Meet The South Korean Longboarding Sensation Who’s Going Viral on Instagram

She stars in several viral skating videos that feature her graceful freewheeling stunts in the varying backdrop of streets in South Korea, and recently in several cities abroad.

In the videos uploaded to her popular Instagram account, she can be seen maneuvering the board like a pro, doing twists, turns and spins with perfect balance through the parks, open roads and intersections.

Letting her flawless footwork control the direction, speed and timing of her tricks, Ko Hyo Joo fearlessly swerves and sprints with the skill of a seasoned longboarder. Along with her impressive skill, there is a noticeable stylish charm that emanates from her every ride.

“I longboard because I find it more amusing, and it looks more stylish in my opinion,” Ko told Vogue in an interview.

Ko’s rise to stardom in the somewhat male-dominated sport is largely due to her unique brand of performance which she injects with more than enough swag.

Riding her skateboard in her miniskirts, short shorts, and colorful girly outfits, Ko’s “simple style” has also contributed to South Korea’s boarding scene.

Despite her huge social media following, Ko admits she’s still new to the fast-growing sport with only two skateboarding years behind her. She discovered longboarding in 2014 while looking for some escape from her busy day job as an UI designer for the messaging app Line. Her curiosity was piqued after she found a video of a longboarder online, purchase her first board and tried it out immediately.

“I knew it was a good idea to do it,” she said. “I then never stopped and still am going forward with it because it is purely fun.”

Her happiness is well evident in all of the viral videos that she has posted. Oozing with talent, style and overall positive vibe, the videos are indeed quite enjoyable.

One day, Ko Hyo Joo got a well-deserved boost when Korean-American rapper Kero One spotted one of her enthralling exhibitions and shared it on his Facebook wall. Accumulating over 25 million views, Ko was suddenly a global social media phenomenon.

She began to get invitations to skate in several cities around the world with Berlin, Paris, and Asia cities wanting to see her skate live.

“I did it to see how I can improve on my tricks,” she said, pointing out that being insanely popular was not among her plans when she started out.

As a non-pro, the future is bright for the talented Goyang native. “I do it mainly as a hobby. I learned that as long as you have fun with it, you will improve drastically,” she concluded.