Accidental activist, Co-founder of the Venice Surfing Association, former Hollywood talent agent, twice-elected Land Use Planning Committee Chair, Certified Breathwork Facilitator. Alix Gucovsky's path defies easy categorization.

From organizing surf contests and beach cleanups to fighting for historic preservation in Oakwood, she's spent years deeply embedded in the work of protecting Venice's soul and creating space for the next generation.

We sat down with Alix to talk about building the VSA, what makes Venice worth fighting for, why local action creates lasting impact, how breathwork might just change the world—and the beauty secrets that keep her glowing through it all.

She also happens to look stunning in our UPF50+ Long Sleeved Uluwatu Surfsuit, and rocks the Newport Bikini Top paired with Bondi Bikini Briefs.

VSC: You've been instrumental in building the Venice Surfing Association from the ground up. What drove you to co-found the VSA and how do you see it preserving Venice's unique surf culture for future generations?

AG: My husband and I, pre-COVID, used to coach the SSS. We were asked by parents to coach the SSS high school and middle school surf teams, which was great—we love the kids. But because Venice didn't have a surf club, and because we couldn't have contests on our beaches, we'd either drive up to Ventura or go down to the South Bay. After the kids would graduate, there wasn't any continuity. And then COVID happened.

Another one of our community members, Ben Cohen, whispered in my ear about wanting to start a surf club. Around the same time, some other parents wanted to restart surf coaching. Guy and I felt that just coaching high schoolers and middle schoolers was great—but it didn't offer a more cohesive, bigger picture. And so that's what started it.

Every surf community in coastal California has a surf club. Venice was the only one that didn't. And we have such a rich history of surfers—even though the wave is sort of meh—we've had some really incredible surfers come out of here, like Noah Hill, Beck Adler, Yves Bright, Johnny McClure, Solo Scott, Allen Sarlo, Rick Massie... I'm sure I'm forgetting a bunch of names. There's such a rich history of surfing in this area and I'm very much community-oriented—I really love building and engaging communities. Even before the VSA, my husband and I both had a lot of history being involved in and serving the Venice community.

Our dream was to inspire the next generation of surfers, to create competitive sport for kids and families to be part of together. And also to create ocean advocacy and the ability for these kids to form friendships, travel up and down the coast, and experience all the amazing things surfing has done for both of us.

VSC: The VSA runs community surf events like the Breakwater Open, the Northside Pier Fest, as well as community gatherings, film screenings, and beach cleanups. Can you walk us through how these events strengthen the Venice surf community and what makes Venice surfing different from other beach towns?

AG: I think Venice is a really interesting place because we're in Los Angeles, the hub of the entertainment industry, tech, and so many other fields. And there's this ongoing tension between old Venice and new Venice, what was, and what is—and how they coexist side by side. I don't really want to get into a commentary on that, but I do think it gives Venice a very unique flavor.

What I've noticed, and what my husband and I have learned from running this organization, is that people are desperate for community. Cities can be incredibly lonely and fast-paced. But at our events, you'll see kids, parents, adults—friends coming together. Everyone's either out on the beach, at the party, or at the screening. And I get emails from people saying, "Oh, I met new friends here," and then I'll see them on the beach together. Or I'll watch some of the young kids who just started out and are now surfing really, really well.

There are so many positives. After every event, my husband and I come home, look at each other and our hearts are so full of gratitude. At the end of the day, humans are communal creatures, and when we unite and do things together, as a community, we're stronger.

VSC: You have an incredible surfboard quiver. Most of your boards are shaped by Guy Okazaki, Venice icon and your life partner. What's the story behind your favorite board and how does surfing boards shaped by Guy add another layer to your connection with both the waves and Venice itself?

AG: My husband breathes in and I breathe out, so I feel like he always knows what I'm supposed to surf on and what I'm supposed to do, that's just a special magic of being together as long as we have. I don't think I could tell you what my favorite board is, you know, because like sometimes I just want a longboard and I want to go surf San Onofre and just glide, and there are times I want to jump on a mid-length and at other times I'm really into my shortboards. I just love being in the water and catching waves with the right board for the right break. But all my boards are special and most of them are pink!

