The newest Naish Kiteboarding Team member is already making a splash, and it's not just on the water. Micha tells us all about her kiting life, passion for supporting the LGBTQ+ community, and fills us in on her epic plans for 2023. In this exclusive interview with Jen Tyler, we've got it all!

We love hearing the origin stories of kiters who have made a powerful impact both on and off the water. So, tell us about your family and where you grew up!

I grew up in a town called Sherwood, just outside Portland, Oregon. It is the definition of suburbia. It is a town that prides itself in Friday night football games and music in the park - so I didn't exactly fit in super well. My parents lived a typical "American" lifestyle and did a great job supporting my brother and me in helping us become good people. My brother is ten years older than I am, and we have always been close. He currently lives on the east coast with his wife and two kids. I now live with my fiancée, Kimmy and our son, Link, who is 11 years old.

How did you first get into kiteboarding? 

I was a big ski mountaineer in college, and between my junior and senior years in college, I wanted to take a guiding course in Alaska. Unfortunately, it was costly, and I ran a kids camp at the University of Oregon that summer instead. I decided I wanted to learn something new, and one of my instructors and mentors told me to learn how to kiteboard. He sent me to a small lake on the southern Oregon coast (Floras Lake), where I rocked up without knowing what I was getting myself into. I didn't even have a lesson scheduled! I managed to go from a beach lesson to up and riding a board in one day. Yes, I was that zero-to-hero that everyone hates. From there, kiteboarding started to take over my life.

How did you go from ice skating and big mountain skiing in Oregon to kiteboarding on Maui? There must be a good story behind it!

I chuckled at this question, haha! When I was younger (think 3 - 4 years old), my mom was obsessed with watching figure skating on TV. That led to a big interest in the sport, and I finally put on a pair of skates when I was five years old. I learned much about athletics and competition growing up as a figure skater. I have had Olympic dreams since the day I stepped on the ice. I started snowboarding in middle school, taking a school bus on weekends. It was at the height of Shaun White's career, and I wanted to be like him. Going into high school, I had to narrow down my sports, and it looked like the Olympics weren't in the cards for me. I chose to pursue soccer and continued snowboarding as it was one of the few places I felt pure freedom. Eventually, I decided to try skiing and fell in love instantly. I realised it could take me further into the mountains, and I started with a high ability level due to my years as a figure skater. 

In college, I finally took my first mountaineering course, where I continued to fall in love with the mountains. That led to several years of peak bagging and skiing anything steep and deep. I even skied with athletes like Michelle Parker and Christina Lusti at the Arc'teryx ski mountaineering academy. I would spend all summer waiting for winter and decided to pick up a summer sport. I learned how to kiteboard so that I could snow kite. 

After college, my mountaineering partners scattered around the US, and winter became an expensive and lonely solo pursuit for me. I entertained the idea of professional mountain guiding but quickly realised it wasn't a lifestyle I was willing to have. Life took a turn when I went on a kiteboarding trip in December 2018 to La Ventana, Mexico. I landed in the Purple Hospital for an emergency appendectomy just before I was meant to go on a big ski trip. It kind of put me in a place of needing to figure out my life financially and mentally. 

I got my IKO certification in March of 2019, so I could start an official career as a kite instructor, and from there, chasing the wind around the world just kind of happened organically. I missed my second winter in 2019 because I moved to Melbourne, Australia, to work as an IKO instructor. My partner and I got pretty tired of moving for wind every six months, so we decided to try out one of the few locations in the US with year-round wind, Maui, Hawaii. Here I am four years later, based in Maui for the last two years, and about to head to Cape Town and miss out on my fifth winter in a row. 

Congrats on joining the Naish team earlier this year! How did that come about, and what's your go-to setup?

Thanks! I am super stoked to be with a brand that feels like a family and has been a leader in the industry for decades. Leading up to my first international competition in October of 2021, I trained at Naish Beach a lot and started getting absorbed into the Naish family. Ewan Jaspan even helped me before I left with competition advice and strategy. In November 2021, we had a fun local comp here on Maui run by the Beach Culture World Tour, where I came in 2nd place based on beach presence and stoke. That day started a conversation about officially joining the Naish ohana (family), and the process was finalised with a signed contract in January 2022. January ended up being a big month, as I also joined Ride Engine, helping to grow their team of badass female big air riders. I have been thrilled with all of the gear at Naish, and my go-to setup is a Naish Pivot paired with a 55cm Torque 2 bar with 22m lines and a 136cm Naish Drive. 

If you had to choose between waves, freestyle, park, and big air in order of preference, what would you choose?  

I would, of course, choose big air first. It has always enamoured me. It would be followed closely by park. I spent the summer of 2019 in Hood River, thinking I would pursue park riding. Then freestyle (I secretly love a good light wind boots session) and waves. I've always said if I pursue waves, I want to ride big waves like Jaws!

