Next up in my Q&A series is Nicole Pacelli, better known to friends and the women’s roller derby community as Nikita. Nikita was gracious enough to take time out of her day on a beautiful Saturday to talk with me. We talked about being a woman of color in a sport, roller derby, that is demographically a white dominated space and also is seen as a white sport, which erases participating minority women throughout roller derby. We also talked about bi-racial identity as it relates to operating in a predominantly white space, being black in punk rock and how women, especially women of color, are expected to bury their physicality and aggressiveness even within full contact sports.

[There’s a point right at the beginning where I try to jokingly show bias towards Nikita’s league, The Chicago Outfit, and she is much too diplomatic to go for it. Nikita may be a presidential candidate in 2018 is what I’m saying.]

There will be no transcription for this Q&A, unfortunately, due to time scheduling restraints.

*This interview has been edited for length and clarity.*

Music by: Sole2Dotz