Featured Branch: THE LITAS MILWAUKEE
JUN 1
The Litas Milwaukee: @thelitasmilwaukee
Photos: @jason.kewley, @evelbunny
With 272 Litas Branches worldwide, we meet so many amazing people with their own Litas Story. The Litas was founded on the simple idea of being an inclusive community for all womxn who ride. The connections we have made as a global collective are all because womxn like you decided to take part in something so special to us! You have heard of the saying “it takes a village”...? This totally applies to our collective and running your local Litas branch. Shout-out to all you branch founders and those who make The Litas happen near you!
Today, we would like to introduce you to Angel Lilac of The Litas Milwaukee. We asked Angel about how she found The Litas and her journey to becoming a co-founder of The Litas Milwaukee.
Q: How did you discover The Litas?
Angel: On instagram, I scrolled upon an ad for an all-women's moto campout called Babes Ride Out 6 in Joshua Tree, CA. I attended alone as a brand new rider and not knowing a single woman that rode motorcycles. I felt it was an opportunity for me to finally meet fellow women riders. I attended the campout alone but left with 15 to 30 new friends, which many had declared to be part of an all-women's moto collective called The Litas! They suggested I apply to my local branch and I did just that. Then I became a San Diego Lita.
Q: Who are your branch founders?
Angel Lilac @lilaclaflor
Michelle Perez @motomomslp
Kaleigh Strickland @kalstrick
Q: What brought the founders together?
Angel: I moved to Milwaukee, WI in 2019 and naturally became a Milwaukee Lita. 3 months later, the founders at the time branched off to create another Litas branch closer to them, so 3 new Milwaukee founder roles were needed to be filled! Michelle Perez is one of the most active and senior members of the Milwaukee branch, so she became 1 of the 3 new cofounders. I was asked next by the collective to become the 2nd cofounder for my passion for riding and the moto community. Kaleigh was on her initial year as a rider but was asked to become the 3rd cofounder as she made a great impression with her activeness within the branch and for both her motivation and leadership skills. Initially started as roles needed to be filled, becoming co-founders for The Litas Milwaukee had connected us into a newly formed incredible friendship with each other.
Q: What are some challenges that you have overcome as a collective?
Being taken seriously by the moto community. It seems we had to put in more than average effort to be acknowledged and taken seriously in Milwaukee. We are not a group of girls who just take photos on motorcycles- we actually ride them and care about supporting our local community. Another challenge we overcame was improving our relationships with local motorcycle groups. We now have a great relationship with other groups and even collaborated with them for rides & meetups.
Q: What does a typical meet up or ride look like with The Litas Milkwaukee?
Angel: For a ride, we meet at the Harley-Davidson Museum campus. We say hi, catch up with each other, and a co-founder will hold a safety brief before beginning the ride. Our rides can range between 45 minutes to 4 hours, depending on our goal for that day- whether it'd be to improve our riding endurance or just relax and enjoy the scenery. We can go in all directions away from the city of Milwaukee, but we normally end up at a destination that has yummy food and drinks!
Share your branch’s greatest success thus far.
Angel: Our greatest success would be the influences we had in both changing the stereotypical perspective of what a ‘typical’ motorcyclist is and pushing women riders to the forefront of Milwaukee's motorcycle scene. I'm proud to say we have a diverse group of women in our branch. Women of all races, ages, career paths, sexual orientations and relationship statuses, but with the shared passion for motorcycles. We've had local Milwaukee businesses reach out to us wanting to take part in pushing women riders to the forefront- whether that'd be through hosting our bike nights, sponsoring our riding events or reposting our social media posts. This past International Female Ride Day, we collaborated with The Milwaukee Rivets in hosting a ride to bring awareness to this special day. We had over 50 women riders register for our ride; and even more riders, including men, joined us at the meetup point!