Cata Diaz interview

Interview & portrait: Genualdo Kingsford

Tell us a little about where you grew up. 
I grew up in Valparaíso, a city on the coast of Chile. It’s very beautiful. It’s similar to San Francisco in lots of ways; it’s full of hills and we have a lot of cool spots. 

How did you start skating?
I started skating at 16. I got kicked out of school and my mum said: “You can’t stay at home doing nothing,” so I looked for a job and got hired by a skate shop. The guys in the shop kept saying: “You should try it,” until one day I did and realised it was the most fun thing I’d ever done. I never stopped. 

You were making skate videos back in Chile. Tell us about that. 
Me and my friends had this little brand called IMG Skateboarding and I did a lot of filming and editing for that. Then, when I started learning tricks, I’d film myself with my phone or with whoever was down to film and after a couple of months I realised I could actually put something together. I called it Una Wea Mea Chety, which means something a bit shitty. It was a hilarious mix of iPhone, cameras and phone fisheye, but that’s how I started making my own parts. 

Were they popular?
I wouldn’t say they were popular, but they were supported by the Chilean scene. Sometimes the magazines in Santiago would share them and they were very encouraging, which hyped me up quite a lot at the time. 

How was the skate scene in Valparaíso back then?
I started skating with a group of friends in their 30s. They skated and perceived skating in a very specific way, which I really appreciated. Everyone was very united in my city. It was a small scene and there wasn’t much (skate) industry there, so everyone hyped each other up and supported each other. 

Is there a younger generation skating there since you moved away?
Absolutely. Now, in Valparaíso, there are so many new people and so many new girls. I’m so stoked every time I see them coming up on Instagram, or when I see them there.

Talk us through your decision to move to Barcelona at the age of 18.
I didn’t actually make the decision to move there – that was something that just happened – but I felt like my life was falling apart in Chile. I was studying medicine and supporting that by working at the same time. I was just overdoing things. I didn’t have any free time at all and I was sleeping so poorly. I really needed skating and to be and feel myself. I feel like that got me into a depressed state, along with a lot of other things, so I decided to quit my studies and go to Barcelona for three months. I talked to my parents about it and they were very supportive, even though they were terrified. 

Jumping back a bit, how did you get into medical school after getting kicked out of school?
I ended up going to an institute where you do two years in one. It was the sketchiest way I could finish my studies, but I had a good base from my other school and I prepared really well for the PSU (Prueba de Selección Universitaria), which is the test to get into university in Chile.

Do you remember the moment you decided to stay in Barcelona and live there?
I settled quite quickly. I got a job – I was teaching salsa at a gym – and a boyfriend. Things were working out. I thought: “Why not?” I felt like there was nothing waiting for me in Chile that I was excited about or that would make me happy. 

I guess deciding not to take your return flight was a turning point. 
That was hard. I made the decision, but I wasn’t ready to face what my parents had to say about it. I remember I had my phone in flight mode for three days (laughs). It was a difficult decision, but I guess it was a good call in the long run. 

Absolutely. When did things start happening for you in terms of your skate career?
Nothing really happened for the first two years. I put out the fifth Una Wea Mea Chety video, which of course did nothing for me (laughs). I thought: “This is not going to take me anywhere, so I might as well just do it for Instagram, enjoy it while I can and keep working.” I wasn’t living in any luxury, but for first time in my life, I had time to do other things. So I just kept posting on Instagram and I guess people started getting into it, which got me hyped. I feel like I was quite well-known before I got sponsored in any way. I got a lot of offers from different companies, so it was tricky, but luckily I was surrounded by nice people who helped me through it and in the end, I made good decisions.

How did you find the skate scene in Barcelona?
When I first moved to Spain, the scene was very different. There wasn’t a huge Latin community like we have now, where we actually have people from all over South America, which is amazing for the skate community. It makes me feel a lot more at home. Also, now we have tonnes more girls from South America, which makes me feel like I have more partners in the skate scene.

Did you find the skate scene welcoming when you arrived?
Not always. When it was just me and a few others (skaters from South America), some people weren’t as nice as they are today. I feel like they’ve got used to us slightly more now, but there are still people who make racist comments and don’t really enjoy the fact that we’re over there. I see a lot of my friends from Latin America having a hard time with it and it’s very unfair considering we are there looking for opportunities, chasing dreams or just after a better life because our countries can’t give us that.

