So many of the Blenders Entourage are athletes who specialized in their sport at incredibly young ages. Four years old, three years old… even younger. They practically popped out of the womb with a board at the ready.

But Ashley Kidd? Yeah, she’s different.

THE NATURAL

Raised in Corpus Christi, TX, Ashley didn’t take to the surf in her formative years. She wasn’t attending surf competitions and traveling the world under the tutelage of sensationally accomplished mentors. No—Ashley simply lived life, finding her way to wake surfing on her own time.

Her first wakeboarding contest was in 2010’s World Wake Surfing Championship at the age of 15—we’re talking her first participation in an organized contest, period. Hell, she didn’t even know if she’d be any good, as she told us in this interview:

“I actually entered that competition not knowing whether I was good at wake surfing or not so it was a huge surprise for me to be recognized and actually receive my first sponsor at that time. That first competition was the beginning of my wake surfing career; from then on I went to competitions and competed in the pro level on the wake surfing circuit, so I guess you can say that competition definitely boosted my confidence and changed my life!”

Despite the uncertainty going in, Ashley placed 2nd overall in the championship’s amateur women's group… and everything since then has been a whirlwind of winning.

FANTASTIC FOUR

Feasting on encouragement from her older brother and her own instinctual drive to succeed, Ashley built on her 2010 breakout by immediately moving into the professional ranks that same year. She swiftly went on to rock the sports world, winning her first world title at the World Wake Surfing Championship in Las Vegas in 2014, for which she also earned Female Athlete of the Year honors.

Now a 5x World Wake Surfer Champion and an 9x USA National Champion, it’s impossible to predict just how high Ashley's ceiling lies.

NO LIMITS

Ashley Kidd surfs hard every time out, relishing an aggressive style comprised of myriad air tricks and snaps. She’s already reached the pinnacle of her sport (2021 saw her ranked #1 in the world rankings), so the only question remaining is just how much hardware she’ll add to her trophy case. And frankly? We’d bet our best pair of shades she’s gonna run out of room.

Welcome to the team, Ashley! //