ELISSA STEAMER: That was so dumb.
That was like, uhm.
JAMIE THOMAS: After the dissolution of Bootleg, she
was kind of just drifting for a while and
just kind of out there.
And it seemed like no one was really giving her any love.
One day, it just dawned on me how rad she was.
I basically just thought about it.
And I was like, wait, Elissa hasn't been
sponsored for two years.
That doesn't make any sense.
She's the best girl ever.
Someone should hook her up.
And I would love for her to be on Zero.
Why haven't I ever thought about this?
So I just called out of the blue and was like, hey, I
can't give you that much.
But I'll try and pay you a little bit a month to ride for
Zero if you're into it.
And she was into it.
I was coming off the "Fallen," video.
And we were making "Strange World." And I didn't have
footage for a full part.
And I basically thought it would be tight to be in a
montage with her.
So it was cool.
ELISSA STEAMER: I was in the relaxed Zero video.
I wasn't in the early ones where you hear all the stories
about what it's like to film for a Zero video.
-So you weren't out trying to film your part
for the Zero video?
ELISSA STEAMER: No.
I was out filming.
But I wasn't like, I'm getting this.
I would just try to get tricks.
And I think me and Jamie being friends for a long time, he
kind of knew how I operated or whatever.
And it's not like that.
I like to be motivated.
If I would go skate with him, he would try to
motivate me to do stuff.
And sometimes it would work.
And sometimes I just wanted to eat pizza.
JAMIE THOMAS: I really wish she'd have been able to have a
full part in some of the Zero videos.
But I think a couple things happened.
I think one was being around our filmers enough in order to
make it happen.
And I think two was that she would get some momentum going.
And then she would get into something else.
It was hard for her to keep that momentum going.
And then when she did have the energy to keep the momentum
going, there wouldn't be filmers around.
ELISSA STEAMER: Like I said, I'm not the hardest working
person in skateboarding.
Jamie wasn't taking me on trips.
I have to be on trips in order to skateboard.
And I didn't have a board out.
It was almost like I didn't ride for them anyways.
So I figure, why not just make it official and quit?
And I thought I would get another board sponsor.
But nobody would sponsor me.
So then, without a board sponsor, I
don't have a shoe contract.
And so that's that.
MIKE MALDONADO: I don't know why she don't have her own
everything.
You know what I mean?
Skaters like Tony Hawk and everybody got their own shit.
And I'm not saying anything bad about them.
They put in that work.
But I mean, she's the best female skateboarder, period.
And beyond that, she's one of the best skateboarders.
I don't see why she shouldn't have her own damn soda,
amusement park, video game, everything.
CHAD MUSKA: She really set the pace for all girl skaters out
there and the standards, and sort of made it acceptable and
possible for a girl to make it in professional skateboarding.
Before her, girls didn't have anybody to look up to to go,
hey, I could do that too.
So she really paved the way for skateboarding and girls.
It's been an honor to know her over the years and see all
that she's accomplished as a girl skater and everything.
And I have nothing but respect for Elissa.
ELISSA STEAMER: Paved the way, who knows?
But I definitely lived a skate rat life.
I hit it, right?
Girls I knew before then weren't really skate rats.
They just kind of would skate.
I mean, back then, if you were a skater, you were weird.
And now, it's like you're weird if you're not a skater.
-So do you think you'll actively
try to find a sponsor?
Or do you think--
ELISSA STEAMER: No, I don't think so.
I think I've asked the people that would want to.
There's no reason for me to ride for something that I
don't really like just to get a paycheck or whatever.
It's hard to say goodbye to something.
But I'm kind of interested in what I'm going to do next.
That's a big dilemma in sports.
These people spend their whole life getting to this level of
doing that one thing the best they can to be a
professional at it.
And then it ends.
And you're just left with this loss of, oh my god.
What do I do now?
Nobody wants to let that go.
But that's like, eventually, if you don't let it go,
somebody's going to pull it away from you or whatever.
-Is your dog--
where is he?
ELISSA STEAMER: He's all right.
He just hangs out in the yard.
So this is all our surf boards.
And there's a bunch up there, too.
-When did you first start surfing?
ELISSA STEAMER: A couple years ago, like three
years ago or something.
See, this guy made it for me in San Diego, Seth Cutter.
And he is Rob Welsh's neighbor.
"For Elissa.
Rip it up, E." And then I put the Gnarhunters stencil on it.
So sick.
And then this one's my real favorite board.
This guy, Manny Caro, in San Diego made it for me.
It's a sick shape.
BRIAN ANDERSON: I've watched her grow up, I guess, not that
she was a baby or something.
I'm not trying to phrase it like that, but just mature.
All of us lived on the road.
ELISSA STEAMER: Oh, sticking that jump.
Where were we before we came here, Donnie?
BRIAN ANDERSON: And when you would come home, it's really
hard to turn off living on the road.
And so you keep raging because you don't know
what to do with yourself.
There's weed all over the coffee table.
And it's just a skate house.
I've watched her become more relaxed in the past, say,
seven years of her life.
And it's really cool.
ELISSA STEAMER: I look back on the times that I had.
And I'm like, wow.
Say, If I went to Paris, instead of just partying the
whole time, I wish I would have went and saw museums or
learned to surf earlier so that when I did a tour of the
whole east coast of Australia from the bottom up, I could
have surfed or just been interested in other things
other than skating and partying.
Because fuck that shit.
That's all I did was skate and drink and smoke pot and do
drugs and stuff.
You can only do that for so long.
I mean, some people can do it longer than others.
But I guess it was just my time to not do it anymore.
I really don't think I would be alive if I didn't stop,
because I was pretty bummed out.
I wasn't really a happy person.
My quality of life is definitely better.
I haven't partied in like four and a half years.
And now I do stuff.
I jog sometimes and go camping and surf.
I thought about maybe being a surf team manager or
something, and just going on surf trips and getting hotels
and bananas for people and then just surfing.
-What do you like about surfing?
ELISSA STEAMER: It's just fun.
And it's something new to do.
And skating came from surfing, right?
And now surfing comes from skating.
The first two years of my surfing, I was just lost.
I would just drop in and just be lost.
It's like when you first start skating.
You suck at it.
And then you get a little better.
And then there's hope of you being good at it.
And then you keep trying and trying and trying.
And then maybe you get good at it, and maybe you don't.
But you still learn how to ride it better.
I really like surfing.
It's really fun.
And it doesn't hurt as bad, except when my board hits me
in the face.
I have face karma or something.
And my surfboard always hits me in the face.
Can you see it?
OK.
Now hold on.
That's like right after it happened.
Can you see that?
Look at that.
There's more.
People look at you so funny when you have that.
Like, what happened to her?