You decided to stop drinking quite soon after moving to Barcelona. The city has a reputation as a partying black hole for skateboarders.
Yeah, I think it got me too. You get into the habit of going to MACBA, having a good skate, then chilling for a bit, having a beer, then all going for dinner and you keep drinking. When you get home, you’re like; “Oh my god, I’m a bit drunk.” Then you realise that you haven’t had a day off for weeks. Part of me knew I wasn’t doing things the right way; I felt like that for quite a while before I stopped. Also, I became quite religious when I had just moved to Barcelona. At the time, I needed something to believe in and to feel that someone had my back. I was making lots of friends, but I was still the new person. So between that and whatever I was feeling, I took the decision to stop drinking, like: “This is what God would want me to do,” or whatever. It’s funny to me now because I don’t follow that path (religion) at all any more. 

More recently, you were back and forth between Barcelona and London before moving here earlier this year. Talk us through that move.
I got sick when I was living in Barcelona. I had already met Darius (Trabalza) in LA and we were seeing each other, so he was coming to Barcelona and I was going to London. When I got diagnosed (with cancer), we were already a thing, and after three months in Chile getting surgery and recovering, I had to choose where to do my chemotherapy. I found a place in London with Darius. My dad had a friend there who could do my chemotherapy and not charge me millions of pounds for it (laughs), which helped a lot. I did almost all of my chemotherapy in London, so at the beginning, my time in the city was quite sad and quite dark, but I did see its beauty in a whole different way. London is where I learned to walk again, go to the park again, be able to eat again and enjoy the little things. Also, I don’t think I would have made it through my recovery without Darius supporting me through it, so he helped me to think of London as somewhat a home already. Then, once I recovered, I went back to Barcelona and found myself no longer wanting to experience all the craziness and people coming and going. I wanted different things. At the same time, Darius was having a really hard time in his life and it was my time to support him, so this year we decided it was the right time for me to fully move to London.

Where are you living in London?
I’m living in Orpington, which is like the Narnia of London (laughs). It’s so far, but it’s well connected and it’s full of beautiful nature. 

How does skating here compare to Barcelona?
Whatever you get here in London is actually way more rewarding. It’s like the stars align and you get a clip somehow (laughs). The spots are way rougher and harder. You really have to make such an effort, but that’s what makes it so cool.

How have you found the skate scene in London?
I feel like I connected with a lot of cool people right away and I’m very thankful for that. It’s been so nice and everyone’s been so welcoming. I like how everyone is always down to skate and I feel like there are so many different types of skaters and skating in London.

You’ve been travelling around the UK quite a lot this autumn. Tell us about this.
It’s been so amazing. I moved here at the end of July and decided I wanted to work on a video part through the summer and autumn. I started filming with my friend Dom (Chambers) in Liverpool. That was quite an experience; people up north are so nice. That led me to look at other cities I could visit and the first place my friends in Liverpool suggested was Leeds. I watched Hilda Quick’s Drafts videos and I was so stoked on the whole crew. I texted her to see if she was down to film and she replied: “Yeah, come over. You can stay at my house and we can go out filming,” so I went and genuinely had the best time. They have so many spots and the scene there is so nice and supportive. Hilda, Minnie (Mearns) and Connie (Gascoyne) all became very close friends right away. Another really good friend is Alice (Smith). We connected quite quickly and not long after, I went to stay at her house in Manchester. It rained the whole time, but we ended up having a really good time anyway.

Do you want to give a little shout out to your other filmers, Chris (Emery) and Tristan (Tutak)?
I met Chris through Alice and he was really stoked on me doing something in the UK. I wasn’t filming with anyone consistently at the time, so he offered to film me for the project and edit the video. He’s a really nice guy and I’m grateful he’s been so down and so involved in everything. Here in London, I’ve also been filming with Tris, who I met through you. He’s the best. He’s been so supportive of me and this project.

Going back to summer 2022, how did you find out you had cancer?
We went on this Nike trip with the girls to Malmö and Copenhagen and from the first day, I was feeling quite ill. Everything I ate sat terribly and after two days, I started puking blood. Nobody really knew what was going on. They thought I had a terrible bug, but I wasn’t sure. We moved from Malmö to Copenhagen and I went to a proper doctor. He did tests and said: “I think we need to call someone to pick you up,” because I was there on my own. I told him that I needed to know and he said: “You have a tumour in your oesophagus that is almost 8cm long. It’s on the beginning of your stomach and it might kill you if we don’t operate now.” I was so shocked and terrified. We talked about the surgery and how big the risks were and he told me I had a 76.7 per cent chance of dying. I called my dad and asked him to book me a flight back to Chile that day because I didn’t want to die in Copenhagen alone. So I went to my country and had the surgery there, but that ended up being way more complicated than we thought. We had to find a professional who was willing to do it, then we had complications with the first surgery, so we had to do another, but there were complications again, so I had a third surgery. It was a whole nightmare. 

