Thrasher Magazine

Photos by Jake Darwen

Tiago opens up like never before to walk through the journey that took him from his humble home in Brazil to the top of the game. This is an essential interview from a once-in-a-lifetime talent. As seen in our January ‘25 issue.


The wait is over. Witness the full production from three of the heaviest ever

What’s up, man?
Chillin’ in Oslo. Just got done skating with Pekka, finishing this project we have been working on out here.

Dope. Let’s take it from the top. Where is Jaguariúna in relation to São Paulo?
Like an hour-and-a half drive from São Paulo.

Tiago and switch back tails, you can’t talk about one without the other

What’s the vibe like?
It’s a small city of 60,000 people. It’s a city surrounded by nature—there are a lot of trees and a river runs through it. It’s famous for being a cowboy city. They have a festival every year, the second biggest in Brazil.

Cowboy festival? A rodeo?
Yeah! Exactly.

I would have never guessed. I hear the word “jaguar” and I just think you’re in the jungle.
Yeah, we have them! The city is surrounded by trees and they are out there.

He got ‘em frontside too. Switch tail on a jungle camo rail

So how did you end up riding a skateboard and not a horse?
I started skating because of my brother, when I was like ten or nine years old. My brother just showed up one day at our house with a skateboard, and I was like, Woah, what is that? It was his friend’s. I think he borrowed it to get home one day. But he kept yelling at me, “Don’t touch that board!” Then one day he went to school or to work, and I took it. I didn’t know what I was doing—skating through water, sand and dirt—and ruined the bearings.

Damn, you had no idea.
When he came home, he was super pissed because he would have to buy his friend new bearings. But he also noticed that I really wanted to skate. 




No way.
At first, I would just follow my brother and his friends on my sister’s rollerblades. Then one day he said, “No more, that is wack! Let me set you up a board.” He went to the park and got old parts from the homies and got me a complete. I started skating every day with him. Then kite season came and I sold the board for kite parts.

What? Kite season?
Yeah, I sold the board for like 20 reais or something like that. I bought some lines, sticks and the papers to make a kite. My brother got so mad at me! He said, “Bro, never ask me for anything again. If you want to skate now, you’re going to get your own setup. I’m not helping you.” When the kite season was over, I didn’t know what I was going to do. I just kept going to the skatepark to chill, watch the homies skate and then skate on their boards when they were tired or something. Later, I got some old stuff from kids at the park and made a setup. I never stopped skating after that.

Fightin’ the big banks? Nah, Tiago occupies the big block at Zuccotti Park with a switch crook   Photo: Peters

How old were you when started going to São Paulo to skate?
I think I was like 16 or 17. The first time I ever went there was for a contest when I was 15. I went with my dad because I was kind of nervous; I didn’t know what it was going to be like. With my dad, I learned how to take the bus and metro. After that, I started going by myself and made some friends out there. A lot of the homies that I met at the contests would always invite me to come stay at their place and skate with them. After my dad saw it was cool, I was there all the time by myself. I would stay with Kaue Cossa for a week and we would just fly kites and skate all day. It was hard to stay in Kaue’s house for too long at that time because people kept showing up to skate—one more person then another and another. Which meant more food, more water and more showers.

Skaters multiply, huh?
So I could just stay at the house for two or three days then go to another homie’s house for one or two days until we had nowhere to stay. Then we started to go to this train station, São Paulo Conceição. It used to be a skate spot back in the day because it had a roof and marble ground. We used to skate the whole night and make so much noise. The city made some cuts in the marble so we couldn’t skate the whole spot anymore. But they left a little space that was a good enough amount that we could still skate. We started going there, would skate and end up sleeping there. Even the homies that had houses and places to stay would stay with me. They were like, No, no, we’re staying with you. Then we would always stay there. Skate, sleep, get up at 6AM, take the metro to downtown and skate all day. All the spots—Vale, Roosevelt, everything. Then back to the metro station when it would get dark.

How did you eat?
There was a big supermarket close by. We would just go there, steal some food and go back.

Damn, skate survival. That’s the stuff you don’t think about it at the time. Then you think back and realize how crazy it is to be sleeping in the train station at 15.
Yeah. I trip on that sometimes. But we were all just having fun. So, I didn’t realize the hard times or anything.

Who was your crew that was sleeping at the train station?
Me, Kaue, João Gabriel, a bunch of us. There was also this kid Thomas that was there. He was the youngest, but he was the most G. He was like 12, but knew everything. He showed me all around São Paulo. We were doing it for so long. Three months of doing that and sleeping at the train station then go to Kaue’s house. Just to shower, eat something real quick, change and then boom—go back again.



