By Amanda Blackwell – Right off Hana Highway of the North Shore of Maui, a leggy bombshell blonde stands at Ho’okipa lookout, hand like a visor sheltering her gaze from the sun, squinting bravely at the horizon. A few locals walk by with friendly waves and small-talk, but anyone who doesn’t know Nora personally can’t take their eyes off her. She’s a walking cliché, a quintessential girl raised in Hawaii– tanned, athletic, sun-bleached hair. The type the younger generations of girl groms idealize, and the one the boy groms have crushes on. The attention goes unnoticed, mostly because Nora has only one priority, and that’s to get in the water. She paddles out to her home break, a slice of what’s sacred on her island in the middle of the Pacific. She’s been surfing Ho’okipa since she was 10, a late bloomer compared to the deep field of up-and-coming ladies. Yet for Nora, the ocean and her home in Maui is like a hole in the sky, the place she goes to escape gravity. Surfing is where she finds herself, separate from the shadow of her older sister, separate from her family, separate from pressures and expectations of succeeding. The grueling life of a surfer hasn’t worn on her; it’s only strengthened her love for the sport. Because surfing isn’t just part of who she is, it’s also who she hopes to become.
Nora’s story starts differently than most. Although she grew up in Maui, it hasn’t always been home for the Liotta family. Unlike a lot of surfing families, the Liotta’s didn’t move to Maui until Nora was 10. She doesn’t have the typical beginning, like most of her competitors, where they learned to surf on a Wavestorm in diapers. Nora popped up on her first wave when she was 10, and she had to be coaxed by her Mom to even try. “My sister and I had to be bribed with shaved ice to go surfing. But after that, we were hooked. We didn’t need to be bribed.” Nora’s parents were both avid surfers, where their love story began in the lineup surfing in Santa Cruz, California. “My parents were basically die-hard surfers, and my Dad was always excited about the idea of living by the ocean, surfing and teaching his kids how to surf.” When a job opportunity came for Nora’s Dad in Maui, the decision to move across the Pacific Ocean was an easy one.
Nora competed in her first contest that first year, Ian Walsh’s Menehune Mayhem at Ho’okipa Beach Park. Despite not having an understanding how contests even worked, she finished an impressive second. From that day she decided she wanted to compete and put everything into her surfing. Yet she wasn’t alone: her older sister, Anya, was also a talented grom. Just like Andy and Bruce Irons, with maybe a little less tension, they pushed each other to be better surfers. When asked about her relationship with her sister, she had nothing but kindness and gratitude to express, yet she did have a slight epiphany. Although her sister still surfs and is connected to the sport, it’s Nora that has made a name for herself. Breaking away on the competitive circuit, so to speak. “I’ve always wanted it really bad. Maybe more than anyone I grew up surfing with because they wanted other things. As we’ve gotten older, I’ve started to do my own thing, and surfing kind of gave me my own identity. I can be my own person, do my own thing and have my own goals.”
The Liotta family is a tight-knit clan, and they have played a big role in her career, with a lot of sacrifices. Nora’s Dad got a job with Hawai’ian Airlines to help subsidize airfare and travel, and Nora pays for most of the costs of contests and travel herself. While she expressed immense gratitude for her sponsors, she has yet to secure a major one. Herdad, Pete, talked a bit about the sacrifice. “She does it on her own. She works for her Mom who’s a private chef when Nora’s home, and she pays for a lot of it herself. We help her when we can. She does it [the traveling] pretty cheap compared to some other surfers.” Competitive success will hopefully change all of this.
Nora has a lot of momentum in contests. She’s been turning heads since 2021, where she finished 2nd at Papara Pro Junior Tahiti, 1st at Rip Curl’s Grom 2021 in Florida, and 4th at the 2021 US Surfing Championships at Lower Trestles. While the transition from junior level contests to the qualifying series and pro-level has had its challenges, success started to line up in 2023. Nora broke out with an impressive victory at Sunset Pro, finished 2nd at U.S. Air Force Super Girl Surf Pro, and 3rd at Haleiwa Pro. While she’s had a lot of success and has an impressive resume, she approaches all of this with humility. “Honestly, the last couple of years transitioning from being a junior into the pro level have been my biggest challenge. The QS and Challenger series have been a hard adjustment for me, especially mentally. I went through so much loss, and it was hard to find my groove again. In juniors I was around for so long and was at the top of my rank, and when I moved up to pro level I had already put myself at the bottom. I had so much self-doubt. I’m still trying to overcome my mental state, not letting it determine my worth as a person.”
Like any athlete, the mental game can be as tough as the physical, and Nora is putting in the work to improve her mindset. She’s aware of the power of positive self-talk. “Not doubting myself is a huge part of it. I try not to focus on the other girls in my heat or think about them. Everyone is basically doing the same thing, so it’s really just a competition against yourself.”
Despite the challenges of transitioning to the pro level and the financial sacrifices, Nora is incredibly tenacious. Though slightly soft spoken with a sweet demeanor, inside of her is a hungry wolf. Inside of her is a vision of what’s possible, and what’s on the horizon for her career. “I hope that in the coming years I’m proud of my surfing. You know, the end goal is to qualify for the World Tour, but I want to enjoy the process. Enjoy every moment, make friends, travel the world and live the dream.”