B4BC at the Paul Mitchell Supergirl Pro

B4BC AT THE PAUL MITCHELL SUPERGIRL PRO ROCKS SUCCESSFUL OUTREACH + LAUNCHES SUSTAINABILITY INITIATIVE WITH COMMUNITY CARBON TRESS COSTA RICA

Coco Ho (HAW) finds success after a very tough start to the 2016 season and now sits at No. 4 on the Women’s QS rankings. Alongside her are Malia Manuel (HAW) and Laura Enever (AUS). Image: WSL/ Kurt Steinmetz

B4BC rocked an amazing educational outreach booth July 22-24, 2016, teaching people the value of living a healthy and active lifestyle, and sharing important information about breast self exams at the Paul Mitchell Supergirl Pro as thousands of people descended on Oceanside, CA, to experience the largest women’s surf competition in the world. It was a beautiful three days on the beach, with hundreds of people stopping by our colorful booth. Fortunately, we were also located right across from the skateboard ramp where young girls were ripping it in the halfpipe, and legends like Carabeth Burnside and Mimi Knoop watched with awe at the new levels of female skateboarding capabilities.

B4BC’s Malia Manuel surfed her way into the finals and a 2nd place overall! Photo: @brandonsealphoto

Our athlete ambassador, Malia Manuel, 2013 Paul Mitchell Supergirl Pro Champion, stopped by for autographs and pictures, and powerfully surfed her way into the finals, coming in second to her friend, Coco Ho. By making it to the final, Malia now sits at the No. 1 position on the Women’s QS rankings.

Malia swung by the B4BC booth after a full day of competition to sign autographs for some lucky fans!

“I really like being a bridesmaid,” Manuel said laughing. “It’s the third time that I’ve gotten second but it’s such a good feeling. There’s a lot of pressure going into QS events as a CT surfer so it’s great to make the Final and get into rhythm for the US Open — especially being by the pier and the whole atmosphere.”

B4BC’s Megan Pischke is interviewed at the Supergirl Pro

B4BC’s health and wellness manager, Megan Pischke, also came to the event to work the educational outreach booth and share the B4BC stories with others. “This was my first official event working the booth for B4BC, and I brought my 10-year-old daughter, Leighli. It was the perfect place for her to learn about what mom does at work and be inspired by so many amazing female athletes… and share our bandanas with cute dogs like Roxy.”

Leighli and Roxy

“What an honor it is to speak to all kinds of people on behalf of B4BC, to listen to their stories, and ultimately to share the heart of me, which is all about health, healing, consciousness, self-knowledge and my ideas on how healing ourselves can contribute to healing our planet.”

We also launched our B4BC sustainability initiatives by bringing Jenny Smith with Community Carbon Trees Costa Rica and her lovely volunteer Erica Largen into the fold as they shared their information about planting equatorial rainforest trees and the correlation for clean oceans and a healthy atmosphere—all of which is related to limiting cancer and living a healthy and active lifestyle.

“They went OFF!” explains Megan about our partners from Community Carbon Trees. “They truly showed me the tireless and honest effort activism for our planet takes. I learned a lot from my B4BC ladies, from Community Carbon Trees Jenny (now considered Lady Lorax), and all the while hanging out on a sandy beach, getting some sparkly surfing in, and meeting new friends and connecting with old ones. Awesome weekend!”

Some visitors were so inspired they decided to take our Prevention Pledge to help reduce their risk!

B4BC will be offsetting its own CO2 emissions through sponsorship of trees in Costa Rica with Community Carbon Trees and offering the opportunity to the ladies who will be attending our upcoming Chasing Sunshine Ocean Retreat September 29-October 1, 2016, in Encinitas, California. Applications to our retreat are open now and being accepted until August 10th!

Fortunately, ASA Entertainment asked B4BC to play a bigger role in this year’s Supergirl Pro, which increased the level of awareness for B4BC in many ways. In addition to our outreach booth, carefully organized and managed by Lili Strasser, B4BC Outreach and Marketing Manager, we also put together the first sustainability presentation at the Supergirl Pro. The presentation kicked-off with Kathleen Gasperini, Executive Director of B4BC and a leader in the world of sustainability, sharing research about women leading the charge. Jenny talked about the importance of replanting equatorial trees and Megan and Leighli shared their stories of tree planting in Costa Rica and Megan’s work as B4BC’s Health and Wellness manager. (We were quickly dubbed the “Boobies and Trees” team.)

B4BC’s Lili Strasser teaches a group of girls how to do a breast self exam.

Kathleen was also asked to be the moderator of the very first Supergirl Pro Summit featuring highly successful women from a variety of different businesses and sports, including Jenny from Community Carbon Trees, Lindsey Jacobellis, 10-time snowboardcross X Games medalist and Olympic silver medalist, Julie Solwold, VP of Lifestyle Events and PR for John Paul Mitchell Systems (JPMS), Frances Allen, President of the Jack in the Box, Vicki Golden, freestyle motocross rider and first female in 40 years to qualify for an AMA Supercross event, a 3-time X Games Gold medalist, and first female member of the Metal Mulisha team, among others.

“Overall the weekend was filled with incredible opportunities for outreach, education, and inspiration,” wraps-up Kathleen. “From the amazing women surfers and skaters, to the new friends and new opportunities we were able to create with like-minded people in the vendor village, the Paul Mitchell Supergirl Pro was a uniquely valuable experience for the foundation.”

Thank you to Supergirl Pro, ASA Entertainment, Paul Mitchell, WSL, Community Carbon Trees, and our amazing volunteers Jackie, Lauren, and Kerry for an amazing weekend!