Feature Image by: @hisarahlee

I first met Lex Weinstein at a queer surf meetup. After surfing together, we got to talking on the beach, and I soon learned more about her work with Sea & Soil and the story that brought her there. I knew I wanted to hear more.

That interview was published in The Inertia earlier this year. I’ve been sitting with it ever since, figuring out how to bring it into a longer visual format. This carousel is my first attempt at combining long-form storytelling with video from the interview.

Listening back, I was reminded of why Lex is such a compelling subject. She’s a natural storyteller: open, reflective, and refreshingly honest. She has a way of sharing her experiences that makes you feel like you’re right there with her.

I think a lot of us can relate to feeling like the underdog. To not quite belong. To finding your way through life and discovering the places, people, and communities where you can finally feel at home.

For a lot of surfers, that place is the ocean and the surf community. We don’t all arrive there for the same reasons, and our experiences within surfing can be wildly different. But there’s something about finding your people, finding your community, and finding a version of yourself that feels a little more at home.

That’s part of what I love about Lex’s story. So take your time with this one. Scroll through the slides, and stop to listen to Lex talk. There’s a lot of good storytelling here, and I hope you find yourself somewhere in it. Save it for later if you want to come back to it. It’s a little peek into someone else’s life experiences, someone else’s path.

Read the full article on The Inertia

Lex Weinstein on Surfing, Community, and the Roots of the Sea + Soil Organization

Huge thanks to the photographers who contributed their work to this piece and helped bring Lex’s story to life.

@hisarahlee
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