NORA VASCONCELLOS — Rolling Stone Profile
courtesy of Rolling Stone
After the year that she had in 2017, anyone that rides a skateboard should be familiar with Nora Vasconcellos. She won the Women’s Division of the Vans Park Series, turned pro for Welcome, and adidas released a documentary about her life all within a matter of months. To say Nora was on fire is an understatement. She exploded like a nuclear bomb.
With all of the coverage that Nora’s been getting lately, there are still a few things that we don’t know about her—some of which is revealed in this new profile from Rolling Stone. Nora candidly discusses her battle with anxiety disorder in the below excerpt.
It was in California, at around age 19, when Vasconcellos was diagnosed with a panic disorder. “It’s a weird thing that I don’t talk about all the time,” says Vasconcellos. “I don’t know why, because I’m super comfortable talking about it now. I’ve had anxiety since I was a really small kid. It shaped me back then – I had gnarly separation anxiety.” Vasconcellos’ first memory of an anxiety attack was when she was six years old and couldn’t find her parents at home. “I punched my hand through a glass pane door out of sheer panic, not being able to find them.”
Vasconcellos goes on to give some poignant insight into the impact that the 2020 Olympics are having on female skateboarding.
*With the 2020 Tokyo Olympics on the not-so-distant horizon, and skateboarding’s inclusion in two events, Vasconcellos is excited for the opportunities the games have provided globally. “The Olympics are the source of why girls are having success in skateboarding – with all the contests and heavy marketing,” explains Vasconcellos. “They can’t sanction a men-only event in the Olympics; they have to prove it’s transparent. So, because of the Olympics, we have a women’s division in Street League Skateboarding and in the Vans Park Series.” As Vasconcellos sees it, now she and her friends get to skate for a living and make money and travel together. “We still live in a day and age when the odds are stacked against women,” says Vasconcellos. “So any breakthrough is a step in the right direction.” *
For more on Nora, head over to the Rolling Stone site and read the entire piece.
