📝 Intro + Interview by Greg Navarro
📷 Photos by Greg Navarro, Kevin O’Dell & Mike Heikkila
Jeff Cecere is a filmmaker (Triple Or Nothing, This Is A Window, Mind How You Go) from Connecticut and raised in Florida, who is the creative behind the new board brand, Guest Room. I sat down with Jeff on a park bench and made a call to Caleb McNeely, the second part-owner of Guest Room to discuss the origins of their newest project ahead of their inaugural video, It’s All Perfect.
How did you two meet?
Jeff: Caleb and I met on a WKND trip in 2019 when they came to Miami. A couple years later, I moved to New York, and was filming for Huf.
Where is home for you these days?
Caleb: I did a stint in Los Angeles and then in New York as well, and finally decided it was time to come home and lock it down, live here [in Virginia]. Living in big cities has always been anxiety inducing for me. So, I wanted to tone it down, get a normal job and do that whole thing.
Back in 2025, you made an Instagram post formally quitting all your sponsors. What was going on at that time?
Caleb: I was in a dark place with skating in general, going back and forth with knee injuries. There wasn’t time for me to figure everything out. And that was my money for rent, you know? I was freaking out about it. I already had my qualms with skating in the industry, and that solidified it. The Instagram post might have been a little – I let my ego get the best of me. I think it’s good for people to hear that stuff and make it more personal.
Caleb McNeely, Ollie by Kevin O’Dell
Was the response from your friends positive?
Caleb: I would say probably 95% of it was positive. But a lot of the people that influenced me growing up thought differently about it at the time. I felt there was a loss of the ethos of what it means to be a sponsored skater nowadays. Like a lot of the things [required], you needed via Instagram or TikTok, whatever the company’s request of you is not what I had anticipated. My whole life has just been, “Okay, film a video part.” That’s the way I wanted skating to stay in my mind. Stepping away from that was to get back to that feeling.
Who is running Guest Room?
Caleb: Me, Jeff [Cecere], who’s going to be doing the videos and creative direction. And then we have Kevin O’Dell. He’s a jack of all trades, making it happen.
Jeff: It was something that Caleb had been talking about for a while. When he quit his sponsors, he would vent to me about what he wanted to do. And then naturally, I found myself helping a little bit with directing what would be cool.
Mark Humienik, Jeff Cecere and Zac Gavin by Greg Navarro
What are you doing differently with Guest Room?
Caleb: There were all these people around me that were so amazing at skating that I felt needed something to bond together and be able to put out projects that we like. I just wanted to put together a group of people with a similar take on skating that I feel we’ve underrepresented or overlooked in the past. It’s every kid’s dream to have something of their own, and it felt like a proper time for me to do that. [Guest Room] is a unifying factor to take this into our own hands and make it what we want. Corporate shoe brands are controlling every aspect of skating now. And it just makes it sad. I feel like [this team] needed something to adhere to.
Jeff: Our team isn’t stressed about filming Instagram clips. Skating is supposed to be fun. It’s not supposed to be content.
That’s a bold thing to be doing right now.
Jeff: When you are locked into the skate industry, you have obligations with your contracts. It’s how companies stay afloat. But I think that’s what drives a lot of people away from skating for bigger companies.
Mark Humienik, Backside Nose Pick by Greg Navarro
Who is the initial roster?
Caleb: Mark, myself, K.J. Thomas, Jake Cortez, Jay Pitser, Zac Gavin, and Daniel Ravenel. [Daniel] is a bit of an undercover boss. If you watch any of the old Venue skate shop videos, he always has awesome stuff in those.
I skated with the New York guys the whole time I was there and made a good friendships with them. People down here like K.J., myself, Daniel — we all live in the same area and they all rip. Jay is from North Carolina, and I’ve known of him forever.
I think everybody has a similar mentality. We love to fix spots up. I think tradition is all very important to everybody. All of these guys kind of flew under the radar a bit, which is the coolest part about them.
Jay Pitser, Front Nosegrind by Greg Navarro
You mentioned “the ethos of skating was lost” when you were sponsored, what is the ethos of Guest Room?
Jeff: It’s a culmination of like-minded skaters that were struggling to find something to skate for. Everyone who skates for Guest Room is a special skater. And I think that’s what it has going for it.
Caleb: I’m not going out there to try and outdo anything. Rather, I want to stay true to myself as far as making videos with your homies. Just skate together, go on trips, fix a spot or two, film it and put it all together in a project. I don’t want to speak too far ahead into the future, but we want to have a revolving door of people who are involved graphic design-wise. I want to give other people a chance to do something they weren’t able to.
Jeff and team making a spot by Greg Navarro
When is the right time to start a new board brand?
Caleb: I probably picked a shitty time to do it, but it’s something that was also needed. There was a quote from Chad Bowers, along the lines of “a ten-year time frame” of how long a company can maintain its relevancy. I feel like new people need to be put into the spotlight. So just pull the trigger, I suppose.
Zac Gavin, Pole to Pole by Greg Navarro
What is this brand most influenced by?
Caleb: It would be super early WKND videos and early Polar videos where you can really feel the dynamic of that team.
Jeff: It’s not any different from how I make videos on my own. I always go back to my favorite videos, like Mindfield and early Polar videos.
KJ, Board Slide by Kevin O’Dell
Should skate videos have intent?
Jeff: A [skate] video sometimes feels a little mundane. When I get about halfway through [filming], I start to feel that this is going to turn into something special. I’ve been in this loop of skipping over videos that come out. I think people are trying to pump out videos too quickly, all just to meet this quota. Obviously, videos can’t take five years. It now just lacks the potential of what you can do with the skate video. If you have a team of amazing skaters, why can’t you make a really good video? B-roll, the little moments and music are all vital parts of skate videos. If I wasn’t able to choose those things, I wouldn’t even want to make skate videos.
Zac Gavin, Nollie Bigspin Stall by Greg Navarro
Caleb: Definitely moreso an allegiance. I don’t think there will ever be any sort of conflict with those guys. I’m with Will [Rosenstock], John [Rowe], and Gilbert [Crockett] pretty much all the time. They all live in Richmond. The Guest Room trips have adopted some of those guys, and it’s honestly such an awesome vibe to be around.
Mark Humienik by Mike Heikkila
What’s your view on the skate industry right now?
Caleb: I think there’s a bunch of little companies popping up that give me hope as to where the directions are going. And I also keep hearing that kids are using social media less and less, so that also gives me a bit of hope. I think it’s always going to end up where the cards are not in our favor. Once you have to please the investors, then it all becomes a little bit whooped. I think we’re seeing that now a bit with Converse. And I’m sure you’ll see it with more companies down the road.
If kids are using less social media does that help skateboarding?
Caleb: I feel like kids don’t really have an incentive to actually skate if they’re getting all the content they could ever need from it on the internet. It’s like, why be a part of it when I can feel a part of it from my couch?
Jay Pitser, Kickflip 5-0 Stall
Is skateboarding still cool?
Caleb: I think it will always be inherently cool. It’s not as cool as it was ten years ago. Hopefully it dies a little bit and has a bit of a rebirth. I try to be a little more positive about it these days. I need more of a fresh outlook. I think we know too much about everything going on, and that it’s fun to keep the cards close to your chest.