Zoe Zollinger

Nanaimo, BC  How did you discover your talent? What got you started? During Covid, when there wasn’t much to do my parents bought me a cruiser board to cruise around a pump track. I realized how much fun it was and decided to try skateboarding. I received my first skateboard just over a year ago and haven’t looked back.   What do you want to be when you grow up? I would love to take skateboarding to a professional level if I am able to do so.   Who has been your biggest inspiration? My biggest inspirations in skateboarding are Sky Brown, Fay DeFazio Ebert, and Ruby Lilley     What makes you keep innovating and pushing your skills to new heights? What’s the intrinsic driver or motivation? What keeps me pushing and is the intrinsic driver or motivation is the thrill and rush of landing a new trick after hours, days and sometimes months of work and falls. There is no better feeling of accomplishing what I had set out to do.   So far, what has been your favourite highlight in life? An achievement? A specific moment? Honestly, just being where I am at with my skateboarding feels like the best achievement.   Where do you want to be in 5 or 10 years? I hope to be in a place where I am able to skateboard around the world and pretty much skate anything. The Olympics would be the ultimate dream if I am going to dream big.     In terms of healthy habits, what are your thoughts on the current beverage options out there?  (I.e. Energy Drinks, high sugar drinks etc) I am not a fan of super sugary drinks so I usually stick to water or carbonated water.   How does Wize fit into your current lifestyle? And why do you choose Wize? Wize is an awesome alternative to sugary drinks. I love the idea that I can have a wize drink as a treat after a hard skateboarding session but without getting all sugared and caffeined up.    What are the next projects coming down the pipeline? I have a few tricks I am working on and hope to participate in some local skate competitions this summer.     What’s your favourite flavour of Wize tea? When do you typically drink it? I haven't tried them all, so I don't have a favourite yet. I am looking forward to trying them all. I would typically drink them after a skate session.   Thanks for the interview! Where can our audience find out more about you?  @ollie_zzolli 

North Vancouver, BC   How did you discover your talent? What got you started? I started mountain biking as a kid like most, but being situated on “The Shore” while the Freeride was being born really kick-started it. My Mom and Dad loved driving me and my friends to go biking. They really supported my passion for the sport, and helped me get to where I am today.   As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? I wanted to be a professional Mountain Biker   Who was your biggest inspiration? I looked up to legends of the sport like Wade Simmons, Thomas Vanderham, Aaron Chase, Jordie Lunn, and my friend Geoff “Gully” Gulevich (just to name a few) Gully went to the same highschool as me, and he was a “Pro” before he graduated. Having someone that successful within my circle inspired me to do it too! Watching the movies from New World Disorder and North Shore Extreme, kept me insanely stoked to learn and push myself.     What makes you keep innovating and pushing your skills to new heights? What’s the intrinsic driver or motivation? I think it’s just love for my sport, and wanting to keep progressing personally. I love how creative you can be on a bike, and the freedom it gives you. The forest is endlessly beautiful and exploring it on my bike will never get old!   So far, what has been your favourite highlight of your career? An achievement? A specific moment?  The earlier years of my career that consisted of road-tripping and flying around the globe to compete in Slopestyle contests are the biggest highlights. I’ve met life-long friends from these times, and have so many insane memories that don’t even seem real when looking back on them. I won contests, saw beautiful parts of the world, did crazy stuff with my friends, and met incredible people all thanks to my bike.   In regards to your career, where do you want to be in 5 or 10 years? At this point in my career, I'm stoked to continue along the path of creating media and adventuring with my friends. I want to explore bike-packing more, and get deeper into the wilderness with my own power. So in 5 or 10 years…. I wanna keep doing what I’m doing haha.     In terms of healthy habits, what are your thoughts on the current beverage options out there?  (I.e. Energy Drinks, high sugar drinks etc) I think the current beverage options out there have way too much sugar and processed ingredients. When energy drink athletes won’t drink the product that supports them, you know something is wrong there.   How does Wize fit into your current lifestyle? And why do you choose Wize?  I like how Wize is a low-sugar drink that has a mellow caffeine boost. It helps me get an extra bit of energy without negatively affecting my performance or health. It’s also really great to see a brand doing such great things for the global economy like expanding jobs in the coffee bean industry to be year-long!   What are the next projects coming down the pipeline?  I’m just about to start a video project with old friend Graeme Mieklejohn. We are making a “very shore” video inspired by Sterling Lorence’s iconic Black and White images of The North Shore.     What’s your favourite flavour of Wize tea? When do you typically drink it?  Mango! I like to have it mid-day or whenever I'm out doing an activity. It’s also a nice evening drink when I need to stay up and edit videos on the computer.   Thanks for the interview! Where can our audience find out more about you? (social media links etc) @lornny @weekend_slayer Weekend Slayer Youtube- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTJfbynVNLCvXIdztG4x62Q

