Minna Stess might best be described as a consummate skateboarding all-rounder.

Let’s walk that back a bit: skateboarding is so hard that even to be awful at it takes no small degree of talent, balance, coordination and courage.

Good skateboarders make up only a tiny percentile of all skateboarders- and sponsored skateboarders only a percentile of those. The temptation for sponsored skateboarders, therefore, is to find the aspect of skateboarding at which they excel and sharpen that endlessly.

It makes sense to find your lane, in that regard.

Minna is pretty much laneless- she’s a classic example of an early-starting enthusiast made good.

As happy ripping in the irrigation ditches around her Petaluma home in northern California as she is in purpose-built terrain, the nineteen-year-old is already over a decade deep in perfecting her craft as a street-, vert-, park-, little-bit-of-everything skateboarder; and one who has garnered accolades both from within and without the competitive sphere.

Although Minna competes for her nation in Park, she is by her own admission far from a bowl purist, which in itself tells a story about the magnitude of her all-round skateboarding talent.

As well as featuring in videos for board sponsor Santa Cruz, Minna is also the highest-WSR-ranked of the USA Women’s Skateboarding team currently, lying as she does in 8th overall.

Helped up that path by a superb bronze in the 2023 Ostia Park World Championship along the way, Minna’s last-gasp qualification for the Paris Olympic Games at OQS Budapest provided one of the most enduring images of the entire Road To Paris experience.

We are delighted to have her drop in with us. 

Ph: Kanights

Hi Minna, although you have no doubt done this a thousand times already, for the purposes of the tape can you introduce yourself?

Yo! I’m Minna Stess, I’m from Petaluma, California- and I’m nineteen!

Now: a lot of skateboarders these days start early, but you were more or less immediate, is that right?

I started skating when I was two; my brother Finnley, who’s  three years older than me, got into skating- and I guess I just wanted to copy him. 

Ph: Kanights

Petaluma is small-town California, very different from downtown city life: can you describe it to us a little bit? What would a typical Friday night look like if you were home?

Hmmm… yeah- a typical Friday night could be many things, but I usually go to the Phoenix Theater, either to skate or hang out at Side Room skate shop, where a couple of my friends work. Then, usually grab some food at Petaluma market- which is right next door. Head back to the Phoenix to watch some bands. I got to meet Mac DeMarco there, after his show a couple of years ago. And then… usually, we all end up at a friend’s house- or sometimes we will spend the night skating at the Phoenix if the owner, Tom Gaffey, gives us permission. It’s fun; I love Petaluma. 

Ph: Kanights

Your reaction to qualifying for the Olympics in Budapest was one of the moments of the OQS- can you tell us what went through your mind in that instant?

Well: I had barely made it into the semifinals, squeezing in at sixteenth- so I was already freaking out about not qualifying for Paris. Thankfully, I made it into Semis- so it was back on, for me. I had fallen on my first two runs- so I was so stressed; but, I held it together as best as I could- and pulled my entire third and final run. Then, everyone in my heat ran over to congratulate me- and it was the best feeling! After my run, they made us wait quite a while for my score. When my score came back and it wasn’t what I wanted, I was pretty disappointed- and then. turns out the crowd also disagreed with the score I was given, and they were all booing! (laughs-) I’ve never experienced that many people mad like that for me, so that was really comforting, and so nice. I left the park after my heat, and got pulled into drug testing immediately. I was feeling every emotion you can think of all at once because there was still another heat after mine- so I wasn’t sure if I'd made it into the Olympics yet. I was about to go into my drug test when my Dad quietly said “Hey- you’re an Olympian” and gave me the biggest hug. 

 Ph: Kanights

How did Paris compare to other places skateboarding has taken you? 

I’ve always wanted to go to Paris, so I was super-stoked. It’s gorgeous. I feel like I didn’t get to experience as much of Paris as I would have liked to, but it was over-all amazing experience. Opening and closing ceremonies were crazy fun, though, on the boat and the stadium. I got a chance to skate the Bastille spot with my brother Finnley.

I was invited on-air at the France24 studios with Francois Picard- which was extremely fun, too. A lot of different experiences jammed in there, which was unreal. 

Unlike some of your competitors on the WST, you’re not a purist Park skater but a skateboarder who competes in Park.  Is that an advantage or a disadvantage- or is it irrelevant, because you would continue to skate everything, regardless?

Well, first- I appreciate you not thinking of me as just a contest Park skater (laughs). But I don’t know… sometimes I guess it can be an advantage or a disadvantage in contests- depending on the park design, maybe? Sometimes I feel like skating a bowl or a park, and other times I just want to hang out and skate street spots with my friends. 

What’s been your favourite stop on the World Skateboarding Tour so far?

Favourite stop was definitely the (2023*) World Championships in Rome, where I got third. Even if I hadn’t had done well, it would have been my favourite; because Ostia is not really a big city- so I felt like everyone got to hang out more together, and it was super-fun. 

Ph: Kanights

Your elbow injury sounded particularly awful. Does it just come with the territory or did you feel like it was a total setback?

Definitely comes with the territory, you are going to get hurt skating no matter what.But what’s funny is: I actually broke it skating a down rail. I was trying to front fifty, so it wasn’t my norm- and you probably wont see me doing fifty-fifty’s on round rails anytime soon.

You’re sponsored by a vegetarian restaurant: it seems that women’s skateboarding is really opening up how companies can successfully promote themselves through skating in a way which the men’s scene is- as yet- unable to process, fully. What do you think about that idea?

Amys Drive-Thru and Amy’s Kitchen is amazing, I’m super-stoked to have them support me. They are a family-owned business that was founded in my home town of Petaluma, so it really happened organically. It’s awesome to see bigger companies outside of skating be really supportive of the women, it’s about time. 

 Ph: Kanights

You once said in a previous interview “Skating is 80 percent mental and falling”. That’s just about the size of it, right?

Yep, that’s skateboarding! Sometimes you have to shut the brain off and just skate.

Can you tell us a little bit about your work with the Women’s Sports Foundation?

Straight after Rome, I was invited to the Annual Salute to Women in Sports in New York City. It was super-fun- and I had the incredible opportunity to meet and learn from so many professional women in sports. I even got to meet- and get a selfie with- legendary icon Billie Jean King, who really started it all! I’m proud to be a WSF Athlete Ambassador, and I’ve done skate clinics with them in Salt Lake where I also spoke on a panel with other professional athletes,  skiers and snowboarders- and I had a great time skating with some younger girls; teaching them to skate. I’m excited to do more with WSF. They are an incredible organization for women and girls in sports.

Ph: Kanights

We sometimes talk about a ‘big 4’ in terms of competitive skateboarding nations: USA, Brazil, Japan, Australia. As the current highest-ranked US skater in your discipline, do you feel a responsibility to hold it down for skateboarding’s heartland against the upstart nations?

I don’t really think about it that way, because it’s just skateboarding. I think everyone should be able to enjoy it in their home country. We do have a lot of great skateparks- and there need to be more everywhere, worldwide!

Thank you for your time, Minna- we always do a kind of microphone handover for the last question; what message would you like people to take away from reading this interview?

Of course, thank you! I guess my message would be… just to do everything how you want to do it.

Ph: Atiba