The Founding History of brown girl surf
Named in honor of the first surfers of Polynesia, brown girl surf was conceived and created by social entrepreneur and surfer Farhana Huq in 2011. brown girl surf was launched as a sole operated platform for storytelling, awareness raising of environmental issues and accelerating culture change in surfing. (Article) Much like Burning Man is to artists and Medium is to writers, brown girl surf was modeled as a creative umbrella for diverse women in the surf and ocean world. We attracted a network of collaborators, creators and collective intelligence to our stage with a shared ethos of making waves of change. (Article)
Starting with a Facebook page, a storytelling blog, influencer videos and an online shop, brown girl surf immediately garnered global press, attracting an unexpected network of various collaborators and followers. These collaborators then formed the prongs of a decentralized, starfish model design for social change (PDF). Our model was designed to enable cross-pollination, flexibility, artistry and creativity of ideas in surf and ocean spaces to flourish.
Our first project was Surfing Possibility, short films, photographs and writings of our surf sisters in India and Bangladesh, developed in collaboration with Storytellers for Good. Following our trip to Bangladesh, we collaborated with local leader, Hazera Khanam, to accelerate her launch of The Bangladesh Surfer Girls' Project (PDF) as featured in 'Bangladesh You Broke Me'. To support this project, we partnered with California's Equator Coffees and Teas to co-create our first retail t-shirt line.
With the historic screening of Surfing Possibility at San Francisco’s Patagonia Headquarters, and growing local and global publicity over four continents, we naturally started receiving a high demand of inquiries for surf lessons. In 2013, we launched Learn to Surf (PDF), a program introducing diverse people of all backgrounds as a safe space to learn surfing on Northern California beaches. That same year, Farhana invited a select group of friends and leaders to form the brown girl surf Brain Trust (PDF), an informal group of collaborators interested in the intersection of surf culture, environmental stewardship, women, youth, and diversity. brown girl surf continued to use its platform to highlight and share unique projects, stories, art and perspectives of diverse female surfers locally and globally.
Our first project was Surfing Possibility, short films, photographs and writings of our surf sisters in India and Bangladesh, developed in collaboration with Storytellers for Good. Following our trip to Bangladesh, we collaborated with local leader, Hazera Khanam, to accelerate her launch of The Bangladesh Surfer Girls' Project (PDF) as featured in 'Bangladesh You Broke Me'. To support this project, we partnered with California's Equator Coffees and Teas to co-create our first retail t-shirt line.
With the historic screening of Surfing Possibility at San Francisco’s Patagonia Headquarters, and growing local and global publicity over four continents, we naturally started receiving a high demand of inquiries for surf lessons. In 2013, we launched Learn to Surf (PDF), a program introducing diverse people of all backgrounds as a safe space to learn surfing on Northern California beaches. That same year, Farhana invited a select group of friends and leaders to form the brown girl surf Brain Trust (PDF), an informal group of collaborators interested in the intersection of surf culture, environmental stewardship, women, youth, and diversity. brown girl surf continued to use its platform to highlight and share unique projects, stories, art and perspectives of diverse female surfers locally and globally.
In 2014, the growing market demand for surf lessons then inspired a collaborative surf project called Ocean Days (PDF), coordinated by then affiliate surf instructor and independent multi-media artist, Mira Manickam-Shirley. In 2015, Mira went on to bridge a partnership between brown girl surf and our city's department of parks and recreation where she worked. (PDF) Through this collaboration, we helped nurture community surf and environmental stewardship programs, including a youth surf camp, piloted by Mira in her role as a parks and recreation employee. At this time, brown girl surf also began nurturing its connection with Sailing for Social Justice, a project founded by Tala Khanmalek linking sailing with social, environmental and healing justice that Farhana envisioned inviting into the brown girl surf network.
By August 2015, our Surfing Possibility Story on Ishita Malaviya, India's first female surfer, went viral on Upworthy and was viewed by more than 4M people. This attracted the next wave of followers and inquiries from global media outlets such as BBC and ESPNw. At this time, brown girl surf also helped accelerate the first major grant for Ocean Days, establishing brown girl surf as a powerful platform in nurturing our network of starfish collaborators to attract resources and support in service to creating local and global impact in the surf world.
By August 2015, our Surfing Possibility Story on Ishita Malaviya, India's first female surfer, went viral on Upworthy and was viewed by more than 4M people. This attracted the next wave of followers and inquiries from global media outlets such as BBC and ESPNw. At this time, brown girl surf also helped accelerate the first major grant for Ocean Days, establishing brown girl surf as a powerful platform in nurturing our network of starfish collaborators to attract resources and support in service to creating local and global impact in the surf world.
In 2016, Surfing Possibility India continued making waves and was selected into the Ocean Film Festival World Tour. It was also written about extensively in scholarly articles including 'Surfeminism, Critical Regionalism, Public Scholarship (PDF). During this year, in order to expand brown girl surf's community arms and help position the Ocean Days project to accept more grant funding, we gave a charitable sponsor permission to use our mark for a finite period to support a mission of creating waves of change by fostering a diverse, joyful, and environmentally reverent women and girls surf culture. During this time, under Mira's leadership as Executive Director, the broader starfish platform distinct to brown girl surf, shifted to focus on fundraising and expanding the surf and environmental stewardship programs piloted under our city's department of parks and recreation and towards building communal political power.
In November 2023, the community programs focused on surfing and advocacy nurtured by brown girl surf and our various community partners since 2014, evolved into a new project named Salted Roots. Though Salted Roots and brown girl surf have a shared legacy, Salted Roots spawned from the brown girl surf starfish and is its own separate, fiscally sponsored, non-profit project.
Today as we enter this Age of Aquarius, we at brown girl surf understand the call to redesign everything we do to promote a more sustainable planet. We are excited to continue our original storytelling and enterprise arms from which we spawned. We are heartened to revive our history, honor our collaborations, and share the story of how brown girl surf came to be. And lastly, we are poised to use our platform to embark on a new journey: creating a circular surf brand that gives work to women while holding the ocean, beauty, love, care and sustainability at its center. We invite you to be part of brown girl surf's next phase as we enter a new era, where the waves of change of the past inspire waves of beauty of the future.
In November 2023, the community programs focused on surfing and advocacy nurtured by brown girl surf and our various community partners since 2014, evolved into a new project named Salted Roots. Though Salted Roots and brown girl surf have a shared legacy, Salted Roots spawned from the brown girl surf starfish and is its own separate, fiscally sponsored, non-profit project.
Today as we enter this Age of Aquarius, we at brown girl surf understand the call to redesign everything we do to promote a more sustainable planet. We are excited to continue our original storytelling and enterprise arms from which we spawned. We are heartened to revive our history, honor our collaborations, and share the story of how brown girl surf came to be. And lastly, we are poised to use our platform to embark on a new journey: creating a circular surf brand that gives work to women while holding the ocean, beauty, love, care and sustainability at its center. We invite you to be part of brown girl surf's next phase as we enter a new era, where the waves of change of the past inspire waves of beauty of the future.