This world of Instragram is definitely a fascinating one!
Often, I get to know people I share passions with – like kitesurfing or travelling or skating – we connect as we start to follow each other on Instagram and interact with each other’s content. It’s a little bit crazy because some time it gives you the feeling you kind of know the other person even though you have never met him/her in real life. But the beauty of this is that otherwise I would never get to know them and I would definitely miss out big time.
Everything happens virtually of course but some time, since the world of kitesurfing is soo small I get to meet some of them in person later. There are beautiful collaborations coming out of these encounters and as you share the same passions and values it’s easy to connect and come up with cool ideas 🙂
One day I was chatting with the beautiful Giulia, AKA @lulytakites, and she was telling me about her initiative #kitegirlsmonday. As you might know, the world of lady kiters is still very small in fact IKO says that 85% of the kiters are man and only a 15% are women. Which is why there are several people and accounts in Instagram that push to promote the sport among the women audience. We want to share our stories, to inspire women to start their kitesurfing journey, or any other journey, and let the world know that we are proud and happy to be waterwomen no matter your riding level 🙂
So @lulytakites came up with the idea of #kitegirlsmonday, she wants to share the stories of different kite girls to inspire other women.This is how she described it:
“One of my biggest desires has always been to empower other women. It’s been in my head for a while now that I had to do something to make this happen. My dream is to create a community of indipendent badass girls who are passionate about water sports and kitesurfing in particular. Therefore, Every Monday at 3pm I’ll be posting a picture/video of a fellow Kitesurfing Queen 🌠 that I admire and that has inspired my journey so far. My goal is to attract more and more girls to the sport and show the world what we’re capable of 😎 If you’d like to get featured and reposted in my profile please tag @lulytakites and use the hashtag #kitegirlsmonday 🔥 I’ll reach out to you then on DM to ask you some questions about your water days 💙 Love, G xxx “
My first reaction was “oh yeah, that’s an awesome idea!”, so you can imagine that as soon as I saw it I wanted to be one of the women she talked about eheheh and I reach out to her, we exchanged a few messages and there was immediately a click!
We organized a video call so she could ask me more questions about my story and see if I was a good fit for her initiative. As soon as we connected to the videocall we kind of knew we were similar souls and we had quite a lot in common. Giulia was investigating in my past and she managed to make me talk about something I don’t usually share, which is the main reason why I changed my life and started to be a kitesurf instructor. So here you go the outcome of that chat:
“Yaaaasss it’s #kitegirlsmonday 😍 And today I’d like to speak about a real badass 😎
Giorgia, pure Italian blood, class 1986. A contagious smile that comes from within, from that happiness that only a daily dose of salty water can provide. We see each other for the first time on videocall and we immediately connect. She takes the call from Medano, Tenerife, where she’s working with @pkstenerife as a kite instructor. Giorgia first approached the kitesurfing world 6 years ago, when she was working in Amsterdam.
“It was too cold in the Netherlands; I didn’t get hooked to the sport back then”. How can we blame her 😂
We soon find out that we studied in the same university in Milan and that she also has a business background. Giorgia used to work as a Project Manager in the tech world, which a few years ago led her to move to Puerto Rico. There, with crystal clear water and sunny days, she finally fell in love with the sport, so much that she decided to become a kite instructor and pursue this path part-time.
“Rising career, well-paid jobs, lots of traveling, not too much need to watch every penny. Seems like the perfect deal. Why did you decide to leave everything behind and dedicate your life to kitesurfing?”
“Something very heavy happened that changed my whole perspective, my whole life. My best friend suddenly died, she was the same age as me and we used to travel a lot together for kitesurfing. I had to re-evaluate all my priorities, all my values. I had to ask myself: “Is this really how you want to live your life?”.
It took me two years to make this decision. Now, it’s been a year that I’m completely dedicated to this, and I haven’t looked back”. “I truly believe everybody should follow their passions, at least try, once in their life. Nothing is permanent, and if you think you made a mistake, you can always change again, and move forward as an improved and grown version of yourself. We have to let go of prejudices and fears, only then we can find our own formula of success”.Ladies, if you’d like a chance to get featured in my page, remember to tag me in your pics and use the hashtag #kitegirlsmonday 🔥 See you next week! Love, G xxx”
I would definitely expand a bit more on this topic in another post, in the meantime I hope you liked this and don’t forget to follow Giulia on instagram @lulytakites
Ciao ciao, LaGioKite
Just kitesurf 