Alessa Quizon developed from a young surfer in Makaha, Hawaii, into a competitor on the women’s Championship Tour. Her career included several seasons at the sport’s elite level, a semifinal appearance at Honolua Bay and a major Qualifying Series victory at the Sydney Surf Pro.
Her own interviews provide more than a list of results. She has explained how family support, early sponsorship and difficult educational choices helped her pursue surfing professionally. She has also discussed her preparation for dangerous waves, the disappointment that follows unsuccessful heats and the demands placed on women balancing competition with sponsor and social-media responsibilities.
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Home | Makaha, Oahu, Hawaii |
| Profession | Professional surfer |
| Surfing background | Learned from her father |
| Elite competition | Women’s Championship Tour |
| Highest stated ranking | No. 17 in the world |
| Major result | Sydney Surf Pro winner |
| Primary social profile | @alessaquizon |
Makaha and a Multigenerational Surfing Background
Quizon was born on January 2, 1994, and spent her early years in Makaha on Oahu’s western coast. She has repeatedly identified the community as her home, correcting the confusion created by some published profiles that have mistakenly placed her in Makawao.
Her relationship with the ocean began early. In a 2019 interview with Into The Gloss, she recalled entering the water at two and beginning to surf at approximately four under her father’s instruction. Other profiles have given seven as her starting age, but her first-person account supports the earlier age.
Surfing was already established within the family. Quizon said it had been part of her family for two or three generations, while her sister, who is ten years older, competed and traveled internationally. Watching that example helped her recognize professional surfing as a possible career rather than simply a childhood activity.
Her parents supplied the practical support needed to pursue that ambition. In a 2023 interview presented by Outrigger Resorts, she described her father as a truck driver who began work early and spent much of the day on the road. After finishing his shift, he would collect the children and drive them roughly 45 minutes to the beach so they could train.
Looking back as an adult and parent, Quizon said she understood those sacrifices more clearly than she had as a child. Her account presents her professional development as a family effort involving repeated journeys to the water, limited practice time and considerable commitment from her parents.
Early Sponsorship and Education Decisions
Quizon began competing when she was young, and support from Billabong gave her access to the wider professional circuit. Her accounts differ slightly on the precise age at which the sponsorship began. She told Into The Gloss that she had been with the company since she was 11, while Teen Vogue reported that it started when she was 12. The available evidence therefore places the beginning at around 11 or 12.
The sponsorship helped cover travel and other professional expenses. Those costs were particularly significant for a young athlete from Hawaii attempting to enter contests in different countries. It allowed her to spend more time developing as a competitor and pursuing events outside her local circuit.
School presented a more difficult decision. Quizon told Teen Vogue in 2014 that balancing education with the demands of becoming a professional surfer had been challenging. She eventually departed from the conventional high-school graduation route and earned a GED, giving her more time to concentrate on the sport.
It was not a minor scheduling adjustment. International competition required training, travel and long periods away from a normal school routine. Quizon connected her decision with the need to commit fully to what she wanted to achieve.
Reaching the Women’s Championship Tour
Quizon entered her first full season on the elite women’s tour in 2014. By 2016, she described herself as being in her third full year at that level, competing against leading surfers across an international schedule.
In her Into The Gloss interview, she said she had reached No. 17 in the world. Some secondary profiles have given a ranking of No. 13 or described her as a top-15 surfer without clearly identifying the relevant seasons or ranking systems. Quizon herself reported reaching No. 17.
Competition formed only part of her workload. She explained to Freesurf Magazine that women on tour also had to manage sponsor shoots and maintain a consistent public presence on social media. The combination could become overwhelming during an already busy competitive year, although she also described it as an exciting part of earning a living through surfing.
Traveling widely changed how she viewed home. Quizon said visiting different countries made her appreciate Hawaii more, while Hawaiian reggae helped ease homesickness. Makaha represented familiar waves, family, friends and an atmosphere she missed while moving between events.
Her Honolua Bay Semifinal
One of the performances Quizon valued most occurred at Honolua Bay during the 2015 Target Maui Pro. She advanced to the semifinals, competing in Hawaii with much of her family present.
When Freesurf Magazine asked which result made her proudest, she selected that Honolua performance. Although she had wanted to reach the final, the quality of the waves, the location and the presence of her relatives made the event particularly meaningful.
Quizon reached the semifinals but did not win the competition. She valued the performance because it took place in demanding Hawaiian conditions with her family present.
