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MIYO TANAKA at EAST HARLEM in NYC, JUNE, 2020. Photos: eliza gunn. Styling: Tim Erem. Hair: George Barnes

Miyo Tanaka was sixteen years old when she went viral for the first time in 2013, in a now archived video that kickstarted her presence on Instagram as a girl skater. Five years later, we chat to her about the recent popularity of her all-woman skate crew Harlem Skate, and what brought her there in the first place. What do you even ask the girl who is so cool, she recently got signed with Volcom?

BRYNN CHOI: When we spoke recently, you mentioned you've been skating for over a decade. When and how did you get into skating?

MIYO TANAKA: You know, I feel like people talk of when they've picked up hobbies so vaguely sometimes but I remember it like it was yesterday. My family had just moved from Osaka in Japan to America when I was 9, and we weren't like.. this is gonna sound bad but my parents were so busy and we weren't super well supervised. My older brother had to take me everywhere, and he had just taken up skating with his new friends and I just kind of ended up going along with it. And now I'm basically better than him.

BRYNN: Skating is viewed as a pretty male-dominated sport. How do you navigate that?

MIYO: Well, it's not that it's viewed as a male-dominated sport, it is a male-dominated sport! I think I move with a privilege in the sense that my brother wasn't a dick and encouraged me to join in, and a lot of my friends were cis dudes growing up who were always really positive about me skating, so I've never had to navigate around that. A lot of girls and women do, though and that's where Harlem Skate comes into it. We want to be here as a safe space for women.

BRYNN: That gives me a great segway into this next question then -- how did Harlem Skate come about?

MIYO: It happened pretty simply, really. I volunteer for a local Japanese-American youth alliance here in Harlem and my friend whom I work with was like... "I wish there was like.. a diverse crew for girls who skate." and we looked at each other like we were the main characters of our own movie, a real light-bulb moment and we were just like.. why don't we just make one? After putting out some feelers via Instagram Harlem Skate was born, and here we are.

BRYNN: It's really cool to be able to see a eureka! moment come to fruition - do you think since starting this journey you've seen much change in skating?

MIYO: Yeah, I mean I was thinking about this the other day! Since I was a kid I've definitely seen more girls in skating, more LGBTQIA+ people in skating and more overall diversity in general. Growing up queer, Japanese and a woman, I've had my fair share of moments where I've felt an otherness in skating, and life in general. It's been really illuminating in the past few years seeing growth in the industry, and also seeing growth just in the people I have approaching me. I've had a few girls tell me they've seen my videos on Instagram and it's inspired them to grab a board and head out to the skate park. That's all we really want, to be honest. To let everyone know that this sport is for everyone, and we've gotta dismantle this idea that it isn't or that it's hard to try.

BRYNN: Now that you've got names like Volcom backing you, what's next for you and the rest of Harlem Skate?

MIYO: Honestly I've got NO idea. I'm an artist as well so I've always got that, but I think for the group we're going to focus on creating pathways so women and girls in other cities can mobilize and create their own groups. We really want this to be sustainable, and we want our reach to expand beyond our own doorsteps so we're in talks with how to empower more people like us! Skating is so important to a lot of people, especially those who live on the "fringes" a bit. If safe spaces become the norm, then the world's our oyster.