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Marco Henry Negrete
57 Plays2 years ago
This week we welcome the journey man Marco Henry Negrete to the podcast. We talk about the release of the Sole Savy shoe, his hustle and what motivates him to keep going. His love for kicks and when it all started, also how he started in the sneaker business. Trusting himself to make it after college, and finding out how to do what you love as a job. Great episode this week!
Got a my kicks story? email us at myfirstkickspod@gmail.com our IG is @myfirstkickspod
Where to find Marco:
Socials: @marcohenry
Check out Sole Savy: https://solesavy.com/
Podcast Linktree: https://linktr.ee/myfirstkicks
Music by Gordon Bombay: https://thegordonbombay.bandcamp.com/
(Cop something and tell him we sent ya!)
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Transcript
Introduction & Episode Tease
00:00:11
Speaker
What's good, everyone? Welcome back to my first kicks. I'm your host, Haas, and this is episode 96, man. And this week we welcome the amazing Marco Henry Negrete to the podcast to talk about his history with kicks. And man, it's one hell of an episode. Super freaking fun. We go back and forth to share stories. And I'm very excited to get into
00:00:38
Speaker
his journey and bring it to you in this format. And we start from the beginning and to where he currently is. We jump around a little bit, but man, it's one hell of a story. I'm hoping to have him back more because we only did really touch the cusp of everything. We got a little bit in depth and little specific spots. And it was just like really fun to unpack a lot of stuff that he he was able to do within the sneaker industry and what
00:01:07
Speaker
what really fueled him to get into this and to help create a community like he is with Soul Savvy. So, I mean, I'm very excited and it's crazy. Like we are down to four more episodes until we hit episode 100. And I can't wait to tell you who the guest is.
00:01:36
Speaker
But we're going to save that for another episode just
Community Gratitude & Sneaker Culture Reflection
00:01:40
Speaker
to tease this out a little bit longer because next week we have another kick talk. It's going to be kick talk volume four, which is crazy. We're up to volume four already of that as well.
00:01:53
Speaker
And this week, that week we will have a returning guest that you are all very familiar with. He's, he's opposed supposedly the three time champion of the podcast, but it's a really good, it's a really good episode that you're going to hear this week. And I'm very excited for, for what we're going to bring to you next week as well. As we count down to episode 100, when
00:02:19
Speaker
We unleash one of my all time guest that I am thrilled to be able to get. Thanks to you all that are listening to this podcast. No, I'm still not going to say who it is, but but you know, I'm just going to tease it out a little bit more.
00:02:44
Speaker
First off, I have to extremely just want to be super transparent that I'm extremely grateful for every one of you all that are listening to this podcast. It started off as just an idea and I've been consistent with it because I want this to be an actual thing. I want this to bring in
00:03:06
Speaker
and be spread as a form of what the sneaker community can be and what we can become again because this is what we once are. Everybody who's been on here in some sort of fashion has been brought in to a community that was raised around sneakers and its appreciation for sneakers.
00:03:32
Speaker
I don't know if you are following me on Twitter, who is Haas on Twitter, with the underscores. I do a lot of, once a month I get into a back and forth with Russ Bennington and Russ Benxton, I wanna say his name right, so.
00:03:47
Speaker
And, you know, this week we got into, you
Marco's Professional Journey in Sneakers
00:03:50
Speaker
know, what is, we ended up breaking it into what is the community now and why it doesn't exist and how retailers are just, you know, poaching on this. And then I got into the idea of what a grail is and, and, you know, I, I'm, I'm big on grails and, and I will constantly defend them. I, I, as in to be a higher
00:04:13
Speaker
Part of or of integral part of your collection in terms of what it means to you Because that's what's gonna keep you in This hobby, right? You know, everybody has that one comic book You can still continue to conduct comic books and still continue to read the new arcs But when once you find that one, you know, I
00:04:35
Speaker
mint condition detective number one something crazy like that that you remember reading it as a kid or hearing about it as a kid or just the origin of your favorite character like these are things that I feel we have in the sneaker community but right now we aren't just
00:04:57
Speaker
you know, giving it much of an actual solid meaning. And I want to bring at least that back because I've got into it with a couple of people about Grails and their understanding of what Grails are. And I think, you know, if we don't kind of just band together and redefine
00:05:17
Speaker
the things that were defined already into a better meaning to what the retail landscape is like now, then a lot of people are just going to come in and come out and not want to stick around and actually join and partake into what we do every week or what we do every year or what we do.
