Alumni

Apparel Industry Management Grad Pens Book About Her Surfing Pioneer Mother

Apparel Industry Management Graduate Vicky Heldreich Durand is the author of a new book, Wave Woman: The Life and Struggles of a Surfing Pioneer. The biography chronicles the untold story of her mother, Betty Pembroke Heldreich, who moved to Hawaii and took up surfing at age 41, and became a pioneering champion in the mid-1950s. 

The book details Heldreich’s passion for adventure and zest for life and learning, illuminating life lessons and inspiration along the way. Durand lovingly shares the story of her progressive mother who shattered glass ceilings with her curiosity and desire to try anything exciting at least once. A love letter to her mother, Wave Woman uses one woman’s extraordinary life to help readers find their own self-confidence and happiness. 

Before coming to FIDM, Durand graduated from Punahou High School and spent her youth in Hawaii as a young surfer. In 1957, she won the Makaha International Surfing Championships, an early contest that included women. Along with her mother, the women were invited to Club Waikiki, in Lima, Peru, as Hawaiian surfing ambassadors. After graduating from FIDM in 1986, Durand received a B.S. degree from California State University, Long Beach and a M.S. from Oregon State University.

She established a sportswear and textile design company that was distributed in boutiques, department stores, and museum shops across the U.S. and taught for many years in Wai‘anae, Hawaii where she successfully pursued grant funding to start an early-education-and-childcare facility for teen parents to enable them to finish school and graduate. Wave Woman is her first book.

Categories:  Apparel Industry Management Alumni