CINCINNATI, Ohio — A group of women is going up against their fears on wheels. They started skating as a part of the group ‘Keep Her Wild.’
Every day it’s there, the fear we might fail, but when Stephanie Baldwin puts on her skates, it all goes away.
“This is kind of like where I’ve been finding my solace and community and things that you need when you’re isolated,” Baldwin said.
Baldwin said she’s been skating since she was a kid, but this is the first time she’s been back on skates in years. She said it was something she needed.
“It definitely was the pick me up that I needed. I was unemployed for seven months, so it was depressing times,” Baldwin said.
And Baldwin is not alone.
She’s joined a group of women, all trying to get through their battles like Megs Gelfgot.
“Originally, this started with me learning to skate as a new mom. I was 29, and I just wanted something to kinda break out of the monotony of life at the time, and skateboarding was really a way to reclaim some of the wildness I lost along the way,” Gelfgot said.
She started the group ‘Keep Her Wild’ to empower women through skating and skateboarding.
“What starts on a skateboard with a little bit of bravery and vulnerability really has ripple effects off of the board, so that’s really everything from going back to school, we’ve had women who’ve lost 100 pounds and climbed a mountain, so it’s all about finding little ways to be confident,” Gelfgot said.
The group has regular empowerment meetings before they skate in Cincinnati to help women like Baldwin keep rolling, no matter what life throws her way.
“It’s good to be back,” Baldwin said.
