Meet Our Cover Girl! Nina Corniel

Nina comes from a family that is no stranger to water sports. The youngest sister of world kiteboarding champion, Ariel Corniel and Olympic Medalist Adeuri Corniel, Nina, unlike many other local girls, grew up kiteboarding with her brothers. At the age of 14, she was training for the junior Olympic kiteboarding team and just four days before the finals, she was injured in a freak kiting accident, resulting in her losing the tips of 3 of her fingers. The accident was extremely traumatic and her confidence suffered. Nina spent months at home, falling into a deep depression and became the victim of so much bullying that she even had to change schools.

In 2019, we started the Mariposa Kite Team as we realized that this sport is incredibly intimidating and isolating for the only young women of color doing this on the entire island. Nina, who is no stranger to hardship, emerged as the perfect candidate to take a leadership role coaching other local girls interested in pursuing the sport. When Nina joined the Mariposa team as the kite team leader, everything changed. Not only did Nina take back her power and regain her own confidence, she began to play an integral role in helping to build confidence and change lives of other local girls in the program just like her. With Nina there to mentor and support Mariposa girls, they have banded together and formed quite the team of brave, fearless young women. Nina is incredibly kind and thoughtful and the girls truly look up to, adore and respect her.

A shining example of leadership in her local community, we’re proud to share Nina’s success story with the world and incredibly grateful to have her on our team.