I remember you saying that one of the OG pros saved you guys one night.
First was Bruno Aguero. He said, “I know you’re sleepy. Let’s go. Sleep at my place, no problem.” I told him no because he was already a pro, a big name. I was kinda shy. “I know you’re sleeping on the street. It’s no problem. Let’s go.” And then I went. Got to know his mom and his family. They took such good care of me: bed, food, shower, everything. I could stay there for like one or two days and then back again to the metro.

You didn’t want to abuse the hospitality.
Then I met another OG pro, Fábio Castilho. He said, “No, you’re never going to stay in the street anymore. Every time you come to São Paulo, you stay at my crib.”

That’s dope. Were you already kind of making a name for yourself skating and like contests and stuff?
Yeah, people started to hear about me from contests. I didn’t have anything, so the contests were a big chance for me to make some money. I got so good at skating contests for a while; I think I have like over 100 trophies in my house.

It’s kind of how you have to come up in Brazil, right?
Yeah, you go to the contest to be where the skateboarding is happening and be in the scene. And like every weekend had a contest somewhere. So I started traveling all around Brazil. That’s how I got on DC, too. I did well in a contest and then they started giving me some shoes. It was the way to get noticed.

What was the first Europe contest you went to?
Mystic Cup in Prague. One year before I went to Argentina, but it’s like super close to Brazil. The year before Mystic, I went to Europe in 2010 with no money, like just my ticket.




How’d you get the ticket?
I was staying at Fábio’s house and Tulio Oliveira texted me, “Yo, I’m going to Europe. There is going to be a contest. You’ve been doing good in contests and I think you can make good money.” Fábio’s said, “You’ve got to go!” But for me at that time, it was impossible to even imagine. I literally had nothing. Then out of nowhere Fábio just got on the computer. He starts searching for passport registration, asking me all my information right on the spot to get me a passport. He took me to the place to get it and paid for it and everything. If it wasn’t for Fábio, it would be a whole different story of my life.

No way. That’s insane.
So I got my passport and then he said, “Now, you go home and try to make the money to buy a ticket.” So I went back home. I sold some random product I won from contests and made like 200 reais but the ticket was 1500. I kept asking my dad but he wasn’t having it. We would just argue and I would say, “I’m going. You’ll see. I will make it happen.” And then I asked my sister. She lends me 500 or 600 reais and I had two more. Randomly I ran into my homie, a photographer named Moska. He was talking about how he was trying to go to Europe and go to the contests. His mom was kind of worried about him going; he was older than me, like 18. His mom got in contact with my dad and she let him know how important the contests were and how good I was doing. If she was letting her son go, he had to let his son go. So finally, my dad decided to let me go. He started believing in me more and then he lent me like 1000 reais.

No bar’s too high for our guy. Boosted switch backside flip

You made it!
I bought the ticket last minute and met Moska at the airport. I had the ticket and no money at all. I was just hoping that Moska had a little bit of money and could help me a little bit but had no idea. And then boom! I’m in Barcelona. Moska already had a place to stay but I had no idea where to stay. I was just going to try to talk to the homies out there. When we got to the house he was staying at, it was all the Brazilian homies that I knew from the contest! They were all tripping that I made it out there. I asked if I could stay there for a couple of days. They asked if I had money, I told them no, but they were all cool with it. They told me that the guy that rents the apartment was traveling and that he would be back in a week or two, so I could stay there.

And were all the skaters going to the contest?
They were all there for the contest, but nobody wanted to go anymore but me.

The one with no money.
Yeah, but Moska was still going to shoot photos. I begged Moska, “Please, help me get there. I’m going to make money and I’ll pay you back.” He wasn’t having it and started getting pissed that I was asking. I don’t know, man—it was my dream. I started thinking about everybody that helped me get there and I just started crying in front of the place to buy the ticket, you know. Moska, already pissed off, just says, “Stop crying” and bought me a train ticket.

That’s insane, but how were you going to get into the contest?
That was the next mission. Tulio kept telling me to come to Europe to skate the contests, so I knew he would be out there, and he could possibly help. So, when I saw him, I expected him to check in on me and make sure I was all good because he was used to this type of thing. But he was caught up and I was too scared to ask him for help.

Yeah.
Moska started getting super mad because he paid for me to get there and they were about to close the registration and I was too scared to ask Tulio for help and he starts getting mad at me again.

Damn what were you going to do?
Luckily, Danny Cerezini and a bunch of other bigger-name pros got there late so they were going to extend the registration. So I eventually talked to Tulio and he lent me the money. So I got up at 6AM and went to Tulio’s hotel, got the money and went to the skate park.

