‘The glass ceiling has a special way of splintering us. We need more solidarity.’
Bigfoot
USA
Meghan McGuire
Founder
Bigfoot
skateboarding magazine
Your shoe size cannot be the reason you called your skatemag ‘Bigfoot’. I heard it references women skaters that you heard talking about but never saw them when you skated in the 90ies in Oregon. Did I get this right?
(Laughing) No my shoe size is pretty average. There was a big resurgence of concrete skatepark construction that began in the late 1990s and really hasn’t slowed down since. One of the first was built in 1999 in Ashland, Oregon which is my hometown. That’s when I started getting really into skating- “build it and they will come” as they say. During this time, there weren’t many female-identifying people in skateboarding; there was a diaspora of female skaters experiencing similar challenges. You would hear about each other in almost a mythical sense, as if you were being told about the legend of BIGFOOT. When I met Amy Caron at the Ashland skatepark in 2001 she told me of the girl in Modesto with an amazing style, skating big rails, and that was Vanessa Torres, who also ended up being another lifelong friend. Most female skaters have a similar story. Plus the real BIGFOOT is a really staple part of Pacific Northwest folklore, and it is my home. And there is something about lurking on the fringes of society that I can relate with.
You moved to Long Beach in 2021. Did you make this move solely to start Bigfoot?
The pandemic was very difficult in Portland, in my experience. I lived in the same building in the center of the city for 12 years, the last two being 2020 and 2021. The gun violence in my neighborhood got really out of control and scary. I basically sequestered myself in my apartment making the first issue and heard gun fire directly outside my building, nightly. There were some really frightening incidents that happened to me, personally. My building was sold and I decided to explore other options instead of finding a new home in the city right away. I love Portland unconditionally but I needed a change and it seemed like the right opportunity to see what I could make happen in the skateboarding Mecca of southern California.
‘I would say Skatism’s content is a bit more intelligent.’
You call your mag non-traditional skatemag which Skatism uses as well. What was your thought process to come up with it?
The “Non-traditional” term was actually suggested to me by Adrian from Quell Magazine. We were discussing the best terminology to use to be inclusive of all the diversity within our group. Like, saying it’s a “women’s and trans and non-binary and…” just became too long, in a literary and design sense. These discussions are really nuanced and change with time. I think that we may have evolved past “non-traditional” now. Because if someone tells me they are a women, I believe her and respect her identity, and support her in participating in any “women’s” activity, competition or group. Therefore, a “women’s” magazine would also cater to her. So now I think we can say “women’s and non-binary” but we also have some wonderful male-identifying people and trans men in our group… I don’t have all the answers but I do continue to try my best to listen and meet the needs of our audience, and support culture evolving in a positive, inclusive direction.
How different is your publication to Skatism?
I love checking out other people’s work, especially magazines, but I don’t really compare them. I just appreciate the love and incredible effort that goes into people’s projects, and the diversity in perspectives and style we all bring to the table. But considering the two now, side by side, I would say Skatism’s content is a bit more intelligent. (laughing).
You openly talk about the challenges running a skatemag and have a GoFundMe page setup to keep it going. What is the main challenge?
The main challenge for me is the sales. Magazines are all reliant on the ad revenue, and normally you would have people who’s job is to sell ads. I gravitate heavily to the creative side. I’ve gotten better at asking for stuff though, and we have a lot of raffles. BIGFOOT has been highly raffle-powered. The skateboarding industry (especially the girls side) really tends to ebb and flow, so I’ve tried to offer some products through our online store to establish more self-sufficiency, like our LOSH (Lowsh) CBD Sore Muscle Rub.
Do you think you would attract more attention/paying ads if you run a more traditional mag?
I am involved in some publications that are more traditional and have a pretty good understanding of how they function, but I was never trying to recreate something that had been done. Creating BIGFOOT was basically an experiment and challenge I put on myself, to follow a 20-year dream. I wanted to help put a spotlight on women in skateboarding, to contribute to a better future for young girls. The magazine is a manifestation of my own unique approach to design and content. I am proud it is different from anything else out there.
Is non-traditional skateboarding not generating as much paying ads as more traditional you think though?
I think that would be a resounding “yes” because Thrasher definitely has the majority of ad sales of any skateboarding publication. And the income isn’t even generated from the print mag – online ads are their bread and butter. I mean, can you imagine how many hits their website gets a day? The accessibility of the internet trumps print publications, a fact they taught in journalism school 20+ years ago. But also, Thrasher has been featuring a lot of non-trad skaters. Burnett took Samarria’s cover shot a couple days after I took the one for issue #2. I thought he might be following me around but that would be… inaccurate (laughing). I see Thrasher adjusting their content to accommodate today’s skateboarders, and doing a pretty good job!
‘I gravitate to things that challenge the zeitgeist’
I read that your big influence was Big Brother which was another non-traditional skatemag at that time. What is it that you liked about it as their content was at times politically incorrect to say it mildly.
I loved Big Brother and read it cover to cover whenever the magazines would land in my mailbox, through my late teens and 20s. I thought the way it lampooned skateboarding was a hilarious and refreshing. Some of the content definitely had shock value, and definitely doesn’t translate to today’s discourse. Dave Carnie actually publish the first major female feature, covering the Gallaz Australian tour in 2003. I gravitate to things that challenge the zeitgeist, and I love comedy. Skateboarding is often too serious. It’s wheels on a board, let’s keep it in perspective and have fun. Having fun is the point of all this, right?
What is your view on the progress made by non-traditional skaters within the global skate community? Are we on the right track or is there room for improvement?
I think that there has been a lot of progress in the time I have been witness, but there is definitely room for improvement. We need more females in industry jobs and on the media side. Alex White was the first female marketing manager of a major skate brand (Krux) and the impact she had during the 4 years she held that position was huge. The industry is currently slumped, a result of the the boom it experienced during COVID, so everyone is tightening their belts. I have lived through many ebb tides in women’s skateboarding, we are always the first to get cut. We need more people in the background making decisions. They say women’s or “non-trad” skateboarding is 1/3 of this 3.2 billion dollar industry so we need some actual decision-making power. And I think women can do a better job at supporting each other. The glass ceiling has a special way of splintering us. We need more solidarity.
Last question. If you could interview anyone in the world, who would it be and why?
I would like to interview RuPaul. I’m totally inspired by Ru’s ferocious, uncompromising determination to be her authentic self, and her decades of challenging the status quo. And I love how she has created an empire to help others do the same. And she is totally hilarious, so I think we would have a good time. I’m a huge fan; I even named my chihuahua after her.
‘And there is something about lurking on the fringes of society that I can relate with.’
