Community is Blooming with The Rose Club

words: Ally Watson

Roses are red, violets are blue, we’re wearing rose-colored glasses, and you should too. Okay, no one came here for poetry, but there’s something to be said about the rosy effect that Utah’s The Rose Club has on nontraditional skaters and snowboarders. Born out of Michelle Tierney’s desire to connect with other learners, The Rose Club is a snow and skate collective that hosts community meetups and events for women, trans, non-binary, and gender expansive folks in Utah. With plenty of momentum and growing participation, the homegrown collective is leaving its mark on the community and we caught up with founder Michelle to lay it all out.

Hey Michelle, where are you right now?
I'm in Ogden, Utah. I've lived here for the last eight or nine years, so it’s been a minute.

But you’re Irish, right?
Yeah, I'm from Ireland. I came over to America in 2013. So just coming up on 11 years here, which is kind of crazy. I came over on a college golf scholarship, which is kind of funny. I'm a washed up golfer now.

So, how did you get into snowboarding and skateboarding?
I was originally in a school in Oklahoma and then I transferred to a school in Utah and graduated in marketing. A couple of years later, I found my way into the skateboarding and snowboarding world. I met my husband, who's the manager of the local skate and snow shop here in town called Crossroads. He was like, “You should try snowboarding,” and I was a skier. The classic snowboarding thing happened where the first day I went, I was like, “This is so dumb.” It just wasn’t clicking. Then literally one run changed my whole experience. I was linking turns and I was like, “This is like surfing. This is really good.” That’s snowboarding, then skateboarding was kind of the same story as a lot of people during COVID and around the time I started dating my husband, he taught me the basics and that’s how I started

And where does The Rose Club fit into this?
So, it started in July of 2020. I was at the skate shop with my husband, just hanging out, and this one chick came in to buy her first complete. She was probably 15 or 16. I had just started skating, so I was just hyped, and I got her mom’s number so we could skate together. Literally within the next hour this other chick came in who was like 16, same story. And I was like, “No way, there was another girl literally the same age as you who just came into the store.” So, I got her number, too, so we could all connect. It was crazy.

100%.
So, I decided to start a meetup. I just posted it on instagram and the shop posted it and all the dudes that worked and hung out there shared it. We had probably 15 girls show up the first time

That’s amazing!
Yeah, it was so cool and from there I kind of saw the gap and wanted to be able to provide a space for us to have these meetups. The park in Ogden is attached to the skate shop. It's an indoor one and it's awesome, but during regular hours, it's super intimidating. So I was like, Okay, if we can just have an hour where it's just us, it would be so massive.

So, Rose Club started off as skateboarding, and I thought, Look, if I can just provide a time and a space, it doesn't have to be harder than it needs to be. That's what we did and it carried over into snowboarding. I was way more a snowboarder than a skateboarder, so naturally I was like, “Let’s just do a meetup. Same kind of thing.” And that’s how The Rose Club came about. There really was nothing in the area for nontraditional skaters and snowboarders.

Exactly, and from that, what value have you found this has contributed to the community? Obviously any time nontraditional skaters or snowboarders–or humans–get together, there is a gap being filled, but in your area specifically, what’s the experience been like?
I think the biggest thing I can think of right now is we have been doing it since 2020 and watching people who started with us grow and change and seeing who they are as people now is insane. I felt like before I started skateboarding and snowboarding around 2019/2020, I just never felt totally myself. I obviously golfed, but it wasn't until I got into skateboarding and snowboarding that I found my people, and that's a big thing we hear in these communities. I just totally felt like I was authentically being myself. I was dressing the way I always wanted to dress, I was seeing other people be authentically themselves and have no excuses. It's insane to see the transformation. The actions speak louder than words.

Once it became more established as a club, what was the mission statement or goal?
We’ve always kind of tried to keep it to The Rose Club as a time and a place. That’s our founding sentence for everything. Sometimes you can get really bogged down with overthinking things, like event planning or partnering with organizations. It’s a lot of work and always going back to that statement has been really key to keep us focused and driven towards that goal.

It’s so easy for things to escalate, and people or brands want to get involved to help it grow, but ultimately, you just want to meet up with people in a safe place and do the thing, whether it's snowboarding, skateboarding, community work, or whatever.
Exactly, I’ll always be stressed to the max before an event and I’m like, “Chill out, it's a time and a place. That's what you're doing.”

