Andrew Langi<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Skateworks Employee<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Location : Skateworks<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Date : 3\/13<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First Interview
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**Lots of mumbling and setting camera up**<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Becca : What\u2019s your name and what\u2019s your profession? Andrew : My name is Andrew Langi and uh my profession is skating. Becca : When did you first start skating? Andrew : I started skating when I was about 11 or about to turn 12. Hehehe. So when I started skating I was about 11 about to turn 12. Becca : What was your first skating experience? Andrew : My first skating experience was really crazy actually. I remember going to the skate park right down the street from my house that was just built. And I remember seeing all of the kids and uh ya know, people skating. And it made me want to skate. Becca : Where have you worked before Skateworks? Andrew : I\u2019ve never had a job other than Skateworks haha. Actually let me tell my first skating story myself, like me skating, or the first time I ever saw skating. (mumbling trying decide what story to tell \u2026 a bit of swearing on his part) Andrew : Okay I\u2019ll just tell my story. My first skating experience was a good one. It was at my local home town skatepark. My mom brought me there with my little sister, it was just one of the best times of my life. I remember I was doing other things at the time like Taekwondo and you know, doing a little sports here and there.. which made me happy, but nothing made me feel like how I felt on a skateboard. That sense of freedom and you know just the way I was able to express myself through doing something that was looked down upon essentially. Becca : How has skating helped you escape negativity in your life? Andrew : So, as far as the influence skateboarding has had on me and keeping me out of trouble, I would say it\u2019s definitely kept me out of trouble in a sense of hanging out with the wrong people, but it also has gotten me in trouble because skateboarding is not really accepted everywhere. You can\u2019t just go to a school and skate at the school, or on a random curb outside of someone\u2019s house, so in that aspect, we got the cops called on us a lot.. Pretty frequently. We get kicked out of places, tickets, citations, you know, detained, arrested and stuff. So in a sense of keeping me out of trouble, I\u2019d say it kept me out of trouble in a way that I wasn\u2019t joining any gangs or (…mumble…) stealing or anything or anything negative. So everything that I did was just because it was something that I loved to do and cops didn\u2019t like it hahaha. Becca : Aside from working at Skateworks, have you ever been paid for skating? Andrew : Yes I have, I\u2019ve done a lot of contests and also having sponsors, they pay you as well. Typically having sponsors, most skaters, you have a skateboard sponsor, you have a truck sponsor, a wheel sponsor, a barring sponsor, clothing sponsor, hat sponsor, you know. A lot of those sponsors will give you a contract as well as a certain pay a month. As well as a contest cap so if you win first, second, or third, they\u2019ll match what you make. And sometimes the first place prize is up to 10 or 15,000 dollars. You get paid that way and also by representing your sponsors. Becca : How did you get sponsored? Andrew : I got sponsored, actually Jason here, my boss here, started giving me little sponsors just through the reps that come through the shop. Um my first one was Anti Hero skateboards and S Shoes, which all entailed (mumble) once a month I get 2 to 3 boards, some wheels, maybe a couple of pairs of shoes. And moving forward from that, it builds on each other. And you slowly gain more by attending events and networking. Becca : When did you first start working at Skateworks? Andrew : I started working at Skateworks a little over 5 years ago. Becca : How did you follow your passion while maintaining an income? Andrew : Well I never.. HA.. As far as (mumble) Balancing my income and my passion of skateboarding.. Didn\u2019t really have conflict because I didn\u2019t really have income at the time when I started skateboarding. I was still a young kid living with my mom so I didn\u2019t really have and financial responsibilities. So I never had a job growing up and for that reason, I had all of the time in the world to skate. I would go and skate before school, after school, until 10, 11 o\u2019clock at night. So that was never really a burden on me. It didn\u2019t really become a burden until later on in life where I started living on my own and had to come up with money to pay for my bills. Which at that point always sucks when becoming an adult, but it\u2019s something that everyone has to go through. (mumble regarding lighting \/ camera issues) Becca: How would you tell other people to follow their passions? Andrew: If I were to tell anybody, or, you know, kids, younger generation, how to follow their passion is, first you gotta find your passion, you know? Find what you love and let it kill you pretty much. Also, big this is just like, make sure you have fun with it. If you\u2019re not having fun while you\u2019re doing it, it\u2019s not a passion, it\u2019s more like a job you know, or a hobby. But with me, skateboarding, you know, it\u2019s something that I found and I stumbled upon cause I thought it was cool and it looked fun, and uh, I never let that, uh, slip away from, from uh, from my grasp. So once I first started skateboarding, how much fun I had I made sure that I held on to that fun and uh, never let anything come in between, because it\u2019s the one thing that I really do love to do and it\u2019s one thing that I would never not do. Mahika: There are a lot of stereotypes that follow skating culture and link it with today\u2019s conceptions