Pax Frias Vancouver, CA “I was the person who immediately was talking everyone's ear off about that hot cool thing that I had read about, or done on the weekend, or researched and experimented with. So I leaned into that extraversion and the fact that I am an absolute nerd who loves knowledge.”   Let me introduce you to Pax Frias, a Physical Literacy Educator at Restore Human. He’s an admitted extrovert, predisposed to a combination of hospitality and self improvement, and in that intersection is where you’ll find him. Pax spent most of his adolescence in the clouds, 3000m in the air to be exact, growing up in the mountains of Chile simultaneously, and impulsively training his cardiovascular system and sense of adventure. By the time Pax got to Canada his gregariousness was instinctual, when you couple that with a history in the hospitality industry, you can figure that the fitness community seemed to be a natural landing spot. He admits, in the beginning, he wanted to be a yoga teacher adding, “I definitely wanted to be a teacher of physical movements, but I didn't have the notion of that being a job title. I obviously wanted to work with people's bodies and I thought yoga was a really interesting and beautiful way of moving your body,” but as you’ll find with Pax, he would rather deal in multitudes than in singularities.    "It was the amalgamation of the gift of being hyperactive, physically and mentally, that got me the job with Restore Human. The real boost was thanks to the amazing team I work with every damn day."   His professional life is a testament to his multidimensionality. Look no further than his thoughts on self improvement, he says it’s as simple as, “‘I did that, what can I do next?’ I could tip my hat to the principles of zen; they believe in simplifying and improving while refining.” It’s about creating efficient and beautiful outcomes for himself as a coach and for his clients, he adds, “We’re not driven by a bottom line or profits, we’re driven by success stories.” The ‘we’ he speaks of is his team at Restore Human, a personal training centre in Vancouver. It’s headed up by Coach K, who holds dual roles as both the Director of Restore Human, and Pax’s personal inspiration. A former Australian Sniper Supervisor turned master of physical literacy and training, Coach K is “very well trained and adept at problem solving when it comes to teamwork, when it comes to the human body and when it comes to caring about big-picture human issues.” Pax adds, “I would not be where I’m at without him.”   "I want to be spearheading a team that's about three times the size of what we have now, but that's doing a hundred times better work. I also want to have a ton more adventures under my belt, some mountain summits and other nature endurance feats."   Movement is integral to Pax’s procedure, not just professionally but personally as well. One of his career highlights would be his 6000 total hours of allotted training, “halfway to mastery” he says - citing the 10,000 hour practice. He also notes a 60km canoe trip orchestrated as a group with his Restore Human team, as well as placing third in a Spartan Race in addition to coming first and second in back-back races in a single weekend as personal milestones. In striving for physical and mental refinement we see Pax’s love of both activity and thoughtfulness, it’s not enough to just know your body, according to him, you have to be accurately aware of what you’re putting in it. On the topic of sugar Pax had this to say, “it's like speeding up the now but at the cost of the future, and sugar does the same thing on a cellular level. It gives you that quick burst of energy, but at the cost of your cells being efficient and healthy longer-term.” Though, true to his propulsive attitude, he’s one to outline the pitfalls of the health and wellness industry, while pointing forward to its potential. "I think people are wising up. They're avoiding sugar, they're avoiding extreme doses of stimulants, but they are not likely going to change in terms of convenience,” he says.    It’s with Wize, according to Pax, where he can find replenishment that won’t detract from the concentration that goes into the execution of his craft, and that goes for the rest of Restore Human. “Well the staff here is all hooked, we've been very much enjoying all the flavours. You nailed it with it being an afternoon option for me. Later in the day, it's a guilt-free enjoyable kind of replenishment for me,” he says. Anything, if used correctly, can be a tool for refinement, and it appears that Pax has found such a resource in Wize, as he talks about reaching 10,000 hours in personal training I addition to running the Juan de Fuca trail, adding, “I’m gonna have more than a few cans of Wize along the way.” Beyond that, as he points out, he’s most excited about being ready to give the world the next big thing in the fitness industry, through collaboration, eco-friendliness and sustainability which speaks to his commitment to refinement, but his talents in inclusion.