Yannis Christensen

After teaching myself as many tricks as I could learn, I then strove to perform these tricks with skill and finesse. As I grew into a teenager, it became evident, that this sport was not just something I would do for a few years, and grow tired of. I loved the challenge of the sport and became obsessed with learning and mastering every skill & trick, simultaneously immersing myself in the subculture. I started skateboarding for the sport of it, but in time, it became my main point of interest. This interest became a lifestyle, and this lifestyle grew into a career-path. When I turned 18, I got my first job working in retail sales at a skate-shop in Colorado, where I spent most of my childhood. For the next 6 years, I worked at this job, and then a few others like it, learning everything there was to know about retail sales. During this critical growing period, I learned many skills and gained a lot of experience in the retail sales sector of the Action Sports Industry. These new tools would provide me with an education and extensive understanding of how a brick and mortar skateboard store functions. When I felt like I had exhausted all there was to learn about this area of the skate market, I moved into the wholesale sales sector, and learned the manufacturer's side of the business. This provided me with the opportunity to learn everything else that I needed to know, in order to have a full understanding of the Action Sports Industry. This is where I would spend most of my adult career utilizing most of my skills and experience as a skateboarder along with my vast experience as a Wholesale Sales Rep. for many of the top brands in the Industry. When I felt as though I knew enough about the business as I could possibly learn, I partnered up with a longtime childhood friend and we started our own wholesale skateboard manufacturing company. This opportunity provided me with a complete understanding of how business works, The functions and the role it plays within the industry, and would help to establish many close business relationships, that remain active today.