Then how did the contest go?
There were three runs, I think. The first run, I didn’t land anything and Moska was going crazy. Like, What the fuck, bro?! What are you doing? I told him to chill, and the next two runs I landed everything. I made it to the finals with the big-name pros, finished fifth overall and took home some money.

Not just a ledge lord, he can switch back noseblunt anything   Photo: Peters

How much did you win?
Two-thousand or 2500 euros, something like that. I immediately paid Moska for the ticket and Tulio for the registration.

Man of your word.
Moska also broke his camera, and he was the main reason I was there, so I lent him some money to fix his camera. It was the least I could do.

So you’re back. Did you have extra money still?
Yeah, I was good—super chilling. The next contest was Damn Am in Amsterdam and I was able to buy a ticket to get there and everything. Then I lost it all again before the contest even started. 




What do you mean?
We get to Amsterdam all hyped. We decide to go walk around to see the city, check out the cafés and the red-light district, all that tourist stuff. We went with the homie Maizena and he had this disposable camera and kept taking pictures of the girls in the glass window. That’s a big deal out there. You are not supposed to do that. So the prostitute comes out on the streets and starts screaming at him. We couldn’t understand but could tell they were pissed and he just keeps taking pictures and laughing at them. Out of nowhere, some huge security guard starts chasing us. We took off running; it felt like we were running forever. We finally get away, and I stop in a store to buy waters and as I go to pay, I notice my wallet was gone. Where the fuck is my wallet, bro? I lost my wallet with all the money while running from the guys. We went back, jumped the same walls, the whole way back and we didn’t see anything. I was so bummed—back to zero dollars.

Damn. How did the contest go? How do you pay for registration? Did you get in because of the last contest?
I ran into Thaynan Costa. I knew him from contests in Brazil when he was a little kid.

Brazas are everywhere you need ‘em to be, huh?
We were tripping and I started telling him everything that happened. I didn’t know
what else to do so I just skated the park all day long.

Skate the park and show them that you belong there.
Thaynan lent me the money. I got in the contest and then I got first place in the qualifiers and went straight to the finals. 

Tiago books his own flight to this chest-high bar in Oz. Switch back Smith   Photo: Peters

The Golden Ticket!
Yeah, you get to go to Tampa and everything! I kept skating ‘cause I was so stoked. I couldn’t believe it. Then I rolled my ankle super gnarly.

No way.
Yeah, I couldn’t walk. My homies carried me off the course. Then, because some big soccer match was in Holland, all the hotels were full and we had nowhere to stay. We tried and tried, but said, Fuck it, and went to a train station to sleep on the train while it ran. Just got on it and just let it go through the night, until we got woken up by security guards telling us we needed to get off.

All this with a rolled ankle.
Then we just went to the contest and I skated through the pain. I skated and got third place and then second place at the best trick; it was crazy. I learned that trick that I never did in my life—never tried, just landed that day. 

What’d you do?
Front feeble varial heelflip, never done it in my life.

No way.
I won like three or 4,000 euros. So I was feeling good again, and then from there to another contest in Rome. I got fifth place there, got some more money, then we went back to the apartment in Barcelona. I met the guy that rented the house and he said, “No problem, you can stay here.” I was so hyped. I went straight to the supermarket, bought groceries and filled up his fridge.

That’s super cool.
Then I started spending all my money on stupid shit, going out at night and buying random gear—Nike Air Max—all this stuff I could never afford. Not even one month went by and I spent all the money that I made.

Nollie back 180 in our own backyard. These streets are always free to enter

Yeah.
I went back to zero and was trying to figure out my flight back. Moska said he was gonna stay. He liked Barcelona so much. This was my second flight ever in my life; I was so scared to go back by myself. Because the flight would go to Qatar again and I would have to wait for 10 hours there and get another flight to Brazil. I didn’t want to go by myself. I ended up missing that flight because I took the wrong bus to the airport. I just went back to MACBA with my bag, no money, nothing. I thought, What am I going to do with my life? Then this girl shows up. She used to be friends with the Brazilian guys I used to stay with. She was like, What are you doing with your bags here? I told her the story and that I didn’t have a place to stay. Out of nowhere, she called her mom and was like, Let’s go to my place. So I’m staying at her place with her parents. They were super cool, and even cooked for me. My three-month visa was about to expire and this girl used to come back from work and see me talking to my parents or friends tripping about how I’m going to get back. Then one day she came from work and told me she bought me a return ticket. I was so happy but also so confused. I’ll never forget what she said ‘til this day. She told me, “You need to follow your dream.” Years later, I went back to Barcelona, contacted her to meet because I wanted to pay her back and she didn’t want the money.

