A couple Sundays back we had the honour of hanging out with a killer crew whilst in California a couple Sundays ago, including fresh from her X Games win, Lacey Baker. As she arrived at 4th Street Avocado Heights park, there were cries of ‘that’s Lacey Baker’ from the boys rolling around. Not just a respected skater and X Games Gold medallist, Lacey works full time as a graphic designer. So much to ask, we went in with a few questions…

Interview by Hannah Bailey, snaps by Neon Stash.

How long have you been skating for?

If you count since I first got a skateboard, it would be 18 years, since I got a board when I was 4. But I kind of became obsessed with it when I was about 8 years old , from there until now.. How many years is that?

A lot then!

It’s enough.

When you were 8, what was it that got you hooked?

When I was 8 I became obsessed with how to kickflip. I didn’t care about riding my rollerblades anymore or riding a bike around. It was just about learning to kickflip. Once I did that, I was fully in to it. There was nothing else I wanted to do at that point except skate every day. It was more fun than anything else I was doing at the time.

That’s a long time to be skating, so how is it in your life now?

At this point I work full time, so I skate after work almost every day. I try to skate as much as possible. But my life is pretty consumed by my work and graphic design, but when I have a chance to skate I do really appreciate it more than when I was little and could skate every day. That’s all there is when you’re young and you think that’s how life is going to be forever, but you get a new appreciation for it when you are older.