“I first started coming out here when I was thirteen years...

“I first started coming out here when I was thirteen years old. I was the only girl in the beginning. It was intimidating. The guys would try to make me angry. They’d call me ‘dyke.’ They’d roll their skateboards in front of me when I was skating. So I started coming out here every day right after school, when the sun was high, and the place was empty. I got better than a lot of them. I started beating them in elimination games. So they respect me now. A lot of girls used to watch from the edges because they were too intimidated to participate. But now that I’m out here every day, some of them have the courage to try.”

(Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)