It’s easy to get caught up in Barcelona. Like you said, everybody went there to skate the contest but ended up not going.
I went back home and my dad saw that I was doing good on the internet. Watching the webcasts and stuff. He asked me where the money was to pay him back and I had to tell him I had no money.

Did you show him the Air Max?
I told him I spent all the money and he was so mad. But after that, things started working out. DC Brazil started giving me shoes all the time and taking me on some trips. I was finally able to pay my dad and my sister.




A lot of people helped you along the way. Is that kind of where you get it from? You always seem to be helping out your crew.
I feel like I never had anything. Everything I have now is because of skateboarding, and the people that helped me. So I always try to help and just give it back, because of the people that helped me to get where I am. Like Talles Silva, he’s been good for so long and I’ve been trying to get him to come to the US.

You always seem to go above and beyond for your crew—letting them stay at the house, buying all the meals.
Yeah, for us coming to the US is the ultimate dream. We just want to skate the spots, really, not even to make money or be famous or anything, just to be here, meet the skaters, skate the spots from the videos. If I see a dope kid in Brazil skate, I try to see if there’s anything he might need help with. Or when any of the Brazilians make it out to the US, I will let them crash at the place for a bit.

Who’s been staying with you recently? Who’s coming up next?
Talles finally got his passport and has been at the house. He’s on fire. This past summer it’s been Wilton Souza, Marina Gabriela, Leo Bodelazzi, Lucas Marques and Leo Favaro. Those are some of the new guys coming up that have been staying at the house in Long Beach.

Switch shove 50-50 as cool as the color blue

You go above and beyond though. Didn’t you buy everyone tickets to the KRS-One and Kool G Rap show?
Oh, yeah. I want to make sure that they have a good experience, you know, the same kind of experience Gerdal—Rodrigo Petersen—showed me when I first came here.

So what was your first time in the US like? How did that happen?
After Europe, I went back to Brazil and the DC global team did a tour all over Brazil and I went with them. I skated well on the tour, so they put me on in Brazil. They gave me a contract and everything. After the tour ended, the team manager told me that he was going to send me to Tampa, and he took care of everything.

Tiago fans come in all shapes and shoes. Crooks for the high-heeled homie. As seen in his Spitfire part

Okay.
I need to mention that when I was in Barcelona I met the SK8Mafia guys. I stayed in contact with Peter Smolik through Instagram, so I started thinking maybe I could stay in San Diego for two months, go to Tampa, then go back to Brazil. I sent Peter a DM on Instagram and he told me to come to SD and stay with him. Then when I got to the airport, he wasn’t there. I had no idea what to do because I didn’t speak any English. All I had was a paper with his phone number and address. So worst case, I was thinking, I’m going to take a taxi to his place and I’ll wait in front of his house. I see this guy that had a broken arm on the same flight as me so started following this guy in the airport. I went up to him and said, “Peter Smolik? Skate?” It turned out he knew who Peter Smolik was. And then I had his number on the paper, and I was showing him. Then he understands. He calls Peter and then tells me to wait and not leave. I sit there like for one hour and then Peter shows up out of nowhere—sitting in the passenger seat all the way back like a G with a blonde girl driving. The car had suicide doors. I thought, No way. Then I got inside the car and just sat there ‘cause I couldn’t talk. It was so weird. I couldn’t understand anything and then all of the sudden he’s like, Quantos años tienes? And then I understood. He took me to his place and we went to the bar.

Only a select class of high steppers can hit the tall wall at Pulaski. He’s still in a class of his own, nollie back tail

That’s why he wanted to know how old you were.
I would go to the bars with him and then have one beer. And then next day, he would want to do the same thing. So finally I was like, Yo, Peter, let’s go skate. He pointed to his shoulder like he was injured, “No skate.” On that first trip, I didn’t even have a board because it was my first time in the US and all my stuff was so old I was too embarrassed to bring it. Peter finally decides to skate and I don’t even have a board. So he took me to the Pacific Drive shop. He just waved his hand, and said, “Take whatever you need.” It was the best skateboard I ever had. I’ll never forget it: Mafia board, Indy trucks, Spitfires and Bones Swiss. I always wanted to try Indys my whole life and finally got some. We finally went skating, then we met up with Jake Brown. He took us to the DC skatepark in San Diego. He had the key, so we went to the skatepark. Just me, Jake Brown and Peter. And then I started skating like crazy, like I couldn’t stop with my new skateboard and everything. After that, we went to Jake Brown’s house and Smolik told me I was going to sleep there. Then the next day, Jake and Peter had a signing somewhere and they would be back Monday.

