“Each episode centers around major milestones” – Surf Girls creator Monica Medellin on capturing the journey of young athletes

Surf Girls creator Monica Medellin has built a career merging her passions for action sports, female representation, and filmmaking. The director and producer’s work includes the Red Bull TV documentary Making History: The Women of Freeride and Nike’s What Are You Working On? series.

On July 17, 2025, the second season of Surf Girls, which Medellin created and executive produces, premiered on Amazon Prime. While season one focused on Native Hawaiian female surfers, season two follows athletes from Hawaii, Brazil, Peru, Portugal, and South Africa as they compete on the World Surf League Challenger Series.

“Each episode centers around major milestones in their surfing careers but also focuses on the evolution of each young woman as they come into their own. We see their sisterhood grow, and get an inside look of dynamics and pressures when it comes to balancing life and sport,” Medellin told Muse on July 11, 2025.

Surf Girls creator Monica Medellin on season two’s global journey

Speaking to Muse in July 2025, Medellin said season two of Surf Girls shows not only career-defining moments for the surfers but also the personal challenges and growth each athlete experiences. She explained that this season depicts the realities of competing at the highest level and how difficult it is to reach the top.

Medellin noted that one challenge for her personally was shifting from directing and leading the entire first season to an executive producer role for season two.

“One was not being on set for the entire season. I went from creating this show from scratch and leading the first season, literally underwater, immersed in every detail, to passing the reins and stepping into an executive producer role,” she said.

She added that it was a shift, overseeing her creation as it grew and evolved. She also revealed there will be more to come, and it's powerful to see it continue.

Monica Medellin reflects on challenges, growth, and expanding the Surf Girls story beyond Hawaii

Medellin told Muse that her mission as a director is to showcase women both in front of the camera and behind the lens. Since 2016, she has focused on building a community in women’s filmmaking and sports.

“As a former athlete myself, I have a shared experience with the women I make films about. We just understand each other on another level,” she said.

She emphasized that representation shapes how people see themselves and what they believe is possible, adding that she grew up without often seeing women, especially women of color, telling their stories on their own terms. By creating space for women’s sports stories through Surf Girls, Medellin said she hopes to inspire girls and women to know they belong both on the screen and behind the camera.

Surf Girls originated as a YouTube series before expanding into a larger production. Medellin explained that the concept came from years of creating low-budget, self-funded short films about women in sports, which she uploaded to social media and YouTube starting in 2016.

“I saw it as an opportunity to get my work in front of millions of people with the click of a button. And that one decision changed everything,” she said.

Her work began attracting attention from brands like World Surf League, Vans, and Red Bull. This led to a collaboration with women’s sports media company TOGETHXR on Surf Girls: Kaikaina, which garnered millions of views and drew the interest of Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine as a production partner.

That connection resulted in pitching and selling Surf Girls to two major industry players. Medellin said that without posting her work online, these opportunities might never have happened, noting that social media has been the most effective marketing tool in her career.

She believes promoting one’s own work should be part of every filmmaker’s process. Medellin also told Muse that in today’s environment, directors need to think like entrepreneurs.

“From my perspective, the modern filmmaker isn’t just an artist; we’re also entrepreneurs. We’re running a filmmaking business,” she said.

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Fans can stream Surf Girls on Prime Video.

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