VSC: You've had a fascinating career arc from Hollywood talent agent to community leader and breathwork facilitator. How do the skills from your WME days translate to your current passions?

AG: This is something I've thought about a lot. Even in my WME corporate days, I always had a part of me that was very spiritual and into mindfulness practices, whether it be yoga or psychedelics or all the different paths to that.

What I've learned is that being drawn to the healing arts—it's not mutually exclusive. You're not either in the healing arts or you're corporate. Both can exist simultaneously, and there's a need for people in the healing arts that can speak to lots of different types of people. Maybe my path is to use my background in corporate, my understanding of corporate, to speak the language of mindfulness to that world.

I think everything you do in life is additive and leads you somewhere. If I asked my insecure 17-year-old self, "Is this where your life was gonna go?" I would have never imagined that. I would have never imagined my career in Hollywood. I would have never imagined living in Nicaragua during COVID times. I would never have imagined getting into breathwork. I would never have imagined doing business development in China. You don't know what's coming, but if you keep putting one foot in front of the other and you keep an open mind, what comes in is pretty freaking amazing.

VSC: You recently became a certified Breathwork Facilitator. What sparked this transformation? Was it something you discovered for your own wellness, or did you see a need in the community?

AG: I'm going to go a little bit woo here. I had this really corporate life and post-COVID I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do next. I love blockchain and crypto and trading. One of my dear friends is a breathwork facilitator and she kept inviting me to class. I kept making excuses and she said, "when you're ready to come, you'll come."

So I took my first breathwork class a little over a year ago, the day after my birthday. True story—it was like a switch flipped. I was getting so many intuitive downloads. My body felt good. I felt a really deep sense of calm, and that calm persisted in the days that followed.

Here's the woo part: I remembered that I'd had an astrology reading done several years prior and the astrologer highlighted that I don't have a lot of air signs in my chart, or personal planets, and suggested that I should probably do breathwork. I didn't really think anything of it until I did this breathwork class. And then of course my logical brain kicked in and I thought, oh, this is just a fluke. So I did it again and it was an equally profound experience. I kept doing it and over time I felt compelled to learn more.

The type of breathwork I was doing is a shortened version of holotropic breathwork, conscious connected breathwork, spiritus breathwork, it has a lot of different names. As I continued the journey I learned that there are different ways of manipulating the breath for enhanced cognitive ability, resetting your nervous system, energizing you. Breathing is part of our autonomic nervous system, and yet it's the only system within our autonomic nervous system that we actually can control. And I think that's empowering.

I want to use this as a tool of self-empowerment for other people. I'd really like to bring breathwork into corporate spaces because my belief is that if we have more embodied leaders with more regulated nervous systems, that will ripple out—better change, better products, better corporate culture in the world.

I hope to be part of a movement and community that looks to create bits of positive change, bit by bit. I feel the same way about how I shop, starting the VSA, all these different things that ripple out. I don't think our psyches were meant to live in this world of constant stimulation and news and fear. So what do we do to counteract that?

It's a new path and I'm excited to see where it goes. I'm hoping to work with Concrete Queenz and show those girls some tips to use breath before they skate or compete. Maybe not the deep stuff, but there's a whole spectrum to pick from.

VSC: Your skin looks incredible. What's your secret? Can you share your daily routine with us? And what specific products or lifestyle choices keep you glowing?

AG: I'm a little bit of a skincare and biohacking sort of wellness fanatic. I don't claim to have all the answers, but I really believe strongly in clean beauty, all natural products, I don't use things with parabens or sulfites or synthetic fragrances.

I pretty much always use a vitamin C product in my arsenal. I don't really use acids on my skin because I want to keep the natural microbiome of my skin intact. A lot of moisturizer, a lot of sunscreen, a lot of facial oil.

I keep it simple, less is more for me, I don't have a seven-product skincare regime. I tend to take my makeup off and wash my face every day, exfoliate, put a compound on, a face oil, and a moisturizer. And I think if you're using good products, you can use less of them.

My favorite brand is Laurel Skincare. She's a female herbalist–her philosophy is beautiful, she talks about flowers and their soft, vibrant petals, and translating that quality into your skin. I really believe in that. I think it's important to make conscious choices about the brands and the people you support. I think that filters out onto your skin.

