Meet Jordan See and Brittanie Joseph of Atlanta

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jordan/Brittanie See/Joseph.

Hi Jordan/Brittanie, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
We’re Jordan and Brittanie, two friends who met in college and began our roller-skating journey together in 2021. We were inspired to start our journey by the discipline and fast growth we observed in COVID skaters who picked up the hobby during lockdown. When we first started going to skate parks in 2023, we immediately noticed the underrepresentation of roller-skaters. There was a notable absence of black women like us dropping into bowls and doing cool tricks on wheels. Not to mention, being at the skate park is super intimidating and very dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing. For the longest time, we struggled to find a skate group around metro Atlanta that catered to our needs as beginner park skaters, so we decided to create a space of our own. We originally began hosting our meetups for black women and femmes who were interested in park and outdoor roller skating, but as time went on, we decided to diversify our meetups and embrace all skate disciplines.

Shades of Sk8 (SoS) is an Atlanta-based roller-skating collective for Black women and femmes of all skill levels embracing every style from park, trail, and rink skating. We are a sisterhood on wheels, cultivating a welcoming and supportive environment for free-spirited black women and femmes to explore new interests while growing in our skate journeys. Roller-skating has healed so many different parts of our inner child that we didn’t know existed. We hope that SoS can be the representation that so many of us needed when we were kids and can empower other black women and femmes to embrace life’s adventures regardless of age.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No, it definitely hasn’t been a smooth road. Some struggles we faced include:

1. Dealing with other identities that want to be included as core members but do not fit our target demographic. We collectively realized the necessity to implement private (members-only) meetups and public meetups which turned out to be a huge success. Now our friends of all identities can be included in many of our fun activities while preserving the integrity of the group’s mission.

2. Funding. In the beginning, many of the activities were self-funded. We certainly felt the strain on our pockets as we had many fun ideas for themed events that we wanted to make happen for the group. Thankfully, this issue resolved itself quickly as we gained more members who were willing to contribute.

3. Burnout. Since the group was founded by two individuals, all of the planning and organizing was completed by the two of us for quite a while following our launch. Again, as more members joined we received people that were willing to help out and share that responsibility.

4. Making sure newcomers feel included within our tightknit group. This isn’t something that we can totally control, but some actions we take to facilitate this are hosting regular member check-in meetings via Zoom, making sure no one appears isolated at meetups, and ensuring that members are aware of private events by notifying them directly.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
To our knowledge, Shades of Sk8 is currently the only roller-skating group in Atlanta that specifically caters to black women and femmes which certainly makes us stand out. We’re not competitive, but we play plenty and host activities and events that aim to bring out our inner child. However, skating also isn’t the only thing we do. We also coordinate outings and trips for our members and host events for the wider community. We’ve not only cultivated a sisterhood among the group but have been privileged with fostering a broader sense of community among Atlanta’s quad skaters.

Outside of skating, Jordan is an Office Manager for a parking tech company in Atlanta. When she’s not working, she enjoys film photography and making art–specifically portraiture and sculpting,

Brittanie is a Patient Care Coordinator for a local hospital. In her spare time, she also loves attending rock concerts and raves, reading about political and economic theory, and painting figurines.

Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
We see the Atlanta roller-skating scene as immortal. It is a cultural mainstay in this city, and we predict that it will only continue to expand and flourish from now on. Aggressive roller-skaters, in particular, are few and far in-between when compared to the skateboarding community. We especially hope to see more roller-skaters at skate parks and more black women and femmes of all ages participating in action sports.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shadesofsk8/

Image Credits
Micah Elise