You submitted an entry for the King of the Air! This year, there were sadly no female riders chosen. What are your thoughts on a Queen of the Air event?

Yes, I did! I was a part of a group of women who decided to push Red Bull this year by submitting entries in hopes they would create a Queen of the Air next year. I think it's about time we have a Queen of the Air event. The big air women have progressed massively in the last year, and we deserve to have our competition. I also think it's highly anticipated by much of the kiteboarding community. I know one thing for sure, the women are ready to prove we belong.

Do you think there is room for improvement in gender equality in the sport of kiting? How so?

At the moment, women are under-represented across all aspects of kiteboarding. A while back, I opened a foiling magazine and noticed there was only one woman in the entire issue, and it was in an ad. We need more representation. We need more female edits and more women's competitions to show the next generation of girls that they can be professional kiteboarders and build successful careers around it, just like the men have been able to do. 

In the past few months, I have seen more and more men in the kiteboarding industry speak up about this equality issue and start to hold themselves and their brands responsible for addressing it. I think men often don't even notice women aren't represented because it doesn't directly affect them. I can see the shift starting to happen, but there is still a lot of work to do. 

As women, we must keep fighting for our seats at the table. We need to make big asks of our sponsors and keep working harder than the boys to prove that we deserve things like all female edits and full-page features. With the continued demand we are seeing for women to be represented better, we will see brands grow their female teams, and we can hopefully move closer to things like equal pay.

Congratulations on your recent engagement with Kimmy; what wonderful news! How did you two meet?

Thank you! We have been together for about four and a half years now. The story of how we met is pretty funny. We have a large age gap (I won't say how much to protect her ego), and she was in college with my brother when we first met. Years later, when I went to the same college, she still lived in town, and my brother asked her to keep an eye on me. So I would go to her house to escape my roommates for weekly pizza nights and weekend hangouts. The summer after I graduated from college, I kind of crash-landed at her house, and one night I confessed my love for her. Needless to say, it went well, haha! 

What is it like to be one of the first out and proud kiteboarders? 

I am really f***ing proud of myself. It's been challenging to be out while pursuing a professional career in a space that hasn't had any representation, so I take a lot of pride in bringing awareness to the LGBTQ+ community in kiteboarding. I often receive messages from others in the kiteboarding world who also identify as LGBTQ+, and I know moments like that matter. It's hard in some spaces to be the only gay kiteboarder, and I certainly feel othered in the professional scene sometimes, but I value representation more than fitting in. 

One challenge of being visibly out that I don't think many people realise is that there are many countries where being gay is dangerous or outlawed, so it does give me pause when looking at travelling for things like competitions and training. Choosing personal safety over opportunities to grow and progress as a rider is hard. 

Could you tell us about some obstacles you faced when you came out?

Honestly, my coming out was relatively uneventful. I didn't come out until my sophomore year of college, and by the time I came out, I was in a safe space. Most people I told weren't surprised. I am also lucky to have a loving and supportive family. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community that often passes for straight because of the outdoorsy spaces I exist in, coming out is not a one-time event. When I started kiteboarding, I chose not to come out to that community for over a year. That was a much more challenging space for me to come out to due to the lack of representation in kiteboarding. I knew I wanted to pursue a professional career and worried I would miss out on opportunities if companies knew I was gay. I finally realised I had to be the one to pave the way, and I wanted to start on the right foot. If I were to become a pro rider, I would do it as the most authentic me possible and prove to others and myself that it is possible to become a pro kiter as a member of a community that doesn't fit the status quo.

How would you advise someone struggling on a similar journey?

Ultimately, it's hard to give advice, as everyone's situation is different. What I can say is that for me, I had to wait until I was ready. I think living matters authentically, especially when we are inundated with pictures of people's lives that are seemingly "perfect" on social media. I think most of us live perfectly imperfect lives, which is important to represent. Protecting yourself from potentially dangerous or harmful situations is essential. Luckily, the world is slowly becoming more accepting, and that has opened opportunities where before it was only closed doors. What I can say is no matter how scary it may feel, and no matter how much you think you may be shamed, punished, and not rewarded for who you are, you will find your people, you will find your community, and most importantly, you will find love.

What exciting plans do you have for 2023?

As of right now, I am in the process of figuring out 2023, but I know it will be a big year for me as a Naish Team Rider. In 2023, I plan to attend a few international competitions, and I have high hopes for putting together an all-female edit. As part of my push for more women-centred content, maybe, just maybe, in all those trips and kiteloops, a wedding can happen! 

Awesome, Thanks, Michaela! It's been great catching up!

See you soon, Jen!

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