World Surf League footage from Honolua also documented the standard she reached during her elite-tour period. In one recorded heat, she produced three powerful turns and received a 9.20 score, offering a clear example of the surfing that placed her among the tour’s leading competitors.
Winning the Sydney Surf Pro
Quizon achieved another major result on March 24, 2019, when she won the women’s competition at the Vissla Sydney Surf Pro. She defeated Isabella Nichols in the final to secure the first major Qualifying Series victory of her career.
The distinction between the two professional levels is important. The Sydney result was not a Championship Tour event win. It came on the Qualifying Series, where competitors accumulate results while seeking access to, or a return to, the elite tour.
At the time, Quizon had not planned to spend the season pursuing requalification. The size of the victory prompted her to reconsider that approach. It offered a significant competitive result several years after her first Championship Tour season and demonstrated that she could still win against a strong international field.
Billabong, her long-term sponsor, publicly celebrated the result shortly after the final. Contemporary competition coverage likewise identified it as the largest Qualifying Series success she had achieved up to that point.
Preparation, Setbacks and Professional Discipline
Quizon has spoken candidly about what happened after a contest ended. She did not describe an immediate emotional reset. Instead, she allowed the result to settle, analyzed mistakes made during her heats and identified what needed improvement.
That review could take a day or two. Once it was complete, she returned to training, tried different boards and focused on the weaknesses exposed during competition. She aimed to approach the next event without carrying the previous result into it.
Preparation also shaped her response to large or difficult waves. In her Teen Vogue interview, Quizon explained that she studied a wave and assessed whether she could handle it before committing herself. Her approach was based on preparation rather than entering dangerous conditions without thought.
Failure remained part of the profession. She credited surfing with teaching her to pursue major goals wholeheartedly and use disappointing results as motivation to improve. Her comments described the professional lessons she drew from preparing for waves, handling unsuccessful results and continuing to train.
Her physical routine was equally demanding. In 2019, she described days organized around surfing, eating, training and returning to the water. She viewed the sport as a combination of physical and mental work because conditions could change and the ocean could not be controlled like a conventional opponent.
Supporting Women’s Place in Surfing
During her 2016 Freesurf interview, Quizon addressed the expectations facing female competitors. Alongside contest preparation and travel, athletes often had lifestyle shoots and continuing social-media duties connected with their professional roles.
She recognized that visibility carried a wider purpose. By competing and sharing her work publicly, she wanted younger women to understand that surfing was not reserved for men. Her remarks focused on representation through participation rather than a formal campaign.
When asked what advice she would give female surfers who looked up to her, Quizon emphasized persistence and personal choice. She encouraged them not to allow society to decide what women could or could not pursue.
Her support for women in surfing was expressed through her professional visibility and direct encouragement to aspiring female surfers, rather than through a publicly identified advocacy organization.
Life Beyond Elite Competition
Quizon continued to identify herself publicly as a surfer from Makaha after her Championship Tour years. Quizon has not publicly announced a formal retirement, although her documented career includes previous competition on the elite tour.
Her life later included significant family changes. She and professional mixed martial artist Max Holloway made their relationship public in February 2020 and announced their engagement on November 17 that year. They married in Hawaii on April 16, 2022, in a beachside ceremony attended by their families.
In August 2025, Holloway announced that Quizon had legally adopted his son, Rush. His first-hand family statement described the adoption as the completion of a process the family had pursued for approximately five years. The family did not provide further details about the private legal circumstances involving Rush.
As of August 2026, Quizon maintained her principal public Instagram presence under@alessaquizon, using “Alessa Holloway” as her display name. Her profile continued to identify Makaha and surfing as central parts of her public identity while also referencing Max and Rush.
Alessa Quizon Built a Career in Elite Surfing
Alessa Quizon progressed from learning on the waves near Makaha to competing through multiple seasons on the women’s Championship Tour. Early family support, Billabong sponsorship, and her decision to pursue a GED created the foundation for an international professional career.
Her documented results include a 2015 semifinal at Honolua Bay and victory at the 2019 Sydney Surf Pro. Direct interviews also explain the work behind those results: studying waves, reviewing failed heats, testing equipment and returning to training with specific improvements in mind.
Later public attention often connected Quizon with Holloway and their family, but her professional record predates that relationship. She had already reached the highest level of women’s competitive surfing and recorded a major Qualifying Series victory under her own name.