M Stevens: Amateur Skater, Professional Goof-off!

Hey everyone! I'm Maria Stevens (M for short.) I'm the founder and creative director of Candi Boiz Skate Co. I started this company in 2023 while I was recovering from top-surgery. Between the cabin fever and the new found confidence from gender-affirming surgery, I was chomping at the bit to do something BIG. 

I have been a skater since I was a 10 year old kid. I grew up playing the THPS games and always thought skateboarding was cool. The neighbor across the street gave me a copy of Tony Hawk's autobiography "Hawk: Occupation Skateboarder" and it got me hooked. I got my first board from my aunt and uncle for Christmas a few months later and started my journey. 

I went to art school and studied sculpture and woodworking. This is where I honed my skills that I later used to build my first board. After college I jumped from job to job doing everything from painting houses to running a car wash to fixing cars. Skating fell by the wayside during that time as I focused on other things (a silly mistake to make, I know.) I was never satisfied at work and always wanted to branch out and start my own company. 

Finally, when I was recovering from top surgery and was out of work something clicked. I had started getting back into skating before surgery and realized that it was the hobby that had outlasted all the others. And I figured out I could make them pretty easily too! So I spent my month off work steeping myself in skateboarding again. I watched every video I could to learn how a board is pressed, shaped, screen-printed, etc. I started designing graphics for boards and tried out making my first prototype board in a press made of scrap wood an insulation foam. 

And now here we are. I'm not a very big operation on the hand-made board front, so we have a supplier in Denver, CO to make our boards to ensure their quality and to get them out quickly to the masses. While I focus on custom orders, limited edition runs, and special boards. We are hoping to grow and expand our in-house manufacturing soon. This has been such a fun and terrifying and exciting journey so far. I hope you all enjoy Candi Boiz. 

Thanks,

M Stevens