Stephanie Gilmore is on her way to becoming the most dominant women’s surfer in history. She won the first of her six World Titles during her 2007 rookie season, becoming the first surfer on the men’s and women’s side to accomplish such a feat. It would be her first of four-straight she’d collect during her rapid takeover of the sport. Her surfing has been compared to fellow Gold Coast style master Joel Parkinson because of its pure artistry. Her aggressive approach is grounded in genius precision and technical expertise that has set new performance benchmark for the women. Today, at 30, the generation of women she inspired is her biggest challenge…and she couldn’t be happier. A true-blue Aussie, she grew up the youngest of three girls in Murwillumbah, on the edge of the Tweed River that separates New South Wales from Queensland. She spent her formative years battling for waves in Coolangatta’s legendary points, home to the most crowded and competitive lineups in the world. Her charming personality did little to help snagging set waves at places like Snapper, but her incredible paddling strength and dynamite surfing could certainly part a crowd. With zero room for error in an environment like that every aspects of Steph’s approach was refined to its most efficient and elegant form. Today, her style is listed by many of the top men’s surfers as one of the best in the business. She’s adored for her fashion sense, too. Steph’s last World Title came in 2014, and she’s been exploring her creative side since, especially with her music. She moved part-time to LA in early 2017 to plug into the music scene and recharge her batteries, and it worked, too; she came out firing in 2017 with her fifth Roxy Pro win and stayed in the World Title mix to the very end. While she narrowly missed out on her record-tying seventh World Title during the final event of the season, she consoled herself by winning the Maui Pro. Admittedly, Steph’s motivation for another title run wavers these days, but when the waves get good nobody burns brighter.