And then you started chemotherapy.
Yeah. I didn’t go into remission. I had to do chemo to remove the last part of it. I had to have another surgery later on too. At first, the chemotherapy wasn’t that bad. I felt like I had the worst cold of my life, but I was still able to skate and live my life. After the second month, I properly felt like I was dying. It was too much pain, all the time, all over my body. It was really hard because at the time, I felt like I couldn’t see through it. I was so tired, sore and overtaken by the chemotherapy, I think I really was ready to give up on it. It felt a never-ending battle. It was nine or 10 months, but it honestly felt like four years. 

Eventually you went into remission, but then you had to go back to chemotherapy early last year. 
Yeah, that was also really hard. We thought I was fully in remission, but after a check-up, they put me back on chemo. That second time was a lot easier, though. I was gaining back weight and muscle and I was already able to walk and skate. 

I know from chatting with you that your boyfriend Darius played a big role in your recovery. 
I feel like without Darius, I wouldn’t have made it through. I was ready to give up and not continue treatment so many times. Having Darius felt like having half the weight of it on me because I had someone helping me through it and that gave me the strength to move forward.

Do you have any advice you’d like to give based on your experience?
You’re allowed to feel like shit and struggle through it. A lot of people were telling me to watch all these motivational stories and they made me feel like shit because I couldn’t be happy about trying to survive. If you’re showing up and you’re trying, it doesn’t matter if you do it with the worst attitude. You’re here and you’re fighting and that’s all that matters really. 

Last year, you opened up to Pocket about your struggles with mental health. How are you managing these days?
After I got sick, it was really hard to properly get back to where I was with skating and that made me really bitter and depressed. I tried so hard to push through it and prove myself, but that just led to more depression, anxiety and fighting with myself. I went on a trip to LA and I was in a really bad place with myself and my skating. I got injured quite badly on that trip, which took me out of skating for almost four months. That gave me a chance to reset. I had to accept all these changes and check my own attitude. After that, I was committed to trying my best to enjoy the process.

Do you have any advice you’d like to give to anyone struggling with mental health, based on your experiences?
I learned that everybody works differently. I did meditation and different kinds of therapy. I think the therapy that worked best for me was cognitive behavioural therapy, because it helped me create better habits in my daily life, like talking to myself in a nicer way. Meditation was also fundamental to me because it helped me to be present and connect with the things I’m actually doing in the moment. But I do feel it’s important to say that there are tonnes of different alternatives. If you’re not ready to do conventional therapy, try alternative options. Try everything you can and do whatever works for you. I know in the moment, anxiety and depression feel like they take you over. You don’t see a way out and you think this is who you are, but you can work through it and when I say work through it, it’s literally like doing a skateboard trick. It’s a nightmare, but that’s how you get to the results you actually want.

Thanks so much for that. On a lighter note, who are some of your all-time favourite skaters?
Off the top of my head: Matheus Du Bronks, Ulises Choque, Alex Amor, Antonella Castillo, Camilla Ruiz, Arin, Brianna (Delaney), Sarah (Meurle), Nicole (Hause), Hayley (Wilson), Vilma (Stål), Vitória Mendonça, Elissa (Steamer), (Andrew) Reynolds, Tom Penny and my boyfriend Darius.

Who are some favourites to watch in London?
Sav (Savannah Stacey Keenan), Kyle (Wilson), Lucien (Clarke) and Darius again.

Who are some younger, up-and-coming skaters people should look out for?
Twiggy (Cameron Gooden), Bryan (Duhur), AJ (Atlantic Johnson), Connie, Izzy (Almond), Minnie and all the girls in Leeds, Hilda as a filmer and Alice too of course. 

What are your plans for the future? 
I would like to live from skating for as long as I can because I truly love what I do, but whenever it’s over, I know that I will survive it. I have tonnes of things that I’m interested in and I’m a very curious person, so I know for certain that I’ll find a way to start over and love something again.