00:05:36
Speaker
once a year that we spend a lot of time trying to find or trying to get or just like just searching like this is what this is about sharing our stories sharing uh what it be what it is to be a sneakerhead and what the thrill of the hunt means um you know my interactions with Russ on Twitter are
00:06:01
Speaker
something that I extremely just feel very privileged to be able to have as somebody who was a big fan of his. Please follow him. But also please follow Marco. So here's my after vice field with please follow Marco on all his socials, which are at Marco M.A.R.C.O. Henry. Make sure you check out Soul Savvy at Soul Savvy dot com. And you know where to find me. I am who is Haas on all social medias.
00:06:31
Speaker
Follow the podcast at my first kicks pod hit me up with a my first kick story if you have a my first kick story To add my first kicks pod at gmail.com
00:06:44
Speaker
and follow the TikTok. I'm still trying, I'm still trying to get some more content on there. And that's my first kicks, just straight up, no pod. I hope it's not all confusing, but shout out to everybody who finds this podcast. Shout out to everybody who continues to listen every week. We are grinding. We are persevering. I am continuing to be as consistent as humanly possible. I know I'm lacking on the socials, but we're getting there. We're getting there.
00:07:16
Speaker
So onto this week's episode with Marco Henry Negrete.
00:07:35
Speaker
Hey, Marco, welcome to the podcast. Amen. Thank you for having me. No, big honor. I had DP on for an episode. Had Jimo on it since he because before that, Jimin was like, you have a DP on. I got to be on the episode. But now I got to have you on Marco to two tough acts to follow, man.
00:07:55
Speaker
I mean, listen, you know, I got really lucky just being able to add you on LinkedIn, but a very big honor to have you on. And you can talk about kicks, but for people who aren't familiar with you, give a little synopsis about who you are. Yeah, of course. My name is Marco Henry Negrete. I am.
00:08:14
Speaker
Based in Los Angeles, I work for Soul Savvy. I lead our content and our PR there. I've been at Soul Savvy for about a year and a half. Before that, I spent four years at Nike World Headquarters. I worked at Jordan Brand, first on their global PR team, and then second on the global editorial team. Before that, I was in New York City working at Complex, working on Complex Sneakers, working on sneaker shopping, working on Complex Style.
00:08:39
Speaker
just really fully immersed in the sneaker media space. And then a little bit before that, I got my start as a sneaker blogger for finish line. So I've been working in the footwear industry for most of my career now, six, seven years now. Yo, that's amazing. I mean, it's crazy how I mean, first of all, it's crazy I'm able to get you on this podcast because that that resume is bananas.
00:09:04
Speaker
Like for you to get to, for you to be able to do all these things and then end up, and now with soul savvy, like also still creating content, great content as well. Um, it's just amazing and I feel extremely honored to have you on. Hey man, I appreciate it, man. I'm always happy to chat about sneakers. As we were saying earlier, like this is, you know, lucky enough to get to do this every day. So anytime I get a chance to meet somebody new and share some stories, I'm all game for that.
00:09:31
Speaker
No, yeah, I mean, especially like today and because I'm pretty sure, you know, this is coming out the week after this week, but like this today has been the craziest day for sneakers and dealing with the, you know, Kanye. And I mean, like we don't really talk about current events on here is more about you. But like, I just is is interesting how, you know.
00:09:52
Speaker
Soul Savvy was able to put a sneaker out and, you know, Adidas is now having to pull all their sneakers because of what one person has done. But I think it's interesting, you know, and I feel like we should highlight the Soul Savvy shoe because I just I find it to be a great looking shoe. But also, you
The Space Jam 11s Obsession
00:10:11
Speaker
know, you put in tons of work on it, too, as well. I appreciate it, man, the SS4, which is right here.
00:10:17
Speaker
We're talking about off camera but it was a project that we decided to really push ourselves and see you know as a tech company what would a sneaker look like if we were able to work with some of the top designers in the world you want Justin Taylor.
00:10:33
Speaker
And release it in a way that was unique to the soul savvy community, our subscribers and then in the web three world. So it's been out for a few months now. And man, it's just been like, again, I never thought that I worked in sneakers. I've worked at the brand or a brand. And, you know, I was never in the design room for any of those shoes that I got to work on or the shoes that I love. And and quite frankly, I wasn't sure if I ever was going to be. I'm a content guy. I'm a PR guy. So to be able to get an even deeper behind the scenes to look at how a shoe comes to life.
00:11:03
Speaker
especially one, again, like just released in a very unique way, non-traditional, not a major brand, not a footwear brand was a crazy experience. So if anybody wants to learn more about that, just Google Soul Savvy SS4. We have tons of storytelling and interviews online. If you, if you want to figure out how we were able to take an idea over zoom during the pandemic and then build it into a shoe and make it in the U S at Garykson Studios in Philadelphia. It's a cool story. Check it out.
