MEET OUR STAFF

AJ WATERS

Owner // Camp Director

AJ (he/they) is the founder and owner of Stronger Skatepark. AJ started skateboarding at the age of 12 and hasn't stopped since. After riding their local indoor park as a teen they saw the need for an indoor skatepark in Portland and opened Stronger Skatepark in 2019. AJ is often working both behind the scenes and behind the counter. AJ lives in Portland with their wife, son, leopard gecko, and four dogs!

JAMIE BROWN

Lead Skateboard Instructor //
Shop Manager

Jamie (she/her) has been part of Stronger Skatepark since before our doors opened. She is a skateboarding coach of 12+ years who teaches private lessons, group lessons, classes, and helps manage Stronger. Jamie began her skateboarding journey in 2003 and loves to share her knowledge as well as inspire new skaters! She’s also been involved as a volunteer and employee with the non-profit ‘Skate Like a Girl’ for over 10 years. Aside from skateboarding she also enjoys snowboarding, backpacking, and being outdoors!

Tatiana (she/they) is an aggressive park, ramp and street rollerskater. She grew up cruising solo on her skateboard in Miami, Florida. Eventually after a few years of living in Portland, Oregon, they picked up skating again just in a slightly different form. Tatiana is our quad coach and offers lessons and classes for beginner and intermediate rollerskaters. Tatiana loves being involved and immersed with the local skating community, by organizing skate events, educating others and encouraging them to continue to find their own passion on wheels. Although rollerskating is their main past time, they also enjoy skateboarding, photography and traveling!

TATIANA REINA

Roller Skate Instructor // Shop

CLEM CULF

Shop // Events

Clem (they/he) is an aggressive inline skater and noob skateboarder. They love creative, weird street skating, shoegaze music, and carving out space in the scene with other queer skaters. Their favorite inline tricks are BS Unity slides and 360 cess slides. When he's not at Stronger, Clem can be found painting, tattooing, playing guitar with homies, at a show, or gardening in Portland's alleyways.

SID EADIE

Shop // After School Skate Club

Sid (he/him) found a love for skateboarding at the age of 10. He is passionate about skateboarding history and finds inspiration through trans and queer people in the skateboarding community. Sid became part of Stronger’s staff in January 2022. He is the After School Skate Club teacher and is a coach at camps. He loves working with beginners and helping people learn to get comfortable and have fun on their boards. Outside of skateboarding, Sid practices calligraphy and pottery and loves to travel and go on camping trips. Sid’s favorite skateboarders are Marbie Miller, Jeff Grosso, Chandler Burton, Maité Steenhoudt, and Brian Anderson.

ALEX GRAY

Shop // Art

Alex (he/they) is a 24 year old artist and park roller skater. He started roller skating at the beginning of 2020 after not using their childhood skateboard for a few years. After moving from Texas to Portland in 2021, they spent a lot of time skating at Stronger and immersing themself in the queer skate scene. Besides working at the shop, he also runs a queer skatewear brand and small screenprinting business called GNDR SHREDR (pronounced gender shredder), likes to read horror and sci fi novels, grow different varieties of plants and mushrooms, cook, and spend time with his partner and two cats.

KAI
LICHTENWALTER

Skateboard Instructor

Kai (he/him) is a Portland native who has been skateboarding for his whole life. He is stoked to have been a part of the Stronger team since the beginning, when he volunteered at Stronger's opening day. Kai is now a skate coach who teaches private lessons, camps, and group lessons. He loves to watch people make progress, gain confidence and get comfortable with skating, but most importantly likes to encourage them to have fun! When he is not skating, Kai loves surfing with his surf team, traveling the world, and finding new adventures.

MILES
MCGOWAN

Scooter Instructor

Miles McGowan (he/him) is a 15 year old scooter rider who started taking scootering seriously and trying to progress and learn new tricks since covid started in march of 2020. Miles is passionate about scootering and loves just about anything to do with it. He is a sophomore at West Linn High School and lives in West Linn Oregon. His local skatepark is Tanner Creek Park. Miles favorite part about scootering is meeting new people and making new friends. His main style of tricks are street related tricks but he has a large bag of tricks that he can do and can help kids learn any of the tricks that kids may be working on as beginner, intermediate, or advanced riders. Miles is excited to teach all of the kids new tricks and see them grow in their riding and confidence.

ANDY PHILLIPS

Skateboard Instructor

Andy (he/him) began skateboarding at the age of 9 when he bought a book called “Radical Skateboarding” at his school book fair. More than 30 years later, he is still skating, helping his own kids learn new skate tricks, and has loved the opportunity to coach skate camps and private lessons. When not coaching at Stronger, Andy teaches elementary school in North Clackamas School District, and enjoys collecting classic skateboard decks and guitars.

ASHER ROTH

Skateboard Instructor // Shop

Asher (he/him) is an 18 year old skater who has lived in the Portland area for all of his life. He picked up skating in 2019 and has been obsessed with it ever since. While he specializes in street-style tricks, Asher loves to help people learn new skills and tricks in all different forms of skateboarding. Asher started working at Stronger in 2021 and is currently coaching private lessons and camps. His favorite part about coaching is helping people have fun on a skateboard while learning new skills. When he is not skateboarding, he enjoys playing piano, snowboarding, and spending time outside!

PETER ELLIS

Skateboard Instructor // Shop

Peter (he/him) first picked up a skateboard in Southern California when he was 12 years old. In the years since, his love for skateboarding remains unchanged. The only thing he enjoys more is sharing skateboarding with others, and has built a career around teaching skateboarding to others. For the past decade Peter has been spending his summers as a skate coach and teaching private lessons. This past summer marked Peter’s first camp at Stronger, and is excited to be working in the skateshop moving forward. Outside of skateboarding Peter is also interested in bikepacking, loud music, and bad horror movies from the 80’s.