Elladj Baldé: Professional figure skater on performing, passion & backflips - TMO Week 2023

Описание: For our Health & Wellbeing theme, Elladj Balde was in conversation with Stephanie from Take Me Outside to talk about his career, how his relationship to the sport has changed over the years, how he values both physical and mental health, what figure skating has brought to his life, and why he wants to share that with a young, diverse new generation of skaters through the nonprofit he co-founded with his wife Michelle Dawley.

Speaker biography:

Elladj Baldé is a Canadian figure skating veteran with over 15 years of competitive experience on the world stage. Born in Moscow and raised in Montreal with strong roots in Russia and Guinea, Baldé is now one of the most sought-after professional skaters in the world today, renowned for his innovative and soulful approach to his craft, dynamic infusion of dance, and his innate musicality and charisma both on and off the ice.

Since gaining global notoriety during the COVID-19 pandemic, Baldé has amassed celebrity fans including Jada Pinkett Smith, Jennifer Aniston, Ryan Reynolds, Snoop Dogg, Jesse Reyez, Taraji P. Henson, Saweetie, Dan Levy, Jennifer Garner, Octavia Spencer, and many more. Having been featured on The New York Times, Good Morning America, ABC News, BBC, Complex Magazine, CBS Sports and more – Baldé’s dedication to increasing representation and accessibility to the BIPOC community remains top priority with the announcement of his non-profit organization – Figure Skating Diversity and Inclusion Alliance, to which he co-founded.

Having begun skating at the age of 6, Baldé remains an inspiration to young boys and girls around the world, hoping to bring the figure skating sport back into mainstream culture. He aims to inspire young boys to pursue their passion and not be afraid to tap into their artistic/emotional personalities, while more importantly, Baldé hopes young BIPOC skaters can look to him to feel like there is a place for them in this sport. Elladj Baldé is fluent in three languages – English, French and Russian.

In 2021, Elladj co-founded the Skate Global Foundation — an impact-driven global not-for-profit organization built on three major pillars: Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), Mental Health and Climate Change.

Follow him on Instagram and TikTok for more: @elladjbalde