Early life
Steamer was born inProfessional skateboarding
1995–1998: Toy Machine, ''Welcome to Hell''
Although she received a concurrent offer from Real Skateboards to ride the company's decks, Steamer first began receiving skateboard decks from Lance Mountain in 1995, who was running a company named "The Firm" at the time. Steamer's first official skateboard deck sponsor was1998–2003: Baker, ''Baker 2G'', Bootleg
Following the departure of numerous co-riders from Toy Machine, Steamer informed Templeton by telephone that she was also leaving and joined the Bootleg brand which was founded as a sub-division of the Baker skateboard company. Bootleg was distributed by the NHS, Inc. company (Independent, Creature, Santa Cruz) and Steamer's involvement was a progression of her personal connection to skateboarders such as Andrew Reynolds and2004–2011: Zero, Fourth X Games gold
Steamer was provided with a three-month paycheck following the demise of Bootleg in 2004, and Frank Gerwer, a professional skateboarder who lived with Steamer, attempted to negotiate a sponsorship deal with the Anti-Hero brand that he also rode for, but was ultimately unsuccessful. Thomas, who had by this time founded his own skateboard company, Zero, asked Steamer to ride for the brand, and she joined the Zero team in June 2006. Following Steamer's transition to Zero, she filmed a shared video part with Thomas, who had not amassed enough footage for a full-length part. Steamer never filmed a full-length video part while she was a member of the Zero team (Thomas has stated in an online interview that Steamer never released a full-length part due to insufficient involvement with the company's filmers and a tendency to lose momentum due to outside distractions). At the 2008 X Games event in Los Angeles, US, Steamer won her fourth X Games gold medal in the Women's Street event. The women's category was introduced in 2004 and 2007 was the only year that Steamer did not win gold, as she won silver after Marisa Dal Santo. Following her victory, Steamer explained to the ''New York Times'' that she felt like vomiting for the entire duration of the contest and attributed the issue to "old age". At the time, Mimi Knoop, a professional vert skater and vice president of the Action Sports Alliance, a nonprofit association of professional women's skateboarders, said that "Elissa has paved the way for those girls in street and set the bar ability-wise for all those girls that are coming up." Steamer eventually parted ways with Zero in July 2011 and explained in an ESPN interview:Me and Jamiehomas In the Vedic Hinduism, a homa (Sanskrit: होम) also known as havan, is a fire ritual performed on special occasions by a Hindu priest usually for a homeowner (" grihastha": one possessing a home). The grihasth keeps different kinds of fire ...have been friends for a long time. It was a difficult decision to make. It's hard enough to make career decisions let alone those heavy ones. It's like breaking up with someone, you know? Zero was five years of my life. Of course I'm thankful for that. And Jamie hooked me up.
2012–present: Gnarhunters, Return to Baker
In late September 2013, Steamer launched a collaboration with the FTC skateboard shop/brand entitled "Gnarhunters." Steamer explains in the promotional video that, as of the FTC collaboration, Gnarhunters is a "project," but will eventually become a brand. Steamer received artistic support from professional skateboarders Brian Anderson and Frank Gerwer, as well as professional artists. As of July 2014, the company is registered in the American city of San Francisco. In June 2018, Bakerboys Distribution's Shake Junt released an Elissa Steamer guest board along with a 'Ride or Die' web short featuring recent skatepark footage. Later in the same month, Baker Skateboards introduced Steamer to the pro team, releasing her first signature board for the brand. As of 2021, Gnarhunters is distributed by Baker Boys Distribution.Awards
In 2003, Steamer was voted "Female Skater of the Year" by ''Check it Out Girls'' magazine.Video games
Steamer appeared as a playable character in the first five installments of the ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater'' series. In 2014, Steamer explained that her biggest paychecks during her skateboarding career were due to video game royalties. Andrew Reynolds revealed in September 2014 that all of the skateboarders who appeared in the first game of the series were well-paid:So for the first game, everybody got paid. Elissa Steamer, myself eynolds whoever else was in it, we were laughing—we got like one check for royalties that was like S190,000 or something. We were like what! This is amazing! ... I really love that Elissa Steamer got $190,000 out of it too aughsthat's my favorite part.
Personal life
As of a January 2021 interview in ''Contest history
1998
*1st place, Slam City Jam, Women's Street, Canada1999
*1st place, Slam City Jam, Women's Street, Canada2003
*1st place, World Cup of Skateboarding, Women's Street, Melbourne, Australia2004
*1st place, Gallaz Skate Jam, Melbourne, Australia *1st place, Triple Crown, Women's Street, Cleveland, Ohio, US *Gold, X Games, Women's Street, Los Angeles, California, US *1st place, Gravity Games, Women's Street, Cleveland, Ohio, US *1st place, Triple Crown Finals, Women's Street, Huntington Beach, California, US *1st place, Slam City Jam, Women's Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada2005
*1st place, World Cup of Skateboarding, Women's Street, Melbourne, Australia *1st place, World Championships of Skateboarding, Münster, Germany *Gold, X Games, Women's Street, Los Angeles, California, US *1st place, Malaysia X Games, Women's Street, Malaysia2006
*Gold, X Games, Women's Street, Los Angeles, California, US2007
*Silver, X Games, Women's Street, Los Angeles, California, US2008
*Gold, X Games, Women's Street, Los Angeles, California, United States (US)Videography
*Toy Machine: ''Welcome to Hell'' (1996) *Toy Machine: ''Jump Off a Building'' (1998) *Baker: ''Bootleg'' (1998) *Baker: ''2G'' (2000) *Bootleg: ''Bootleg 3000'' (2003) *Nike: ''Gizmo'' (2019) *Baker: ''Baker4'' (2019)References
External links