Sun and Salt Collective
Was started in 2019 by founder Cassandra Keller. After years of growing up surfing the local breaks here in Santa Cruz, she decided to create a community for women interested in starting their surfing journey as well as those already “salted”. It started out simply, hosting all inclusive surf and yoga retreats here in Santa Cruz and then expanded to provide personalized coaching, surf meetups, as well as other complementary offerings to help support women in the water and out.
Sun and Salt Collective has grown to include many different contributors since then from within the surf and wellness community and beyond. Sun and Salt Collective aims to enhance and support each woman’s unique connection to the ocean, creating a fun, challenging, and safe environment to do so.
MEET THE SUN AND SALT COLLECTIVE TEAM
SANTA CRUZ, CALIFORNIA PRIVATE SURF LESSONS, SURF MEET UPS AND ALL INCLUSIVE SURF AND YOGA RETREATS
Cassandra Keller
Founder of Sun and Salt Collective
Owner and creator of Sun and Salt Collective, Cassandra grew up surfing the waves of Santa Cruz over the past 24 years. Her passion has brought her around the world exploring different waves and cultures. Through these experiences she gained a broader perspective on the path to a satisfied life; the willingness to “travel light”, needing less and experiencing more. She has a deep love for the ocean and the connection it brings to her soul as well as finding peace and solace in the natural world through backpacking, and snowboarding.
When teaching she holds a calm, practical and encouraging space for her students to progress within. Certified in hypnotherapy, she understands the power of the mind to help or hider and she utilizes these skills to coach people towards healthy mindset practices in the water and out.
Always up for an adventure and navigating through life with an intuitive, heart centered approach, she utilizes her own experiences of healing to hold a container for others to walk through their fears and towards their truth.
Fantine Capron
Surf Coach, Yoga Instructor and Board Shaper
Born and raised in the Picardy Forests north of Paris, Fantine, has followed the path truest to herself.
As a French grom, she spent summers visiting her maternal family in Southern California and caught her first wave on the golden coast at the tender age of 8. Under the watchful eyes of her Aunt Alisa Schwarzstein and Uncle Ian Cairns, both legendary former professional surfers and coaches. In 2018, she moved to California to realize her childhood dream of surfing everyday of the year.
She then pursued a Yoga Teacher Training at a local Studio in Laguna Beach led by renowned Instructor Liz Campbell. Simultaneously, she entered the hustle of LA, and spent time documenting the Art Mural and graffiti scene in DTLA’s, Arts District. She quickly shifted gears into hands-on fabrication for large Art Installations. It was an eye opening experience. With her new found skills of fiberglassing, sanding, woodworking and metalworking; she made the transition to Almar Surf Works in Santa Cruz to focus only on surfboard building. She was mentored closely by the legend shaper Michel Junod and Jon Henderson (STRIVE Surfboards).
She founded Atelier Qualia Surf in 2020. A woman owned surfboard and apparel brand forever rooted in love, art, passion and respect for the ocean. She builds her surfboards, from start to finish, here in Santa Cruz. In parallel, she taught group yoga classes at local studios in Santa Cruz and has now shifted towards leading yoga privately for the strong community of the Sun & Salt Collective.
Fantines website for custom boards is www.qualiasurf.com and her instagram is @atelierqualiasurf
Natalie Gerding
Salty Nat Photography
Natalie first started practicing photography in 2013 in Colorado, focusing on adventure and travel photography. She quickly fell in love with capturing beautiful images of people and epic landscapes. In 2019 she moved to Santa Cruz and immediately became” obsessed” as she puts it, with surf photography and taking advantage of the amazing scenery, and surf culture here. Since then she has had the pleasure of traveling to other amazing surf destinations such as Costa Rica and Indonesia, following her passion along the way. Having started her own surf journey not too long ago, she is intent on supporting other women in their journey as well, knowing intimately how rewarding, challenging, and magical it can be, especially at first.
Natalie’s instagram can be found @saltynat and her website is www.saltynat.com
