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TEDx Talk | Cindy Whitehead: Girl Is Not A 4 Letter Word

“Live life balls to the wall. Do epic shit. Take every dare that comes your way. You can sleep when you’re dead”. This is the personal motto of Cindy Whitehead.

She conquered the male dominated profession of pro vert skateboarding in the 70’s, and quickly became one of the top ranked professional female vert skateboarders in the U.S. for pool riding and half-pipe. To this day, Cindy still holds the distinction of being the only female to be featured in the centerfold plus a two-page article in a skateboarding magazine, and is the only female skateboarder to have been sponsored by Puma.

Since then, Cindy has gone on to coin the term “Sports Stylist®,” working as a fashion stylist specializing in sports, with companies like Gatorade, Nike, the NBA,and athletes such as Tiger Woods, Kobe Bryant and Mia Hamm.

Last year she made national headlines by skateboarding down the closed 405 freeway in Los Angeles. In June of 2013 Cindy flew to Washington, DC to sign over some of her skateboard history to The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History’s sports collections.

Cindy has been profiled in magazines and sites such as, ESPN, The Huffington Post, & Women’s Wear Daily, and has appeared on numerous TV and radio shows. She most recently spoke in Washington, DC at The Smithsonian Museum’s Innoskate event.

Her catchphrase “Girl is NOT a 4 Letter Word” has become a battle cry for girls worldwide.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)