Zeb Powell has taken the world of snow sports by storm. At age 20, he won the Winter X Games Knuckle Huck and introduced many new fans to his completely unique style. He’s also the first Black snowboarder to win gold in X Games history. Now 25, Powell hails from Waynesville, North Carolina, he was adopted by his parents and grew up with three adopted siblings of varying races, plus his biological sister. “Because we had white parents we were never really looked at as the Black family,” says Zeb. He tells me that his parents were “super cool,” that his dad knew everyone in town, and that race was not something he grew up thinking about too often.
“I’ve always had to work really hard in school because that shit doesn’t come easy to me,” he says. “I have ADD…focusing on school was super hard.” He tells me his mother, a teacher, taught him the skills and got him the help he needed. Powell also tells me that a big part of where he’s at today comes from his work ethic and needing to try “10 times more” than the average person. “I’m a pretty damn smart kid, but it comes differently. What I didn’t have in the classroom, focus and attention learning-wise, it comes back with my snowboarding.”
Each year for the past five years, Powell and the famed snowboarder Selema Masekela, along with Burton and Red Bull, have brought a group of BIPOC change-makers to Aspen for a week of snowboarding and networking. The event is called Culture Shifters and the goal is to diversify the sport and the mountain, to bring the joy and inclusivity that is sorely needed in these historically white, affluent spaces. I was graciously invited to experience the event and photograph Zeb on location. I struggle to find the words to describe just how beautiful and moving the experience was. To learn to snowboard with people of all skill levels, to see their happiness and excitement, to hear stories of others’ struggles and triumphs, to laugh, to fall, to watch pro-snowboarders absolutely shred the park—it was truly an honor and a privilege.
Below, Powell and I discuss the moment he realized he could go pro, the fallout of winning the X Games, Culture Shifters, and plenty more.
Fit One
How did you first find a passion for snowboarding?
It started with skateboarding. My friend just gave me a skateboard one day. I went to the skate park and fell in love with that shit—with the ramps, just being my own. it’s like you’re in your own world. I loved it so much that the first day that when my dad said we had to go home for dinner, I threw the biggest fit. I just wanted to be there forever after that.
How old were you?
I think I was six or seven. Eventually, my skate park shut down and I started snowboarding. Somewhere in between there I did a little bit of gymnastics, learned how to back flip, and I could have kept going with gymnastics but I didn’t like the structure. Learning how to back flip was a game changer because it made doing shit on snow easier. I just never had the fear.
What advice would you give to someone young who thinks snow sports are cool but finds there to be an economic barrier of entry?
Within the last five years, it’s grown a lot. There are different ways to get into it. There are nonprofits that are here at Culture Shifters. They support people of color. They support people who don’t have the economic background for it. They get them gear to go to the mountain, they give lessons—and it’s not just snowboard lessons. They engulf you in the snowboard and skiing community, which teaches you a lot of life lessons, like how to be on time. You have to stay up on your schoolwork or you don’t get to come. There are these big corporations that make it hard to even go for a day, but there are some mountains where you can really actually go for under $100 for everything, which is pretty dope. Advice for someone learning to snowboard is ask around. Ask someone who does snowboard so they can tell you the dos and don’ts.
Fit Two
When did you realize you could pursue snowboarding as a career?
Something just clicked. It was like skateboarding, but easier and more accessible. More of my friends were doing it. I was going every day without really thinking about trying to be the best. The consistency made me progress so damn fast to the point where people were just looking at me crazy. Then I went and did my first event.
How old were you when you did that?
I was seven or eight. I almost won it. I had three hits and my friends told me to do one trick for my last hit, but I just said fuck it and did my own thing. It scored me under, so I didn’t get first. If I had just done what they told me to, I would have won. That’s where I started realizing, “Okay, this could be something.” We had a lot of support behind us, but we still didn’t really think of it like that until I went to summer camp at Copper Mountain when I was eight. Everyone from around the world comes there to ride. There are pros there.
My aunt lives out here, and she had heard about it. We didn’t really have the money, but luckily my aunt’s friend had a house at Copper Mountain, so we got to do the day camp. The fourth year of that camp they kept telling my parents—they wouldn’t tell me—”He’s got to go to snowboard school and pursue this because he’s got something special.” Eventually, they gave in. I was at home playing video games, and my mom comes in and says, “If you want to do snowboard, we have to go check out this boarding school in Vermont. You would snowboard every day but you’d have to go away from here.” Of course I couldn’t say no. I was probably 12. Pretty radical.
Fit Three
What is Culture Shifters and why is it important to you?
Culture Shifters is an event we do with Burton and Red Bull to bring more diversity to the mountain—people of color, Black, Asian, Indian, anyone who’s not of normative culture, just create a space for them to celebrate and shine on the mountain. We create a network to help this community grow in a big way. We try to bring athletes, musicians, writers, and non-profits who are also doing this work. We just want to bring it all together. We hope people have a great time, giving them this beautiful experience in Aspen, to give them the resources to network and make these connections, to take what they see here and take it back to where they’re from. Seeing is believing. We’re all better together. The more we can get people together and do this stuff, the faster this is going to grow. It’s lit. Snowboarding is sick and everyone should experience it.
Was there a first moment where you became interested in clothing and style?
My first interest in clothing was from being a skater—Supreme, Palace, Dime, Bronze 56K. Just streetwear shit. Seeing that and being influenced naturally by all the skaters, that was my first time really noticing it. The music around 2016 was a big influence, too.
Fit Four
Rap was in an amazing place back then.
Exactly. And the fashion world. All that shit. I never really dove in until I was of the stature to be gifted stuff and it started mattering if I was wearing it. I was like, “Oh, shit, I got a lot to learn.”
It’s a never-ending journey, man.
I started thinking about what I was wearing more. I dove in and went hands-on on everything. It’s like snowboarding. I’m not going to do a trick because everyone’s doing it. I’m not going to buy stuff because everyone’s buying it. I’m doing what I want to do regardless. Of course I want to cop more pieces, but I also want to make sure they’re mine, not just getting it to get it.
Can you remember the first expensive thing you bought?
Right after I won X Games, we were on the Slide-In Tour and my close friends were looking at my followers list because I was starting to get a ton of followers. He realized that Virgil Abloh was following me. Little did I know the influence that he was. Fast-forward to that fall. He sent me those black and green Dunks and put “Zeb” and “Virgil” on them. I remember seeing Kylie Jenner with those things. I literally couldn’t process it. I didn’t buy those, but that was a big one. First expensive thing I bought was a Louis Vuitton bag this time last year, right after this event. Really, I still haven’t bought too much. We just bought something at Hermès yesterday.
Fit Five
My next question is, “What was your most recent purchase?”
I got two scarves. The elevation has been so crazy in the last year. My team manager and I were in Japan the other month and he took me into Hermès. I’ve never really seen their scarves, so he was showing me those. We found the skateboard one, but there was a different color we wanted. From then on, we’ve been looking for it. We finally found it in Aspen.
If you had to wear one outfit for the rest of your life, what would it consist of?
I love those black cargos that I have with the zip-off. They turn into shorts, but also, they have a stitch on the bottom, so I can three-quarter them too. They’re just so easy to style, and I love black. I have red and white Travis Scotts that are my daily drivers because I travel so much. I need to have a pair that I can throw around. I have another pair at home that’s clean. I have to go with a hoodie up top.
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