Vashti Rufus-Wilson Interview

Vashti Rufus-Wilson prefers to maintain a low profile, focusing her ambition on mastering her craft rather than boosting her social media presence. I was lucky enough to skate with Vashti during my Australia tour while spending a couple days in Brisbane. Little did we know we would be hitting the streets together just six months later in Paris, France. Vashti, in my opinion, is on a whole other level in the streets. Her passion and drive to showcase what can be done on roller skates is awe-inspiring. She is currently filming an independent street part and we are anxiously waiting to see what she throws down.

What are your thoughts on skating for sponsorships and companies versus not at all? You just got on the Chaya team! When Barbie asked me who I thought would be a good fit, I said you right away.
I wanted to skate for Chaya. I felt like I could back their product and what they stood for. But I don’t feel like I need to skate for a company or do something just because someone’s asking something of me and that’s like, “Oh, that’s going to be really good for me.” Like, is it actually what I want to do? Because it’s not really adding anything to my skating technically. Do you know what I mean? I don’t need that. I can just do that myself. So, I am more down if I want to support and back their product.

I know you had some hesitation coming to Paris. Traveling and skating in different places isn't something that is of interest to you?
No, it is, but it’s just money and time to get to those places. So, I always am like, yes, I would love to go on this trip, but everything is so much money and time because the more time you go, that’s less money you make being away. I just work casually, and I have to make a plan. I don’t want to have nothing and then just go somewhere and then come back home and have nothing in savings. I like to be set up so I don’t just pick trips willy-nilly, I guess.

When I asked you about Paris, you were like, "That's only a month and a half away!"
I just get a lot of anxiety around things happening because I feel like I won’t be able to deal with the change. I’m going to feel weird when I’m there and I don’t know if I can deal with being around the people.

Do you feel weird being here now?
No, I don’t feel weird. The anxiety is usually because I’m thinking that something is not going to go the way I like it and I can’t leave that situation because I’m not at home. I felt good about coming here, though, just because you were coming. We had met before and I feel comfortable around you. So, I was like, cool.

When we were in Australia, I was like, "We should skate together more." Who knew it would only be like six months later. If you did get the opportunity to turn skating into your career, would you?
I think it depends on the circumstances. Because even if I did, I would still do my current job just because I enjoy working. It’s good to have something outside of skating. I’m working in a café right now and I like it.

It is healthy to have something other than just skating.
That’s what I’m saying. I would love to do that, but I feel like I don’t know if I would enjoy it or if it would take joy out of it for me. But for the traveling part, I guess you don’t have to travel to skate, but I feel like it maybe is part of it because skaters are all around the world. And if you want, especially with street skating, the spots are in different parts. I think traveling would be hard because I like to have a home base. Nat [Ogden] started a skate store. So, I feel much more excited to be a part of that if I get to be around that and have more say in stuff. We get to do stuff for the community. I’d much rather be a part of that. I can still skate and make videos or do whatever while doing that. I don’t need it to be the main moneymaker.

It's a new store, not the one he worked at before?
Yeah, it’s a new one: Brisbane City Skate. It’s him and then his friend who we worked with before. I’ll just be helping, but I’m not really a big part of it. I like to help the roller skating
community with events, workshops to help people learn about skates, parts, just necessary things. I wanted people in our community, Brisbane especially, to have fun things that people look forward to. There are more roller disco things rather than actual skatepark events. If we could get people to do more street skating then maybe they won’t be nervous or feel like they’re not good enough if they want to do it. I just don’t know if the demand is there, whether people want to do that or not, or if they’re just happy to skate at the skatepark.

I know you have people that you get to go skate with at home like Nat. I feel like it's way more fun when I'm skating with roller skaters that push me or have different styles as me, but comfort is big for me. If I am doing something really big, I want Dave, Matt, and Ricki to be there.
For me, I feel way more comfortable if Nat’s there. I respect his opinion of what he says.
So, if he’s like, “I think you can do it” or “you’ve got this.” I trust that. He would tell me if he felt like I didn’t. He has a lot of experience, so I just think I work better having someone who’s there to help me. It’s not like you just go and do it by yourself. Sure, you can go and do it by yourself, but it’s so much better to have that person there that you trust. I’ve built that skating with other people, too, even skating the two days here. It’s like we all are kind of building that with each other. But yeah, for me, he’s that person that I feel safe and comfortable with.

