Pretty in pink? More like powerful in purple! Nobody does it like Nora Vasconcellos. From her behavior on the board and certainly her standout style off the board, Nora knows exactly what is important—having fun!
“I just try to wake up every day and tell myself ‘I love skateboarding’ and hopefully that shows in my skating,” said Nora when asked if the current Olympic movement in skateboarding has affected her headspace. “I’m trying not to put too much pressure on myself because [the Olympics] is just one aspect of my life as a skateboarder, and I’m lucky that it is just an aspect of it. It’s not my end all be all, which is cool.”
Cool, calm and collected with her words and approach, Nora quickly shifts gears as soon as she steps on her skateboard. Animated antics on the deck, making funny faces while ripping and showing off her abilities without effort. Nora is a showstopper, see for yourself in her amazing part in the new Welcome video, Seance.
“I’m trying to take the stuff I do in parks all the time to cool spots that I get to either travel to or make,” commented Nora, excited for the premiere to follow the week after Dew Tour. “[Seance] has been about two years of filming. I’m really happy on how it all came out!”
Catching up with Nora around the bowl at Dew Tour was exactly what you’d expect it to be, interesting and honest. Not only did we connect on a couple of hot topics in her life at the moment, Nora also took ten minutes to purge her pockets. Surprise! We found plenty of purple.
Considering she was en route to the bowl for a practice session, she didn’t have much in her pockets outside of the typical car keys and cell phone. So, we had her drop her shades, remove the wrist watch and tell us where that diamond-studded ring came from.
First, she explained the ring. It’s made out of 14-karat gold with diamonds placed throughout the band. Turns out, it was actually a pawn shop find in Oceanside, California, from a little spot off the 101 Highway.
“I didn’t have any jewelry at the time, so I wanted to find something that I could skate in and never take off. It was probably somebody’s engagement ring at one time or another.”
Next we questioned her choice of eye protection. She had a pair of Oakley Latch sunglasses to keep her safe from the sun.
“I just try to wake up every day and tell myself ‘I love skateboarding’ and hopefully that shows in my skating.” — Nora Vasconcellos
“I’m trying to boost the anti-aging process and wear my sunglasses when I can. I wear contacts, so I have sensitive eyes in general,” explained Nora. “The lenses are a polarized purple. They are kind of retro, and remind me of something my mom wore back in like ’87.”
After the ring and shades were covered, we talked about her timepiece, which was a soft shade of purple. She was rocking one of her many Swatch watches, this one, in particular, was from the SKIN Irony collection.
“They are my favorite watches to wear because they are really light and they are made of silicon,” said Nora. “I’ve worn that in the dirtiest places. I’ll come out of skating a ditch and my whole arm will be black, but the watch is still perfectly lavender.”
Oddly enough, we noticed on her other wrist she was rocking a purple athlete wrist band for the week at Dew Tour… Most other athletes had green, so this seemed a little suspect but also fitting.
Then it was on to the usual pocket lint items such as car keys and a cell phone. The iPhone XS, though, had something quite unique stuck to it under her clear case—a sticker of Reggie Rocket doing a frontside nose grind. This wasn’t just any sticker of Reggie Rocket, Nora explained. This sticker was actually illustrated specifically for her because it was an animated rendition to a real photo of Nora doing a nose grind!
“There is a guy on Instagram, @ModernCholo, who does artwork with iconic cartoon characters redrawn into skaters,” said Nora. She went on to talk about how Reggie Rocket has influenced her during her younger years, from the way she skated with the boys to her purple locks of hair. “She is the best! I love having that [sticker] to look at everyday. She is my inspiration, from being a ‘90s baby.”
Finally, we ran through her set of home and car keys. Starting with the Subaru fob, Nora told us it went to a 2019 Outback, or her “mom car” as she affectionately calls it. “It’s super fun, and really good for road trips. I get super excited to drive it once I’m home from traveling.”
Her house key had an image of a funky cat printed on it, of course. She showed us the brass clip she uses to keep her keys secured when skating, and then she quickly mentioned the SanDisk flash drive.
“I honestly have no idea what is on it,” laughed Nora. “There is probably something that could be leaked. Hopefully, nobody steals my keys.”
We didn’t get a chance to peek at what she had on the drive that day, but maybe we can get the leak in the near future.
Did we mention that Nora was rocking a purple adidas shirt and kicks to complete her kit?If that wasn’t enough purple power from Nora for you, check out her signature bearing from Bronson. The shields are, yeah, PURPLE.
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