Description

Sal Masekela, X Games, talks with maxflowertv.com about The Sheckler Foundation and his Foundation, Stoked Mentoring.

Transcript

X Games's Sal Masekela Talks About the Sheckler Foundation Max Flower: Hi my name is Max Flower. I’m here with Sal Masekela and he is going to tell us about what inspired him to get involved in this Schekler Foundation, Sal. Sal Masekela: Well, it’s really easy for me to get involved with the Scheckler Foundation. I’ve been friends with Ryan and his family since he first came on the scene as a youngster. And really took the skateboarding world by storm. And it’s been really great to see him not only come up and become one of the top ranked skateboard in the world but, to take his fame and do the very first thing he did was to form the Scheckler Foundation at 19 years of age. Who starts thinking about being a philanthropist at that age? So it’s really easy to support. I have a foundation, its called Stoked Mentoring. And we mentor average kids in New York and L.A., also do actions sports skateboarding, snowboarding and surfing. And Ryan reached out to me last year and said “Hey, we’d like to make Stoked a beneficiary of the work that the Schekler Foundation is doing”. So it’s an honor for us to be here and be able to benefit from this and that’s a great thing about the action sports community is that we really operate as a whole and as a family and it’s all about relationships and each one helping the other. Max Flower: So, you’re a great man to have your own foundation and also be involved in Ryan’s, another philanthropic work. Tell us about some of your mentors and influences growing up. Sal Masekela: Well my mentors were really close to home and my parents. My mom and dad always encourage me to have a passion for what I do and to always wake up in the appreciative and grateful for what you have and really to reach out and help others. So for me a really ––it started from home just growing up and the second that I had an opportunity to start giving back and start to really manifest so that’s what I wanted to do. It was really amazing the way things came together and certain things lined up and I met a really fantastic guy by the name of Steve Larosiliere who was an expert in the mentoring in non-profit world and he came to me and he said. “Hey man, you’re the guy to do this, let’s do it together”. And ones we’re doing forces the rest was history five years later. Max Flower: Sal thanks for being a great leader and teaching others to be great leaders. I appreciate your time and all your great work. Please keep it up. Sal Masekela: Thank you. It’s—someone who’s new escape is strictly on the positive, keep the good work. Max Flower: We’re trying to make a difference and I’m glad to talk with you because you’re making it a huge difference and thank you so much. We appreciate. Sal Masekela: Thank you, we all got to take our steps but thank you very much. Max Flower: Thank you.