of hip-hop culture. What\u2019s your experience with skating culture? Andrew: Uh\u2026 Skateboard\u2026 Well, I mean, as far as skateboarding culture and its influence on hip-hop and everybody that, you know, that\u2019s not a part of the skateboard<\/em> culture, uh, I\u2019d say skateboarding probably, uh, you know, generated a lot of the style that we have today, you know. And back when I first started, it wasn\u2019t something that was cool, it wasn\u2019t something that everybody wanted to wear, you know, we actually got made fun of a lot, you know, me personally I got made fun of a lot, like \u201coh you\u2019re wearing skinny jeans those are for girls,\u201d you know, \u201coh cool shoes skater boy,\u201d like, you know like, in a joking way, and uh, you know, today, it\u2019s\u2013 everybody wears skateboard stuff now, it\u2019s become so popular, and, you know, my personal opinion on it is I don\u2019t want you guys to wear it (laughs). To be honest, you know, it\u2019s\u2013 everybody wants to look like a skater but not actually skate and, you know, I tell this to a lot of people, it\u2019s, you know, don\u2019t try to look like something you\u2019re not, you know? Especially if you\u2019ve made fun of those people for what they wore growing up in the industry or in the skate culture, you know? Uh, I see it as like a\u2013 skateboarding as like a lifestyle, a way of life, that\u2019s not something to be, uh, to be impostered by anybody, you know? But it’s cool, you know, it generates a lot of money for the skateboard companies and industry, and stuff like that. I just personally think that like, you know, society should stop stealing stuff from skateboarders and not giving any credit to us. Mahika: What do you think about the laws that some cities have in place that prevent people from riding skateboards on the streets? Andrew: How do I feel about laws that affect skateboarding? Honestly, you know, laws don\u2019t really affect skateboarders. I mean, you know, you can always tell someone not to do something, but it\u2019s their choice to do it, you know? So if we see a sign that says \u201cno skateboarding\u201d, it\u2019s just a sign, you know, there\u2019s no one there to enforce it and if we get kicked out, we leave, you know, we\u2019ll come back another time. You know, we have a bunch of skateparks we can skate at and stuff and they even try to, you know, make laws there where, you know I feel like skateboarding is something you should do at your own risk, um, and, you know, obviously, just like anything else you learn in life, it\u2019s gonna\u2013 you\u2019re gonna have little ups and downs, and accidents, you know? Like car accidents, you\u2019re gonna have, you know, accidents in cars, you have accidents riding a bike, rollerblading, uh, you know, anything, you know? You\u2019ve just gotta be aware of it. I think that the reputation skateboarding has is like, \u201coh it\u2019s such a dangerous thing kids are jumping off of things, well, skateboarding\u2019s no more dangerous than driving a car on a freeway at 75 miles an hour, you know? Becca: Do you have any injuries caused by skateboarding? Perhaps a tooth? Andrew: Have I had many injuries skateboarding, yes I have. The most noticeable one is my, my teeth obviously. I had uh, knocked out my tooth when I was 15. Uh, I was actually on a skate trip with some friends down in LA and uh, my skateboard hit me in the face, and uh, I could\u2019ve gotten it fixed but uh, decided not to. Also I\u2019ve cracked a rib, um, broken fingers, I don\u2019t know if you guys have seen this one but this one\u2019s still broken, broken all my toes, uh, broken my left wrist twice my right wrist once, um, you know, sprained my left knee twice, my right knee once, multiple ankle rolls, sprains, um, I\u2019ve been knocked out, uh, a lotta, lotta concussions, you know. You gotta pay to play, you know? What I tell a lotta the kids that get into skateboarding is, you know, that they want to be good at skateboarding, and I tell them, if you want to be good you can\u2019t be afraid of falling. If you\u2019re afraid of falling, don\u2019t ride a skateboard. It\u2019s not for you. You gotta be willing to accept the consequences that come with doing something that allows you to be so free. Mahika: Have these injuries ever deterred you in any way from skateboarding? Andrew: My injuries have never caused me not once to consider quitting skateboarding. And I think that\u2019s super important for people to understand is, you know, if you\u2019re gonna do anything in life, you know, as far as finding a passion, something you love and getting paid to do it you gotta love it so much that nothing’s gonna stop you from doing it. No matter how badly you get hurt or shut down you get, you know, if you love it that much just keep doing it. You shouldn\u2019t be in it just for the money, you should be in it for the love. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Andrew Langi<\/p>\n\n\n\n Skateboarder<\/p>\n\n\n\n Date: 4\/3\/18<\/p>\n\n\n\n 0:18<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Mahika: Who was the most influential person in your skateboarding career? Andrew: The most influential person in my skateboarding career\u2026 Uh, I mean there\u2019s a lot, there\u2019s a lot of them, a lot of people in my life that helped my upbringing, um, one of them was Jason Strubing, my boss. Good friend of mine, he\u2019s been taking care of me for the past 15 years and like I said, uh, I think a couple interviews ago, bought my first skateboard off of him. So, you know, he\u2019s had a big impact on my life. Another person that\u2019s had a big impact on my life is a lot of pro skaters that I never really met until later on in\u2013 in life, after, you know, getting a few sponsors here and there. They\u2013 a lot of them helped guide me to places where I needed to be and, you know, influenced me to make the right decisions in a lot of areas.
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