Impala Skate Diaries ✨ Meet Karen

Introducing Karen, the vibrant Latina who’s skated her way into our hearts with her unique blend of makeup artistry and roller skating.

With a YouTube channel dedicated to her love for skating and life adventures, get ready to be inspired by her colorful journey!

I love this question. I've actually made a YouTube video about it, but I shall retell it here :) My dad used to take us ice skating every now and then, especially during Christmastime. I got the hang of it and really wanted to take figure skating lessons. Then I learned the hard truth, those classes were EXPENSIVE. My family didn't have the money for that, so I moved on. For one Christmas or birthday, I can't remember because my birthday is in December, but I got some plastic Barbie skates that would transform from quad to inline skates. I thought they were the coolest thing ever! I eventually lost them. Fast-forward to my freshman year of high school, when I had to abruptly move from Riverside to Whittier at the end of the first semester. So while everyone had established their friends and routines, I was fresh in a new school, new city with no friends. I decided to buy myself some cheap Amazon skates and made sure they were boy skates because I wanted them black, so I could paint a galaxy on them. Remember when everyone was obsessed with galaxies? The wheels those skates came in were clearly made for smooth rink floors. Now I know, but back then I had no idea. I was shredding them in the streets to the point that they hardly rolled. A couple of years later, when I started making friends, I found out a super sweet girl in my class played roller derby. She showed me pictures and I was amazed! I asked her if she could skate with me. She agreed and when she saw the wheels I was working with she said,  "oh no there's no way you're skating with those '' and gave me a set of hers. I didn't know wheels could go that fast! (meaning they actually spun, lol). Then I saw another of my classmates post her skates online, and they were leopard print! I had no idea skates came in cool colors, let alone patterns? I had to do some digging, and that's when I found the online world of roller skating. I bought myself the same leopard print pair and started doing the 365 challenge where you would skate and post every day for a year, and so much of my skating journey started then.

It's true, I love the skating community so much. My favorite thing so far has been that I've been able to meet some of my best friends through this awesome sport. Something that I love about roller skating, specifically, is that it's clearly an independent sport but also a team and community sport. I'm someone that loves her independence but greatly appreciates company. So I've been able to be friends with girls who think and feel the same way. It's been the happiest part of my life. My friendships with other women are so important to my quality of life, they mean everything to me.

Thank you for that! So the name of our podcast is actually called, Vibrant Moves. Girlypop Friendships was just the title of that episode, in which we talked about how important it is to have girlfriendships. How important they are for our mental health and overall well-being. Elida and I became friends through skating, and we soon realized that we had a lot in common and that we could literally talk for hours. One time we were on the phone for four hours, just yapping away, lol.  This podcast project has been in the works for a year now. We really wanted to share the reality of life as 20 something year olds who are approaching our 30s and are dealing with life, family and friends. 

What are some hidden educational or resourceful gems in the skating world that you'd recommend for our community to check out (YouTube channels, online communities, etc.)?

YouTube has always been the number one spot to look out for. YouTube university as we like to call it, lol. I also really love Instagram for finding a closer community to you. That's how I found most of my skating friends when I was starting my skating journey. I would post my little skating videos and tag my city and soon enough girls would hit me up and tell me they were in the same city and that they were interested in skating with me. 

Music can really make a huge difference to your skate sesh. I feel like I really have different moods with music based on the type of skating I'm doing. Right now I'm really into trail/ distance skating at the beach and I love listening to Kali Uchis. She's one of my favorite artists and gets me into an ethereal mood. Goddess vibes fr.  I mostly listen to female artists, I feel like I can relate better to them. If I'm still skating the trail and want to go a little faster, I'll listen to some reggaeton, it really gets the heart rate up! I like listening to riot grrrl music at the skate park. Which is like female punk. It's fast and makes you not scared or makes you feel like a badass when you fall, lol. I can't forget about the classic disco songs when I'm at the rink. Those really help me get in the groove.