I think there's something to be said about being a good human in life and practicing gratitude. You can eat all the right food, use all the skincare, do the exercise, the cold plunge, the sauna, whatever the latest fad is. But if you're not actually a good human or you're not trying to be of service in some way, that will eventually come out on your skin.

VSC: As someone who spends serious time in salt water and sun, how do you protect and repair your skin from the elements?

AG: The biggest challenge for me is that I'm a redhead and I've had dry skin since my twenties. LA is really, really dry. So ensuring that I have enough fats in my diet—eating avocados, nuts, things with olive oil—is really important.

I believe in vitamin C both topically and internally so I always take a Liposomal Live On Labs vitamin C every day. That's sort of a non-negotiable for everything from cold and flu prevention to just general wellbeing. And I think the studies do show that it's really good for your skin.

I love feeling the sun on my skin, but I'm much less inclined to sit out between 12 and 3. Or if I do, I'll have a long-sleeve shirt on and just really try to be mindful, Utu Skincare's SPF30 Daily Moisturizing Face Sunscreen is my go to SPF for my face, I keep a hat on, use hair oil, things like that.

VSC: Your body looks incredible. What's your secret to staying in shape and surf ready?

AG: I have this belief: number one, always listen to your body. Number two, you need to change your workout routine almost every decade.

I've had two back surgeries and I used to dance, so I'm constantly adjusting my workouts, lately I've really been into primal flow-type movements. There's this amazing trainer called Elise Joan. She's also a women's longevity expert, I recommend following her tips and checking her out. She did a program called Body Lava, it's 20-minute workouts that are primal movement-based. I also love the in person classes at Primal Moves Venice.

For the last eight, nine months, I haven't even really been lifting weights. I've just been doing these primal movements. I'll do some barre workout with maybe some very light weights. And that seems to be what my body is responding to.

I think functional movement is really important. In surfing, you're twisting and turning on unstable surfaces. So those are the things I look to. And I'm also looking more into rest and recovery now too.

VSC: What does Venice really mean to you on an emotional level? Are there moments or places here that anchor you, remind you why you fight so hard for the neighbourhood?

AG: I think when I got into land use in Venice, believe it or not, that really anchored me here.

The Oakwood community has this really rich history, and I've been fortunate to meet some of the elders there—Jataun Valentine, Laddie Williams, Dr. Naomi Nightingale. When I learned the history of the struggle in Oakwood and the history of the church—and by the way, I fought for that church before it was trendy to fight for that church—it really resonated with me.

I'm almost fearful to say this because of the anti-Semitism in the world, but what resonated with me is this: the Jewish people have been discriminated against. I'm not particularly religious, but I thought to myself, you would never take Anne Frank's house and turn it into a McMansion for a wealthy person because that's a part of history.

Obviously everyone's like, oh, Venice is cool and hip and all the things you hear about Venice. But when I really learned the history of the community from people like Dr. Nightingale and the stories of the church, and even my own husband—his family is Japanese and they couldn't buy property or live in certain parts of Los Angeles due to anti-Japanese sentiment. Where we are in Venice was considered the other side of the tracks, and my husband's father and the other patriarchs in that community really worked to beautify it. Those are the things that really anchor me.

When you think about Dogtown—obviously Dogtown has been very talked about and commercialized—but Dogtown arose from kids who grew up in, for lack of a better word, abject poverty. And you had just incredible visionaries in the community, like Jeff Ho, who invested in these kids.

What I hope, tying it back to the Venice Surfing Association, is that this next generation of kids, as they grow up and have families, will want to continue to make sure we have this intergenerational connection. That the stories continue to get told. That we continue to take pride in our community, not just because we live here, but also for the world to come and see this and understand this.

VSC: Having been elected twice as Land Use Planning Committee Chair, you are at the centre of Venice's ongoing tug-of-war between development and heritage. How do you balance protecting our surf and skate culture with realities of growth and housing? And how has your role helped you champion conservation, especially when it comes to preserving our ocean coastline and beloved surf spots?