How did you understand?
I was there for almost two weeks, so was learning more English, kinda understanding a little better. It was also crazy because Sean Sheffey was staying at Jake’s house while I was there but I didn’t know who he was at that time. I wouldn’t say a word. He would come home, look at me, not say anything and go to his room. So scary, I was thinking, Who is this guy?! He’d come out, cook food and go back into his room.




What did you do all day while they were gone?
I couldn’t leave the house. He lived in a gated community and needed a car to get out. He didn’t have food in his house, only Monster energy drinks. His fridge was full of only Monster. So I spent the first day like that, drinking Monsters to survive. I knew that if I left the community there was no way that they would let me back in because there was a security check-in. I thought, I can’t do this until Monday. And then I started looking for a WiFi outside and I found a random one in the neighborhood I could join. It would connect for like two minutes then die.

No way!
Once I connected to the internet I saw a message that Gerdal texted me. I never talked to him ever in my life. He was asking me if I was in the US and I told him where I was and my situation. He just says right away, “I’m going to pick you up. Send me the address.” But I didn’t have it. I went back inside to look for mail for an address. Three hours later he was there.

Is Hensley still Smolik’s favorite skater? Maybe this switch Pupecki would change his mind   

No way. Gerdal to the rescue and you’ve never met him.
Him and Carlos Ribeiro showed up.

That shows where you get it from. You guys have a strong bond. You are always helping each other. I’ve been seeing it for years. It’s really dope.
Yeah, that’s why I am who I am. It all comes back.

Respect. And then what? They took you to Costa Mesa?
Yeah, they took me to Costa Mesa.

All the Brazilians! Did you instantly feel back at home?
It was so good! I stayed in Costa Mesa the rest of the trip. Gerdal took me back to Jake Brown’s house a few days later to get all my stuff.

Yeah, that’s where we met. I told everyone you weren’t gonna make it because of your XL blue camo DC jersey.
Oh my God. So bad, bro.

I remember talking to Rodrigo TX and I said, “Yeah, he’s good, but his gear is craze.” TX called it. He said, “He’s the best. He’s going to be the best out of all the Brazilians coming up. Watch.” And now here we are.
Wow, that’s crazy he said that.

Takin’ the switch front blunt for a walk down the block   Photo: Peters

Did you always dress like this? Did you ever have a hessian phase?
Nah, I started skating in 2000 and I started skating with my brother and that was the style at the time. So I’ve been skating the same since I was 10 years old.

Yeah. Now everybody caught up to you.
It’s back, huh? Finally. When I came to America for the first time in 2011 it was different. Everyone was in smaller pants. Some Brazilian skaters that used to wear baggy pants would go to the US then come back to Brazil wearing super skinny pants, drinking all crazy, smoking, having tattoos. I just decided that I’m never going to change. I remember people used to make jokes about my pants.




I was people!
It was funny because years later, I see some people who used to make fun of my pants wearing them now and I wonder what happened.

It’s no secret that you love ’90s-era skateboarding. I thought it was really dope that when we put out the 1010, your first shoe, you wanted to give all the OGs that inspired you a pair of your shoes.
Yeah, man. I just want to give the respect to all the OGs that helped shape my skateboarding. I wouldn’t be here without them as well.

He always pays respects to the OGs—and does tricks they could never dream of. Switch back noseblunt fakie flip out

What was it from that era that appealed to you so much? Who are the ones that influenced you the most?
I was a big fan of all the plaza and city skaters: Keenan, Gino, Henry, Marcus, Stevie, Kalis. You know, the ones that did dope tricks and looked good when they did them. And with the 1010, I just wanted to show love to the ones that inspired me: Jeron Wilson, Henry Sanchez, Javier Nuñez. They all still kill it too. It’s an honor to see them skate my shoe. I really can’t believe it sometimes. I also remember everyone talking about TX, and I never knew who he was. I was always asking myself, Who is this guy? TX? Finally, I got to see all his stuff and how he made it to the US and everything. I wanted to be just like him. He’s probably my biggest inspiration. TX was always number one.

Is there anything else you want to say? How was it working on this video?
Oh, yeah. I’m so happy with my part. I haven’t seen the whole video yet. I can’t wait. I started thinking about how Jamie and Brandon’s parts will look and got super hyped. Those guys have done the craziest things!

A few generous moves might’ve made the difference in his career, but talent like this is hard to hide. From a village in a jungle to the top of the food chain, he earned it with every switch NBS. Seen here on our home turf and the front of the Nov. '24 mag. Obrigado, Tiago