interview by Leti Nogueira

What’s up Fiona, what have you been up to these days?
Hey Leti, I’m so glad we’re doing this! I’m in Barcelona right now, and I’m supposed to be on a skate trip, but I hurt my ankle. I got here yesterday, and it was the first trick that I tried, at the first spot – a huge bank with a crack at the bottom. It was a really bad slam, I went down the bank, and hit the crack, flew out and rolled my ankle while flying.

How old are you and where do you come from?
I’m 23 and I’m from Munich. Now I live in Portugal, I also lived in Barcelona for a little while before.

How’s the skate scene back in Munich? It seems like a lot of skaters come out of there, especially girl skaters.
Yeah, I also noticed that recently. But when I started skating there, there were no girls. I feel like when I was still in Munich, I wasn’t really in the skate scene, I just did it as a hobby with my friends. Now that I don’t live there anymore, I feel like it’s very different. There’s so much more going on, like, you’re right, there are so many girls from Munich, all these events going on… I think it changed a lot, but I wasn’t around to see that.

When did you start skating and what inspired you to pick up a board in the first place?
I started when I was 13. I had some friends in school and we all wanted to start skating. We did it as a group, and then they all quit! I’m the only one that didn’t quit, but they were the ones who inspired me to start back in the day, my school friends.

Whereabouts did you travel to shoot the photos in this interview?
One of them is in New York, then some of them were in Germany, and also Portugal – Oporto, Lisbon, and there’s a few in Madeira as well. Yeah, most of the photos were basically all over Portugal.

That’s so cool, you’re putting Portugal on the map.
Yes, I’m trying. When my part comes out, I’ll definitely be putting Portugal on the map. There are a few spots in there that have never been skated before, just completely random stuff.

That’s awesome, I feel like it’s such an overlooked country. What would you tell the American public about Portugal, like, why did you end up living there now?
The reason why I live there is completely random. I was a little bit sick of Barcelona and wanted to go on a trip. I went to Oporto by myself for a few days and had such a great time. I got offered a room by random people and just moved there. It was the most spontaneous thing ever! It had nothing to do with skating, it was just like, why not? Now that I’ve been there a while, I think the main reason to live there is that it’s easier to prioritize and enjoy your life, do the things that you want to do, and live a kind of a slow life, where you don’t rush or hustle, just live life the way that you want to. Very different from my experience in the US, and specifically in New York. The fast life versus the slow life.

How did skating for Adidas come about?
Skating for Adidas was just huge luck. I just told my friend Katie that I thought Adidas was cool and I liked their shoes. She told the team manager I said that, and the next day, he texted me on Instagram, no hello, no nothing “Do you want to skate for Adidas?” And I was like what?! It was really like zero effort, maximum outcome. It was crazy.

Your brother Anton also skates and in fact you have a lot of the same sponsors. What’s the best and worst thing about sharing your skate journey with your brother?
Yeah, we always skated together, and somehow ended up getting the same sponsors as well. We were always very close, but doing this together, hanging out every day, made us even closer. It’s nice to have someone who knows my skating so well and is always honest with me. The worst part is that we can’t skate the same spots anymore. I can never beat him in a game of SKATE, he’s just too good at this point.

Watching you skate, I’d assume you value creativity over technical tricks – is this true? What’s your take on skateboarding?
It’s kinda true, but I also think it’s a little bit of a mix. I do like the manual, tech stuff as well. But – and that was also kind of my vision for the part that I’m filming right now – I like to do tricks that wouldn’t be the first thing you’d think of when you see a spot. I think that’s my approach to skating, to do something that’s a little bit unexpected, but often it’s still going to be technical, I guess. I’m usually not too big on jumping huge gaps or anything like that. Yeah, creativity over gaps, definitely, and creativity mixed with a little bit of tech.

What’s next for you in skating? And what about in life?
I have a 95% finished part that I’m working on and I’m very excited to release soon. I’m hoping next year to finish my degree, get that math diploma. That’s a big one coming up next year. I may move back to Barcelona for a little while, because I’m enjoying it again. I don’t know, I’m actually very happy with the way that my life is looking like right now. I’m in a very good spot with my skating and my studies. Everything is really in balance.

You’re young, but you seem to have a lot of wisdom in you. What’s a random piece of life advice to inspire the person reading this right now?
Just do whatever you think feels right, even if it’s not the way that you’ve been taught, even if it’s not the social norm, or what you’re expected to do. Like, all my friends just stayed in Germany, went to random universities, nobody moved anywhere interesting, nobody did anything interesting. I feel like the way you’re supposed to live your life is to do whatever you feel like. For me, that was moving to Barcelona and then moving to Oporto for no reason other than I liked it, and I feel like more people should live their life that way. That would be my advice for a happy, exciting life.