AG: I became an accidental activist. A developer started building on my street with no permitting—no demo permit, nothing. I kept going to the city for help, and that's when I realized the corruption surrounding development. The last straw was when this developer cut down the oldest, tallest tree in Venice, planted by my husband's father. It was a nesting home to Cooper's Hawks. I'm a big animal person, so I had a full-on meltdown.

I never set out to get into land use and planning. I worked in entertainment, I surf, and then I started paying attention to what was going on. We were at the inception of the problems with Airbnbs where people were getting kicked out of their rent-stabilized units that were being turned into basically party housing and hotel housing.

Venice is already the first or second densest beach community in California. We have 40,000 people living here within four square miles, and we can get 60,000+ tourists on weekends. And so what is the breaking point for that?

We can't fight the environment. You're already seeing people struggling to get insurance for their housing, and we know the Hyperion plant is already at capacity.

I'm not anti-development. There are areas that can accommodate some density, but when we build it has to be thoughtful. What does sustainability actually look like for a coastal community? I would argue that it's not just about how much do we build, but when we build, what does that look like and how does it serve the community? Are we creating community spaces, gardens, pocket parks with inviting architecture? Or just huge concrete buildings in the flight path of migrating birds that maximize developer profit without serving the people who live here or respecting this sensitive environment?

There are good projects and bad projects. We need growth, but it has to make sense for this environment and this community.

VSC: Looking ahead, what is your vision for Venice, both as a surf community and as a neighbourhood navigating change? How do organisations like the VSA fit into that future?

AG: It's such a loaded question. I would say this: change and progress are inevitable and they're scary, I get that. I'm not a believer that cities and communities should stay frozen in time. Cities are living organisms. So the idea that we just keep everything as it was is neither realistic nor practical.

My husband talks about the fact that everybody forgets the days of heroin dens and rampant crime. But with that being said, I don't want to see this turn into a transient, soulless community. There are some who would like to see this turn into Miami Beach. And I definitely don't want to see that.

If you pull up a view of Venice, you can see Santa Monica built up to our north and the unincorporated part of the marina built up to our south. And this is sort of the only area that's not overly tall. I think it would be really unfortunate if that happened. We have some incredible architects that have done some really interesting things here. I don't like all of it, but it's interesting. And people come to see that spirit. So I think maintaining that is important.

And then the last thing I would say—I don't know the answer to this—but just because it's now a hot, trendy spot to live, I don't want to see it dominated by billionaires with other people forced out. Just building housing with three or four affordable units, if that, is not the way to maintain or create equity. We have to decide that all of the characters in this community are of value.

For example, we're really lucky, Pam Anderson is the widow of Scott Anderson, she always gives the VSA a scholarship fund to ensure that any child or person that wants to compete in our contests but doesn't have the financial means to enter is able to do so.

I think there are a lot of discussions about this. The challenge is that we have different thoughts on how to get there. And what I wish is that we could put our brains together and actually figure out meaningful ways to do this.

VSC: If you could leave our readers with one piece of advice, what would it be?

AG: My greatest joys in my professional and personal life have been in community work, whether in my community here or in my other community in Nicaragua.

If I could leave with one message, it would be to be a part of your community. Be involved, know your neighbors, learn about the history of where you live. Get involved with an organization. It doesn't have to be ours, but it's really rewarding.

You expand your ideas, your vision, your knowledge, and it is the communities that make Los Angeles great. Not the politicians, the communities, the people that send their kids to school, the people that have small businesses, the people that are running marine mammal care, the people that are running these small nonprofits, the people that are cleaning the beaches. They're the ones that make the city amazing. And we need to refocus and we shift back to that.

Alix Gucovsky is proof that you don’t have to choose one lane to make a lasting impact—you just have to show up, consistently and with care.

Whether she’s paddling out, holding the mic at a council meeting, or guiding a room through breathwork, her work echoes far beyond the waves. Venice doesn’t need more hype. It needs more humans like Alix—rooted, awake, and radically invested in community.

If you want to get involved with the Venice Surfing Association, learn more at vsa.la or follow along at @venicesurfingassociation

To explore Alix's breathwork offerings, visit @quantumleapbreathwork And for those interested in following her journey across surf, community work, and wellness, find her at @beachbubbles94