Was it Nat that pushed you to try to start filming an independent part?
Maybe a little bit. I think I just decided I really wanted to do it. I had gone street skating with the bladers a few times when they were filming their own street stuff. I’d get a few clips that
I just used for random videos, and I really enjoyed it. Then I didn’t go for ages and I missed it. I just kept saying I wanted to, because there were no roller skaters who really went out and did that in Brisbane. I just find it more interesting. You get to use spots that don’t necessarily work in the way that you want them to work. It’s not perfect like a skatepark. So, it’s like that spot is particular to itself. It’s a completely different feeling than just skating at the park. I kept saying to Nat, “I really want to do this.” Then we finally got a camera and started filming. I have about10 clips now, but I want to put it out and not film too long.

Then you look at your first clips and you hate them because you've gotten a lot better.
I was saying to you, it’s hard because I only get to go once every two weeks just because of schedules, finding spots that you’re not going to get kicked out of. or only go on weekends. By me, everything is capped. There are spots I want to do. I’m just not there yet in my skating, but I really want to do them. They’re a little bit bigger than what I’m capable of, so I just need to slowly get there. That’s why it’s taking so long. I want to do more street, but it’s not
necessarily as accessible as the skatepark is.

When we skate together, you’re like a perfectionist. It's not like you're just going to get a half-ass clip. You want your part to be great and something you’re proud of.
I guess I want to see it and feel good about it. I feel like I can watch it and remember the time and all the work I put in to get that trick. I want to have a video of memories of skating times that I enjoyed.

Well, I can't wait to see what your part looks like when done.
What if it sucks? What if it's so bad?

It won’t, idiot. Shut the fuck up.
I should have brought what I've done so far so you could see it and then I would feel better.

Dude, I’ve watched my footage way too many times, now I don’t think it is good at all. So I get it. I know you would only put something out that is great. Where do you want to see the industry go?
I feel like I’m not really in the community since when I am skating, I’m in my own world. I’m purely focused on the trick, what I’m doing, what am I going to do next? I mean, I don’t care what they think. I still care about what people are doing and where the industry goes, I just don’t know the whole picture. I guess I just don’t want to see our industry go corporate.

What about if it was in the X Games or something?
I think it would be cool because then kids would maybe want to try it. Nat told me how he grew up watching that stuff and that made him want to start doing that. I don’t mean corporate like that. I just mean marketed. I just want it to be about the skating and that’s the main thing. It would be good for the industry to make money, and if that is the route it must go, as long as we still have our core, that is fine with me.

I personally want it to just be about the skating. I think that’s the way it should be. Like if you’re good, you’re good. Who the fuck cares what goes viral and who has X number of followers.
Right, like as it grows, people start getting better and doing more stuff. Tricks on roller skates get better. Or you just get to see more styles, and everything improves. Equipment and everything.

I agree. I mean, I think the community does need money only because that's how it can grow or become something. If we want younger people or the general public to see what we are actually doing, the only way for that to happen is more companies and more people in the industry.
What I would really love to see is it to be less political. I guess what should we do here? Is roller skating going in the right direction? If people just focus on learning and what they’re doing and then they can teach that and pass it on. People should learn about their skates, learn about the actual skate itself, why they skate, or try different things and talk about that. They should learn why they like it. Then they can explain that to somebody else and help them make their own decisions with stuff. Even with tricks. Not that there’s a right way to do a trick, but how you might learn it from start to finish. 

It's just so new and weird right now. We can’t even fucking decide on trick names. It is weird to think about where this is going to go since it has already grown so much in the last two years.
And it’s hard to see where it’s going because there’s so many different moving parts, so many different communities. People focus on different things. Some people focus on doing comps and more stuff to grow the community in that way. And then you’re focused on building the street community in that way. So, I don’t think there is even just one community because they’re separate, but they all meld in together. Even jam skaters and stuff like that, we all meld in together, but it’s all different. That’s why I think it’s so weird at the moment. Nobody knows where everything sits. That’s how I feel... You just don’t know where anything’s at. Maybe I don’t pay enough attention.

