Rodney Mullen revolutionised skateboarding. He was a geeky teenager who was obsessed with maths and engineering and applied it to skating before become one of the most important – and successful – people to have picked up a board.

Rodney was the sole inventor of the majority of modern skateboard tricks, he invented the flatground ollie, the kickflip and the 360 kickflip. Mullen won every freestyle contest he entered, except one when he was ill, and he was picked up by Powell-Peralta and joined the infamous Bones Brigade. In 1989 Rodney left the team, joining Steve Rocco and starting up World Industries. Mullen was co partner and was instrumental in the companies success, making many key decisions in the aesthetic, project management and branding of the company. In 2000 he applied for a United States Patent in support of the innovative design work he had done on skateboard trucks and decks and his work was granted full patented status.

Rodney’s intelligence allowed him to have a stake in skateboarding beyond that of a normal skater, he was now showing people how to skate and what to use to do it. Then, in 2002, World Industries was sold to Globe International for a whopping $46 Million and Rodney became a multi millionaire overnight.

Since his companies sale , Rodney has become a renowned public speaker delivering speeches about the skateboarding community, innovation and turning a nerd into a business leader. Rodney and the rest of this group are living proof that if you stay true to what you believe in you can achieve your wildest dreams.