Holly Beck

Holly Beck grew up the oldest of five girls in Palos Verdes, CA. She always loved the water and wanted to learn to surf around age 12 but her very old-fashioned mother would not allow it, telling her, “surfing is for boys, you’ll never get a boyfriend out there competing with them. You should be sitting on the beach looking cute in a bikini!” By age 15 Holly had saved up babysitting money, bought herself a surfboard and a wetsuit and never looked back.

In June of 2001, Holly graduated from UCSD with a degree in Psychology and won the amateur National Surfing Championships. She turned pro and spent the next 10 years traveling all over the world for contests and photo shoots including to many very remote locations. On a trip to Nicaragua in 2006 she fell in love with the warm water waves, friendly locals, and laid-back lifestyle, bought land, and began to fantasize about moving to Central America full time.

While still traveling as a pro, Holly earned an MBA in Marketing and crafted a business plan to start a women’s surf school in Nicaragua. In 2010, she founded Suave Dulce, later changing the name to Surf With Amigas. After 10 years running retreats and as a mom of two, she was ready for a new challenge. She recently completed a second Master’s degree, this time in Counseling, planning to eventually get licensed as a therapist focusing on surf therapy. She spent 2021 as a Surf Therapy intern for the Groundswell Community Project and was able to help craft Holistic Surf Coaching curriculum that ties emotional awareness and mindfulness with somatic practices to enhance surf coaching techniques. She is taking individual surf therapy clients and weaving the new curriculum into the SWA culture as a whole, as well as the retreats she will be leading in Central America.

To learn more about Holly’s new projects, click here.