I think I am so zoned in on what I want to be doing that I'm just riding this wave. We'll see what happens. But it's interesting to hear what people think or what they want.
I just hope it is not going in the wrong kind of direction. I don’t want that competition. I just want everyone to build each other up. That’s what it should be.

You said you ice skated forever. So, switching to skates might not have been as hard?
I ice skated when my parents used to own a bakery. They would be working there and there’s an ice rink down the road. So, me and my siblings would go there all the time. Just when they were working, we needed something to do. I just really enjoyed it. My dad got me some lessons when I was 15 or 16. I never competed or anything. Then I ended up not having time to go to lessons. When I started roller skating, I did have that foundation of going forwards, going backwards. I knew how to fall over from ice skating. I knew how to go in a circle like crossovers, T-stop, stuff like that.

You started roller skating in 2019?
Yeah, I think it was a year before Covid. Some of my friends were doing it and I didn’t think it was a cool thing. I was feeling down at that time. I go through phases of feeling negative. My friends were like, we got roller skates, you should get some. I’d be like, “That sounds stupid.” But once I started skating, it was this feeling of being free. I didn’t know about skatepark skating yet. When I skated them for the first time, I didn’t put them back on for a couple months. Then Jade [Morris] got some for her birthday and we would go to the tennis courts. I saw people skating at the skatepark, and then I wanted to go. I wasn’t really on social media, so I didn’t see much. Trying something new made me feel free. Then I just wanted to go
all the time. Unfortunately, Jade broke her wrist early on, and I was like, “When are we going again?”

She was your only friend to skate with at the time.
Yeah, I just wanted to go. I was around skateboarders in high school. I didn’t skate, but I just would hang out with them at the skatepark. So, it was a normal thing for me to go hang out at the skatepark for hours and watch skating after school. So it didn’t feel weird to be there. 

Have any of the Australian brands like Brunny or Chuffed asked you to try their product?
Yes, I have skated in my friend’s Chuffed Skates. But I just knew they weren’t for me. At that time, I had decided I wanted to skate flat skates. I was skating the Moxi Vegan Jack boot,  running them down at the park. Since I needed new skates, I wanted to try something different. I decided to try skating with a flat setup. I skated the Chaya jumps, like an entry-level skate. I thought, I’ll try this and if I like it, then I’ll go to the Karma Pro. I tried it and really liked it. Then I wanted to try the Block. I did try Brunny’s before, but now I am most comfortable with Chayas.

That's how I feel about my skates now. If something works for me, it works for me. I love the Jack 2s and I don't think I'll ever want to skate anything else.
But I still want to support the people that I want to support. We bought your and Ivey's blocks.

Right! When we went out for Ivey’s birthday.
We were really drunk. We bought them because I feel like this is a piece of history that I’m going to have. It’s like what if we never met again? At least I would have this thing as a memory of you guys. I mean, you never know what is going to happen. We’d been skating and I was hyped about being around you guys. I don’t feel like the product is right for me but wanted to support. 

I mean that initial time that we met, I still can’t believe you did your first handrail with us.
I know. I was processing because it’s like a mental block to get passed, right? Then you get over that. I was probably just thinking about how cool it means that I can do this rail or this rail.

Every time I do one, I’m like, "Alright, let's do another one next weekend." If I lose that feeling, then it'll be scary again. If that makes any sense.
I was just hyped to go to the next thing. I opened a new door. 

Side note: Vash and I did this interview in our hotel room in Paris on a rainy day. I decided to continue our conversation right after we both got broke off on the infamous Le Dome 16-stair hubba. For those of you that are unfamiliar with this skatespot, there is a kink at the end with three steps to clear. I re-bruised my heel and tore a muscle or something in my leg. While wearing a helmet, Vash slipped off the end of the kink and hit her eyebrow on the ground. We are currently sitting in the hospital waiting room. She’s totally fine, but blood was dripping everywhere. We ended up being there for five hours before she got her two stitches.

How are you feeling now, Vash?
If that thing wasn’t at the end.

Yeah, the donkey dick small kink?
It would have been done.

