photo by Dee Wells @deewellsosd
Initially, I said no. When Stephen Green took his time to graciously invite an unknown to what I now consider one of the most important conferences in the sneaker industry, I initially said no. I was trapped inside of something that often prevents the success of many; money. I offered an excuse that this would simply be a networking event that would disrupt a week where I was making 2-3000 dollars a day. As smart as I think I am, Stephen didn’t say, “okay, thanks and I hope you can make it to Portland one day.” He kept writing every few days to say, “Do you have your ticket?” Then Drexel Rankin Scholar, Professor Sean Williams from Obsessive Sneaker Disorder inboxed me and said, “If you’re not there… you better be there.”
In my head I was responding, “Nah, who am I? I don’t even get how or why I fit into this. I’m not an insider. Everyone on these panels has accomplished these incredible things.” Almost as if he read my mind, Sean called and said, “You should be there.” Stephen had said the same thing over and over. I asked my wife what I should do. Her response, “You’ve been fighting by yourself all of these years. The universe just gave you what you’ve been asking for, a chance.” Less than a month ago I gave someone the same advice.
I got my ticket.
The African-American Footwear Forum launched with a VIP dinner on Friday night. Stephen Green was playing Lyft driver and collected everyone at the Hoxton Hotel. Prior to this pickup he took me on a tour of the PENSOLE building and Deadstock Coffee. Deadstock Coffee is housed in the same building, which is basically an entire city block, as PENSOLE.
Inside of PENSOLE art, sneaker designs from students, and a wall dedicated to founder Dr. D’Wayne Edwards’ time at Jordan Brand (as only the second Black person to work on the historic line), immediately made me feel like I was walking through a page on the internet. It felt like I was scrolling through the numerous images I had seen on websites and in the news.
Throughout the building classes were taking place. Stephen and I walked up the iconic PENSOLE and Footlocker logo stairs to the tooling and construction section of the school. I had no idea how steep those stairs were. The pictures don’t tell that truth, lol. I had a chance to speak with a couple of students and in the process of talking I started to cry. Alright, there weren’t any tears, but I could feel them coming.
15 years I’ve been working primarily as a one man team, designing shoes, packing and shipping, learning to run e-commerce, making mistakes and losing thousands of dollars. I had a car repossessed. My house went into foreclosure (I saved it), and I went bankrupt all because I loved sneakers a little bit too much. Listening to the students talk about driving across country to get to PENSOLE hit me in a way that I didn’t expect and my eyes burned.
Imagine sitting in a vehicle with the cornerstones of sneaker culture. When Stephen let me know he would be taking us to the VIP Dinner, he didn’t really explain who “US” was. In the lobby of the Hoxton was Scoop Jackson, Bobbito Garcia and Jacques Slade, and then there was me and Terrence Watson. Now Terrence isn’t a slouch by any means. He is next up in the line of incredible writers around the culture. He actually got his start working with Kool Bob Love on Bounce… and this is where things get a bit interesting. Jacques Slade is the purveyor of new media in the sneaker industry, Scoop is the OG who was writing the articles on hoops and kicks in SLAM Magazine (we all wanted to be in SLAM) when I was playing JUCO ball in San Diego and Bobbito is kind of the connective tissue from Hip-Hop, to sneakers, to the documentation of the culture via his life.
Terrence worked on Bounce Magazine. The first advertisement my partner in Sho-Shot (my first footwear company) and I ran that was a full page ad, was in Bounce. I had never met Bobbito who was co-founder with Coach Sean Couch, but I had been connected with him, and Terrence, for over ten years. With Scoop I was collecting SLAM Magazines and I may be wrong, but I have the last copy of the mag where Scoop’s name shows up as Editor at Large. Jacques Slade was indirectly responsible for me having the courage to dive into building a YouTube channel.
Where am I headed with this? Stephen collected us in a van and the stories were flying. I’m sitting in the front thinking to myself, “This isn’t real.” The dinner was more surreal as industry vets and politicians mingled. I have long said that sneaker culture is mainstream, but this was confirmation of the power and influence the culture has in a major city, but it also helped me understand how important it is to be represented at every level and in all positions of this business.
When Saturday arrived I was nervous and couldn’t sleep. It didn’t help that I was on CST. I woke up and began walking. I discovered the city and it helped me to settle down. I walked for almost 5 hours. I walked to Washington Park because I felt that I needed to pay homage to the Native Americans who were there first. I thought that the Forum was a representation of the continued struggle by Blacks and Browns that extends from Sacajawea to the women I would share the community panel at the Forum with. During my long walk around Portland I spoke with residents, ate at locally owned restaurants, took a tour of the Nike campus (someone made me stop walking, lol) and I walked around the area where the Forum was taking place at the Portland Art Museum.
Initially, I said no.
Initially, I looked at the universe and refused a gift.
Initially, I felt out of place, but then I stopped fighting and accepted what @JazzyRae said during our panel, “You belong in the room!”
I finally made it into the room and with all of the greatness around me, I didn’t feel small, or unwanted, or afraid. These individuals on the panels, industry vets, lifted everyone who attended up. We loved on each other and that shit was real and genuine and I didn’t want to leave.
With that said, I have to send a thank you to PENSOLE and to Portland, but more important I want to send an invite to anyone reading this. The invite reads:
Love each other, help each other, support one another and stop refusing what the universe gives you; stop refusing to be connected.
I love you all, now let’s get to work.