Sports Illustrated and Empower Onyx are putting the spotlight on the diverse journeys of Black women across sports—from the veteran athletes, to up-and-coming stars, coaches, executives and more—in the series, Elle-evate: 100 Influential Black Women in Sports.
When Rhonda Harper, founder and director of Black Girls Surf, used to sit with her siblings in her Kansas home watching a string of television shows, she had no idea that enjoying beach specials from her landlocked living room would lead to the most exhilarating sport of her life: surfing. When skateboarding took a backseat and the search for Black female wave riders began, Harper started to conceive an organization that affects much more than Black girls having the right to compete. Her roots, which run deep in social justice, continue to instill equity in the global surfing industry.