For sure. Are you nervous about getting stitches for the first time?
I am okay. I don’t want to get it done. I just don’t like that they are going to be in there. I avoid getting stuff fixed. The urgent care people said it would be too bad of a scar for me to not get them done.

I thought you landed it right when I walked back from the bathroom since everyone was crowded around the camera. I thought, Fuck! Why did I have to go take a shit right when she lands it! And the first thing you said to me was, “You told Nat you would take care of me on this trip!”
I thought it was funny because I didn’t know you were gone. I wasn’t paying attention to what was happening down there.

So what are your thoughts on getting different tricks in each clip? I am currently working on a part and would love to have different tricks in each clip personally. However, I don’t know if my skating is at a point yet where I can do a different trick on every handrail I go to. So, if it is a buck spot, I think it’s okay. 
Yeah, I guess. I just wouldn’t do or try to go for the same trick. It’s different with rails, though. Like ledges and stuff, you can do switch tricks that’s maybe not as comfortable and figure it out. If it’s huge, then all you can do is the simplest trick that you have. Which is still good. 

Do you have any spots or tricks you have your heart set on for your part?
There is this rail, it’s hip height. It’s long but it’s high. It’s like a flat rail but imagine it’s high and it still goes down. So, it’s not a high-risk rail, but it’s hard to balance to the end. I’ve been there twice, and I just have to go back and do it.

You got it, dude.
There is also this big rail—I want to back unity, but it’s big. I don’t know if I can do it. For me, it’s the jump. When it gets to knee height for a stair rail, then I don’t jump properly on top of it. I’m just sitting on the edge. The yellow rail that Chaya used for a photo on Instagram, I was doing a top porn. I hate that photo because it’s not locked properly. It’s just on my skate, not block. I couldn’t get up on top of it to go down it, which I was pissed about because I wanted to try the back unity. So from doing that, I knew I wouldn’t be able to do the back unity.

And top porn on down rails, they're scarier to stand up on. I never do them where I'm sitting, I only do them when I'm standing. Personally, where my skating is now, I don’t like sitting top porns or sidewalks.
Yeah, I'm standing up. You know when you look at something and you're like, it's not what I wanted? But it's also my switch top porn.

You’re fucking crazy.
It's weird because that's the way I back unity. 

When we skate together, you don’t seem afraid to try anything. Like the big hubba, you just started jumping on it right away.
I get scared sometimes of handrails, but I feel that I have the capacity to know if I can or can’t. I have enough past things to go off to be like, okay, I have the ability, or I don’t have the ability. When I get to a spot or whatever, I’ll be like, I don’t know if I can do it. It’s not fully like I can’t do it. I’ll see if I can do it and then test it out, test it out, test it out. Then you slowly raise the feeling of like, okay, I can do this.

I feel like we could talk about skating for hours.
I feel like people don’t know me very well, so what I enjoy talking about is skating and technicalities in skating, not about myself. Talking more about experiences rather than me trying to remember a timeline of my skating life. I’m like, who cares what I do for work? Who cares what I do in my spare time? You know what I mean?

Yeah, but that's why I think it’s fun hanging with you and talking to you because we both are just nerds about it. We both want to move forward with learning and growing in street skating, not waste any time.
I think for me, it’s the perception of time. I’ll feel like I haven’t skated for so long and it’ll be three days but I think it’s been a week. And if it reaches a week, then that’s bad. For some reason it’s like a week is too long. If I haven’t skated for a week, I need to skate soon to
keep my brain moving with me just to stay on the memory.

I feel the exact same way. This sounds fucked up, but sometimes when I am going on trips that aren’t skating related, I feel like they are going to be so unproductive. Then afterwards, I realized how much I needed a little break from obsessing over it.
Maybe you’re just feeling really motivated about it. But it’s like maybe there’ll be a time when you’re like, “All right, I need to take a break and do all the things.” Because it’s not that you don’t want to do it, it’s just that skating is your priority right now. Time could run out for that, so the opportunity for that is now.

Right. Maybe it’s my main priority right now because I’m 30. I know I won’t ever stop skating, but doing it in this capacity won’t last forever.
But you also have to look after yourself. I think I can’t make skating my top priority. Yeah. Because my life with Nat is top priority, not skating.