I’ve known Jaime Owens for close to 15 years. I was lucky enough to work under him at Skateboarder during the mag’s final days, and a few years later ended up working with him again at TransWorld SKATEboarding back when we still had a full staff and were putting the mag out in print.
If you know Jaime, you know he’s 100% skate rat through and through. And it’s that pure love for skateboarding that makes his latest project, Closer magazine, feel so personal.
The crew at The Platfrm recently sat down with JO to dig into his admirable journey through skateboarding—from small-town beginnings to interning to running mags and now building something of his own—and it’s inspiring, to say the absolute least. This is what a true lifer looks like, folks. Check it out:
Jaime grew up in a small town in South Carolina, and like a lot of us, his life changed after seeing some neighbor kid down the street rolling around on a board.
But as we learn, the real skate-addiction came when his sister handed him a copy of TransWorld SKATEboarding—the December ’86 issue with Rodney Mullen on the cover—and from there, he was all in. Not long after, his mom cut a $40 check so he could buy the neighbor’s board, and, well, here we are.
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Related: Paul Kobriger—Skateboard Lifer, Artist, and Sixes and Sevens Shop Owner
I don’t want to ruin the episode and spill all the beans here, but I’ve always thought a fun fact about Jaime is that he was one of the original Jackass filmers. Ha! How rad is that? From intern to editor to founder, Jaime’s story is one that needed to be told, if you ask me. A true hail mary that actually paid off.
Anyways, I guarantee you he’s out skating right now. And I love that. Learn more about Closer right here. And if you haven’t yet, press play and dive in. Yeah, Jaime!