Who else is involved in organizing?
Jess Harper has been in it with me from the early days. She helps with event planning and is my go-to for bouncing my crazy ideas off of. It’s been my baby. I do a lot of the photography, design work, social media—it’s a lot. It’s a lot to pass off, too. I always want to make sure that if somebody’s running a skate event that they meet every person at the gates of the skatepark and introduce themselves and welcome them. It's so important. I’m noticing the OG Rose Clubbers are doing it without even being asked. It's the coolest thing to see, it's really rad

How was the snow season this year?
It wasn’t our strongest winter in terms of events. I started a new job and that played an effect on how much effort I could put forth into The Rose Club winter stuff. We did a couple meetups which were awesome. We had one at Nordic Valley where I worked, which was super cool. We had about 20 women show up. It was rad. We were all in the park messing around and having fun. We even had a girl that was brand new to snowboarding come out. It was so rad to see someone who’s never snowboarded before feel comfortable enough to come to one of the events. That’s the biggest compliment, because I would be terrified.

That’s amazing! I just moved this year and I was nervous to go to a meetup to make friends, and I used to help run meetups! I’m so impressed with how brave and bold people who are new to the sport are to show up.
It’s insane. We partnered with Woodward for two events this year, for a $30 lift ticket which gave you access to the slope and the indoor facility, and this chick rolled up having never snowboarded in her life. We had an instructor that was able to teach her, but I was like, “Hell yeah, that is so freaking rad.”

Have you noticed a lot of folks extending their connection beyond the meetups? Like friendships growing or other people meeting up outside of The Rose Club?
Absolutely! Even through Beyond the Boundaries women’s snowboard camps, I would go to the camps and I made a bunch of friends through there and a few Rose Clubbers would come and then people we met there would come to Rose Club. It’s just kind of growing and now I have friends all across America. If I ever wanted to go on a trip, I have people to contact. BTBounds really opened my eyes.

Ok, so what’s going on for summer with The Rose Club?
We do these things called Saturday Skates. I think this is our fifth summer doing it. They are every other Saturday. They are for anyone and everyone. We do them at a public skatepark, so we can’t police who’s coming and going. It’s just kind of a rule, don’t be a dick. If someone needs help and they are new, we’ve always got somebody who’s willing to help teach. If anyone needs a skateboard or anything, we will figure it out. That’s Saturday Skates.

That’s rad, what else is going on?
We haven’t really announced it but we are releasing a video, which I’m super hyped about. We’re gonna put it out on June 27. It’s called The Summer That Never Ended. It’s a video that we’ve been working on for the last three summers on our trips to Montana every summer. We do this trip that’s kind of low key, usually 20 of us. I make everybody do a talent show, which they hate.

Sounds like summer camp.
Yeah. So we filmed the last three summers and we’ve got a bunch of other random footage. I’m really hyped on it. The video is focused on getting people to want to skate with their friends.The goal of this film wasn’t to showcase the gnarliest tricks. The goal is to just showcase how much fun you can have with your friends when you push yourself and try new things. That’s the main theme.

Can’t wait. The Rose Club does a bunch of one-off events like Backcountry 101 and Skate Sanctuary, also. How did those get started?
Last summer we partnered with Exposure Skate to do Skate Sanctuary and had a kind of a retreat. It was a weekend where people could come and tune into their bodies, and push themselves skating. We always try to do the Backyard Jam. It started at Powder Mountain a couple years ago. It was super DIY. Everybody was hitting rails, like people that never had. It was the coolest thing to give people the power to feel that they can do hard stuff. We also work with Ogden Avalanche every year to do a Backcountry 101 course. It’s affordable and gives you well-rounded knowledge of how to be prepared and use your gear.

Heck yeah. What’s your vision for the future of The Rose Club?
I would love to eventually expand and become a non-profit. That would be a really big dream. It’s a big undertaking, so it’s about making sure we’re ready. Honestly, just to bring more people in and have more people take on roles and have ownership of that would be great. It’s hard when I feel like sometimes asking for help can feel like a burden.

Yeah, it can feel like that, but when people want to be involved, they will.
Exactly, and it already happened. The OG Rose Clubbers are taking that on. That’s when the good community building work happens, and that’s what I love about The Rose Club. People don’t give a shit about being cool at The Rose Club. They are just authentically themselves and just happy and it’s so rad.

Okay, so if you could say one thing to someone who has never been to The Rose Club before, what would it be?
If you’ve been thinking about coming to a rose club event but maybe have been hesitant or nervous, come. I think that first initial step is always super daunting especially if you don’t know anyone but reach out to us, shoot us a DM. We’ll come meet you at the door. We got you. Also if you’re traveling around the country, there are so many other rad groups out there doing the thing like Lleky, Part Time Babe Club, Skate Like a Girl, Girls on Shred, and that’s just naming a few.

Follow @_theroseclub on Instagram and learn more about how to get involved at Theroseclub.com.