My name is Summer Macedo. I’m a professional surfer born and raised in Maui, Hawaii. I started surfing when I was around 2 years old! My dad started taking me out on the board with him when I was super young. Eventually, I got my own board around 8-9 years old and my love for the sport (and a lot of hard work) just carried me to where I am now. When I was 16, I won the VISSLA ISA World Junior Championships and that’s really where I kicked off my career. Now, I travel around the world to locations selected by the World Surf League and compete in elite events sanctioned by them. When I’m not surfing or studying, I love playing music/ singing and working out!

I know about RISE because they sponsor the USA Surfing Team. I won several national titles at USA Surfing National Championships and also traveled to Japan with their team for a contest a couple of years ago! I love RISE’s dairy-free Nitro Cold Brew. I’m a huge coffee fan, but I can’t have dairy so it’s always fun to find a brand that makes super yummy dairy-free options!

When I was a freshman in high school, I was traveling so much that I had to leave my public school to enroll in a private online school. I missed out on a lot of things like prom, walking the line for a diploma, hanging out with my friends; things that make high school memorable. It made me grow up a lot faster, but I also got to learn different things and meet new people with my travels abroad and my competitions. Looking back, I wouldn’t do anything differently. 

What’s one thing people don’t know about you? 

I have this crazy weird obsession with post-it notes! Every morning, I’ll write down everything I want to get done that day on my post-it and cross everything off my list at the end of the day. It’s oddly satisfying! Also if I need to remember anything or just see a quote I love, I write it on a post-it and put it somewhere. My room is covered in them.

If you weren’t in your current line of work, what would you be doing?

I think I would be a lawyer! I’m super passionate about it and I’ve started working towards my bachelor’s degree with Arizona State University’s online program. After surfing, I would really love to go to law school and see if I could make a career for myself in that industry.