While her kindergarten classmates spend their free time playing with blocks and running around outside, Paige Tobin has been busy dropping into 12-foot high skateboard ramps, amassing a burgeoning online fanbase, and challenging gender stereotypes.
Paige, 6, of Lake Macquarie, Australia, nabbed the world’s attention last week after an Instagram video of her skating in a pink dress collected more than 1.4 million views. It featured Paige dropping into a skate ramp while a young boy looked on in amazement.
The video showcased skills that Paige has been honing since she discovered her mom’s old skateboard roughly four years ago.
“When Paige was about 2, she picked up an old skateboard in the garage and started standing up on it,” her mother, Emma, told CNN over Skype. “It kinda started there.”
In that short period of time, Paige has won the King of Concrete skateboarding competition in Melbourne in the under-9 field and scored a handful of sponsorship deals with S1 Helmets, Pride Socks, and Fringe Skateboards, to name a few.
