Nikita Clothing #forgirlswhoride with Jules Lorenzo

With a love of skateboarding and a group of friends who feels the same, Jules has been exploring all of the concrete transition that NYC has to offer her since her move to Florida. Her attitude is cool, calm and collected, with just the right amount of bite. Read on to get to know more about Jules Lorenzo in New York City.

Thanks for taking us to check out your local park in NYC! All of the other skaters there were so friendly & supportive. How often do you hit up that spot?

I’ve always loved the vibe at Chelsea, everyone there is usually very chill and nice. Inbetween school and work, I try to head out there once or twice a week. Years ago I came across the park by searching for vert/transition skate parks online when I moved to NYC. Pier 62 was very convenient for me since it was right in the city and easy for me to get to.

You mentioned that you've been working on your carving (and it looks great!)- do you have any tips for other girls looking to drop in for the first time? When did you start?

Thank you! Whenever I hear that someone is getting into vert/transition skating and is working on dropping in, I tell them to start small and build up as you go along. Always be committed to what you’re doing because if you try to half-ass a trick or dropping in, you’re most likely going to get hurt. A HUGE part of skating is commitment and confidence. Also, once you can drop into one ramp, you can drop into all of them, you’ll just have to stomp down a little harder depending on how steep the ramp may be. I first started skating when I was 11 years old and I really started getting into riding bowls and carving when I was 12 and 13. It’s taken me years since then to properly figure out how to pump my legs and gain speed so I can carve around the way I do now. My next goals are to solidly get my rock and rolls and my 5-0 grind in the bowl. 

What is your board set up right now? 

For the past couple months, I’ve been using a Palace deck, Independent trucks, Reds bearings and Bones wheels. I’m particular about the size of my board since I usually ride 8.25” decks. Also, I prefer to ride either Venture or Independent trucks.  

How long have you been skating and how does NYC compare to your hometown in Floria? Did you have friends to ride with there too? When did you first link up with The Skate Kitchen?

I’ve been skating for about 8 years now! One of the biggest differences between NYC and Florida is the types of parks they have. Florida isn’t nearly as condensed as NYC is, which allows for a lot of huge vert/transition parks to exist there. However, since Florida is a lot flatter, a lot of my street skating skills suffered since there wasn’t much for me to do down there. When I moved up to NY, you could street skate literally anywhere. Thankfully I found a couple vert parks up here to ride, but I’ve been trying to dip into some street skating as well. My next-door neighbor down in Florida was the one who got me into skating, so we’d usually all head out to the skate park together. While I was down there, my dad built a double sided ramp in my backyard which was 8ft on one side and 6ft on the other with an 8 ½ft box on the 6ft side. It also had a spine and a pyramid in the middle of it. I used to spend most of my days riding that when I couldn’t get out to the park. In regards to the skate kitchen, most of us knew each other previously before we became a crew, whether it was through school or skateboarding. We all came together for Crystal Moselle’s Miu Miu short film last year and thus The Skate Kitchen was born. 

How often do you ride with your whole crew, or is it pretty hard to get everyone together at the same time? Do you have any words of advice to other girls looking for more girl friends to ride with?

I don’t always get to ride with my crew as often as I’d like to, especially since we all have our own crazy schedules that we’re trying to keep up with. Lately we’ve been trying to hold girl shred sessions where we just invite a ton of girls to a park and skate there together. As I previously mentioned, we all came together last year and ended up sticking with each other since then. I advise girls to either head to their local skate parks to try and find other girls or connect with other girls through Instagram! I’m so happy to see that there are girl skaters everywhere!

What else do you spend your time on? Any passion projects?

I’m attending The New School right now and I’m majoring in Screen Studies! I really want to get into film for directing and screenwriting, especially since I’ve always loved the art of telling stories. I’ve been working on a screenplay for a little while now so hopefully I’ll get to do something with that soon. 

NYC is such a creative city- what are some of your favorite places to go for inspiration?

I usually love going to the parks in NYC since something is usually always happening there. Washington Square Park and Union Square are great for people watching, you’ll see hundreds of different characters. Some of my favorite NYC-based artists include Princess Nokia and Tommy Revenge. They're both on the come up right now and their music always gets me pumped up whether I'm skating or getting ready to leave the house. 

Do you plan to travel at all before the end of the year? Will you make it up to Vermont for snowboarding? Who would go with you - your sister? And how do you even get there from NYC?! Lol (how far is it?)

It's funny because I was actually planning a trip to go snowboarding in Vermont this winter! I'd go with my sister, my boyfriend and a couple friends. Last time I went out there with my family, we drove and it took about 5 hours. 
 

Tell us a bit about that killer playlist you made. Are you into a particular genre? How do you find out about new music?

These are a collection of songs which help to put me in a great mood whenever I have too much going on in my mind. And plus, a lot of the artists are just dope as hell. I’ll listen to anything; however, my favorite genre is rock. It always has been ever since I was a little girl. I usually find new music by getting suggestions from my friends or searching for related artists for a band or person that I’m really into.

What is your favorite piece from the Nikita Fall/Winter '17 collection and how do you plan to wear it? 

Some of my favorite pieces include the Nikita baseball tee and the super rad dad hats. I plan to wear the baseball tee with a pair of dickies and some Nike SBs since the shirt’s cute and comfortable to skate in! Also, I’m always a fan of baseball caps, even though I tend to only wear them when my hair is straightened so that the hat can fit onto my head! #curlyhairproblems

We loved hanging out with Jules! Turn on Jules' playlist to get pumped for the next session- you can find it here or listen on Spotify 🎧