Women have always shredded, but it’s usually been in the shadow of men. A new documentary aims to shine a light where there hasn’t been much in snowboarding’s 50-year history.
Today, prize purses are equal for men and women at major events such as the Rockstar Energy Open. Female riders are pushing the limits of the sport and starring in shred flicks. There are enough female-first snowsports movies to support two separate touring film festivals.
And — progress or not — Olympic champion snowboarder Chloe Kim is mainstream-famous enough for Page Six to cover her outfits.
The scene wasn’t always this female-friendly, however, and a new documentary tells the story of the 40+ years of women’s role in growing snowboarding from the fringe to the mainstream. Wayward: How Women Changed Snowboarding was directed and produced by Mia Lambson Brady of Tomboy Media.
We spoke with Brady to learn more about how she turned 40 terabytes of footage into a screen-ready documentary she calls a “redemption arc,” featuring the top female voices across multiple generations of riders.
Wayward can be seen live at screenings worldwide and streaming on Amazon Prime.
GJ: What inspired you to make a film about women in snowboarding, specifically? Is that a tale you hadn’t seen told yet?
MLB: There wasn’t a single moment that inspired me to make this film, but it was a lifetime as a female in the sport, first as a consumer, then working in the industry, that collectively led me to making this film. As a young girl first falling in love with snowboarding, I was victim to the hyper-sexualized marketing of women and the narrative that our place was on the sidelines as an accessory, and never the main show. When I got older and started seeing my peers pursue careers as pro snowboarders, I saw firsthand how the negative discourse around female riders affected their confidence and performance. Then as I worked my way up as a filmer, and understood the business side of the industry more, I saw the systemic injustices and limitations put on women from the companies themselves by not investing in women’s gear, events or athletes.
All of these things came to a head in the 2010s, and as there started to be more pushback to the toxic culture and calls for reform within the industry, girls started to really ramp up the riding. Next thing you know, girls are doing triple corks, putting out heavy video parts, and the culture was really changing in a positive way. The redemption arc was so obvious, and I knew someone was going to tell the story, and I wanted that person to be me.
GJ: For today’s younger riders, it might seem apocryphal that there were these barriers to women in snowboarding. Today we’ve got all-female shred films, lots of high-profile female athletes in the sport, women-focused winter film fests. What did you learn about those early days that might surprise folks who weren’t there for this history?
MLB: I think the younger generations would be shocked by the blatant sexualization of women in the early 2000s, the total exclusion of women in many events and prize money disparity in the events that they were allowed to compete in. Those things would just not fly today, which is a great indicator of progress.
Because I grew up in that era, what really surprised me the most personally was honestly how hard women were killing it from the beginning. I grew up with such a negative narrative about women’s riding, and the general consensus was that women never really did anything worth logging in the history books, and I took that at face value. But once I started doing my homework, I realized that women have actually been doing incredible things all along. There are decades of death-defying first descents, massive airs, and technical tricks that were just never celebrated on the level they should have been.
GJ: In the ‘80s and ‘90s, snowboarding as a whole was fighting its own battle for legitimacy, and you tell a bit of that story in the film. How did that context affect the early female snowboarders?
The rivalry between skiers and snowboarders in the beginning, I believe, was a positive thing for female riders at the time. From what I gathered while interviewing that generation, the feeling was that the rejection by skiers and the ski industry galvanized snowboarders together, and for a moment in time it didn’t matter if you were a guy or a girl; if you had a snowboard on your feet, you were a part of the tribe. Once snowboarding became more broadly accepted and commercialized, that’s when we really started to see the resources and respect bifurcate along gender lines.
GJ: Viewers get to hear from a lot of the biggest names in snowboarding over the years. Was it a challenge to find all these folks and pull it all together into the film?
Thankfully, after a decade in the industry, I already knew many of the women in Wayward. Connecting with the generations before my time was more challenging. One of my first calls was to Barrett Christy, asking her to help produce the film. With 30 years of industry relationships, she was instrumental in connecting me with the right people. A few women took some serious digging to track down, and industry legends Susie Floros, Pat Bridges, and Circe Wallace were a huge help in making those connections.
As far as putting it all together – that’s a whole story on its own. We ended up with over 30 interviews and about 40 Terabytes of footage, so the real challenge was figuring out what to cut and what to keep. Thankfully, I had a really experienced and organized editor [Beth Kearsley] on my team to help me work through that. But I would love to eventually release more of the footage that couldn’t fit into one film, because there are some serious gems that had to be left on the cutting room floor.
GJ: I imagine you set out with a story in mind. Did the story you heard from all these women surprise you at all? Was the story you told different from the one you envisioned before recording that first interview?
MLB: I had a general idea of the story arc when I started, but wanted to keep an open mind of what the story could turn into. I knew I had a lot to learn and that I would be surprised with some of the stories told by the women in the film. I think my initial concept was a little more cynical than what it turned out to be, and I’m really thankful for that. I knew that each woman would have harrowing stories of sexism, misogyny and discrimination, but what I didn’t anticipate were the heartwarming stories of community, camaraderie, and both men and women going out of their way to create opportunities for one another. What started as a story about the barriers these women faced became just as much a story about their resilience, friendships, and the incredible things they built together despite those barriers.
GJ: Having spent so much time immersed in this topic, how are you feeling about women in snowboarding right now as we head into the season? What are some of the challenges? The reasons for optimism?
MLB: I’m so excited about the state of women’s snowboarding right now. Athletically, the level is straight up astounding, and the gap between men and women has nearly disappeared. I genuinely think that’s a direct reflection of the recent culture shift. This new generation of girls has grown up without being told they aren’t capable of doing something because of their gender, and I think that was the first step in opening the floodgates.
That being said, there’s still work to do. Female athlete contracts are still significantly smaller than their male counterparts, and many brands continue to invest far less in women’s gear, product development, and growing female participation. There will always be keyboard warriors spewing misogynistic hate online, and I do think we’ve backslid a bit on that front in recent years. But overall, the progress has been incredible and far outweighs the negatives. In 2026, there are women’s ride groups all over the world, thousands of social media accounts dedicated to championing female athletes, and insane talent coming out of the woodwork everywhere you look.
The future of women’s snowboarding is bright, and if we keep this momentum going, I truly believe we can reach 50/50 gender participation sooner rather than later.
