Girl On: Joanna Dzierzawski

May 10 2007 / Los Angeles, CA

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It's isn't everyday that a Chicago girl decides to just pack it up and move on out to Lake Tahoe.  Even rarer for a big-city girl to shred it as hard as Joanna Dzierzawski does snowboarding. 

Yet the rider who is nicknamed Pnut because her initial roommates in Tahoe couldn't remember her name (plus they thought she was tiny) has progressed to the point where the term “up-and-comer” would now be an insult for Joanna.  At a recent contest in Whistler, Joanna bested the likes of big-name pros like Leanne Pelosi and Natasza Zurek as she finished second to a skier (what kind of contest pits skiers against snowboarders anyways?).

PHOTO GALLERY    Check out photos of Joanna in action and having fun... View Gallery>

Then again, Joanna did learn to ski on a garbage dump with 200 vertical feet in Wisconsin, at the young age of three.  She stayed on the skis until the age of 12, when Joanna gave up the planks and switched to snowboarding.  This probably brought some tears to the eyes of her dad and grandfather, since they both started skiing on the slopes of Poland at the age of three themselves.

And while she'll goof off from time to time and strap on some skis (not to mention Joanna tears it up skateboarding), it's the snowboard that is accumulating both sponsors and titles to the resume of this slopestyle and rail ripper.

There is no room for the 22 year-old shredder to go anywhere but up.  Already dominating the Tahoe scene, Joanna Dzierzawski's looking to expand her success.  Look for her next winter (and this summer coaching at Windell's Snowboarding Camp in Oregon) at a mountain near you, and catch up with her here on Lat34.

Lat34: How are you doing?

Joanna: Good!  Just finally taking a break from traveling so much.  It’s good to be back at home at South Lake (Tahoe).

Lat34: And where have you been traveling?

Joanna: I was in Canada for 11 days, and as soon as I got back I went to Mammoth for a few days just to ride and meet some friends, and then got back and went to Squaw (Valley) the next day to check out the conditions here in Tahoe.  And it was really fun!

Lat34: You just mentioned that you were up in Whistler.  You were competing in this crazy contest.  Describe it.

Joanna: The contest was called “If Ullr Was a Girl.”  The first six months comprised of online voting, and the top three girls with the most amount of votes won a free trip to Whistler.  So they paid for plane tickets and lodging for the 11 days that we were up there.  I was one of the girls in the Open category that got voted through.  They picked, I believe, 10 other girls out of the 16 total that had to find their own lodging and way up there.

We all competed for a final prize of $25,000.

Lat34: Who won?

Joanna: Grete Eliasson. (ed. note - check out our Girl On of Grete)

Lat34: Were you bitter and pissed that despite finishing second, you came away with nothing since it was a winner-take-all format?

Joanna: I can’t be too bummed.  I did take a free trip to Whistler and got to hang out for a while, meet new people, and go ride for free.

Lat34: The only thing that pissed me off about the contest was the fact that they had two-plankers and boarders competing in the same events.  How did you feel about that?

Joanna: Well, they kind of judged us separately in the riding events.  Nobody thought it was the best way to do it, but that’s just how it went.  Kind of a bummer to be right behind her and see the money, but whatever.

Lat34: You received a great phone call last night.  Tell me about it.

Joanna: I did, and I’m really excited.  I’ve always kind of had in the back of my mind the desire to go up to Windells and Mt. Hood, ride, and work at one of the camps.

Lat34: Explain for the people that don’t know what Windells and Mt. Hood are.

Joanna: Mt. Hood is in Oregon, and it’s a glacier I believe.  You can ride almost all-season long.  Windells is one of the snowboard camps that you can go up to and get coaching to get better.  Windells also has a ski and skateboard camp too.

So I got a call back from them that I got the job as a counselor.  I get to leave in a month and go play all summer!

Lat34: You don’t see a lot of chicks skateboarding.  Chanelle Sladics is an example of a rider who loves to skate, but if you look at the competition side, there aren’t many skaters.  When you’re not riding, you love to skateboard.  Tell me about your passion for skateboarding, and how often you skate.

Joanna: I haven’t had much time to skateboard lately, but last summer and two summers ago I got really into it.  My friend had a party up at his house, and there was a mini-ramp there.  I was watching a bunch of my drunk girlfriends trying it, and since I was sober, I figured that if they could do it, I could probably get up and stand on it.  Ever since that day, I’ve just been going out as much as I can.  I like to go out to different skate-parks.  I’m not the world’s best at it, but it’s really fun.

Lat34: What kind of skating do you like?  Half-pipes, skate parks, street, what do you like to do?

Joanna: Definitely can’t do street, but I do like mini-ramps and cruising around bowls and stuff like that.

Lat34: Who are your sponsors?

Joanna: Ride, Smith, 686, Heavenly Mountain Resort, One Ball Jay, Vestal, Celtek, Skull Candy, First Tracks Productions and Delta Nine.