empanadas in Venice, hiking to the Rock Pools in Malibu Creek State Park or taking the Thousand Steps in Laguna Beach to hang by the water.
It seems effortless the way she finds unique experiences to embrace the offerings of such a vast city, leaning into the exquisite environment that is so emblematic of California. Originally from Boston, she understands the benefits of the Los Angeles weather. “When I go out with friends I want us to feel expansive and free, to feel like we’re seizing the day,” she gushed.
Yonda reminds us to do what we love and lean on others to make it happen. And maybe empower yourself with a set of wheels.
LA Skate Hunnies meet weekly on Thursdays at 7 p.m. For more information, visit their Instagram page.