00:11:32
Speaker
No, yeah, it's a great story. Listen to the podcast about that too. But we're here to ask you, and this is about you, the question that we ask everybody every week, and that is, what's your first kicks? What's that first pair of sneakers you absolutely needed to have? Yeah, there's a lot, man. There's a few stories that come to mind. I tell the Royal 2001, Air Jordan, Air Jordan 1,
00:11:58
Speaker
One colorway story the most because it's my favorite shoe of all time and it's it's a pretty funny story but that's so i'm gonna tell everyone today that's actually before that this is back to like ninety six ninety seven and they share one thing in common in.
00:12:14
Speaker
I didn't get them but it had an impact on me so i am seven years old eight years old spaceship just come out and my godmother you know she's taking me birthday shopping so this is april space champion at the end of the year before that i'm going to.
00:12:29
Speaker
every sportswear store. This is, I grew up in Southern California, Ventura County. Um, so we, you know, we have the mall and we had mostly sportswear stores where you'd go shopping, sports, LA sports, Mart, even big five sporting goods, places like that is where you would go buy sneakers. They carry Jordans there. Now we're like,
00:12:46
Speaker
back full circle where like Dick sporting goods carries, like Yeezys and stuff. But like for a long time, you wouldn't get, you can only get performance stuff there. And we didn't really have, we didn't have boutiques back then, right? So I'm going to every store, whether it's full locker at the mall or sports, shell a sports mart, and I'm going up to the, to the employees and I'm saying, yo, like I need,
00:13:04
Speaker
the shoe that jordan was wearing in space jam and they're all looking at me like yo this is nineteen ninety seven so like sneaker culture as we know it today isn't isn't anywhere near how it is right or what it was like back then so they have no idea like they're not they're probably not sneaker people and they're like yo what is this kid talking about our basketball shoes over there.
00:13:25
Speaker
They probably don't have any Jordans on the rack or maybe not the one I'm looking for. But I was hyper focused. I said, no, have you seen the movie Space Jam? They're like, yeah. And I'm like, the shoes he's wearing. And they're like, I don't like we don't remember, kid. Like, like, how do you not get it? It was the craziest shoe I'd ever seen in my life. It's the scene. He comes out. They win the game, blah, blah, blah, blah. They beat the monster. And like they're looking at me like I'm crazy in my mother's pie. Like, OK, well, you know, we'll go try the next store.
00:13:51
Speaker
Now you walk into a store and you ask for a Space Jam, every single person who works in that store, whether a sneaker head or not, are going to know what you're talking about. And I know they don't have that shoe, right? Like I'm telling you, nobody knew it was. So I'm chasing this Jordan 11. I'm calling it the shoe from Space Jam before the nickname, right? Cause then in 2001, 2001 they drop in, it's the Space Jam Jordan. Now we know that it's the Space Jam Jordan. Back then it was, again, the 11 had just come out. You had the, the, the, the iconic colorway is the, whether it's the Concord or the bread.
00:14:20
Speaker
Right. And and you had this movie prop. And so, yeah, I went all day looking for this shoe. And the only description I had, I couldn't pull up Google or, you know, a sneaker blog or Instagram and go, you have this shoe. So I'm going everywhere. And, you know, I probably go over five at every store, which again, like it would have been a miracle. First of all, as the shoe was now, yeah, but to even find an 11 or a Jordan. So but I would use that shoe. Right. And in my head, the way shoes work is like if I saw on TV, then they should have a store.
00:14:49
Speaker
So it didn't work out. I remember my consolation prize, um, cause it was my birthday and she still wanted to buy me something. Uh, bless her, her and my Godfather. So, uh, I ended up buying a Jordan Jersey, a champion Jersey, the black, the black colorway, like the old stripes. Yeah. No, no, no, not the stripes. I always wish it wasn't all the stripes because that one was like, you know, like that's like the cool, like the one year that everyone always asks for the stripes. No, no, no, but it was the black one. And man, I had,
00:15:16
Speaker
I wore that jersey all the time. So it wasn't the shoes, but it was like, that's how big MJ was to me at that age. That's how big space sham, like I already loved basketball, I already played basketball, but I'm seven, right? I'm not taking the game that serious, but space sham had just come out. So this is like the part of my life that's like, where, who I identify with and what I want to be and everything cool. It's kind of revolving around this, like,
00:15:40
Speaker
the MJ and basketball culture. So the story of my first kicks, at least impression wise.
00:15:48
Speaker
would be, would be that Jordan 11 space sham story. So obviously we, I didn't get it 2000. I didn't get it either. Cause I was still a kid at that point. And I might've even like kind of forgotten about it by that point. Like it wasn't like it is now where you're reminded, Oh shit leaked. It's coming out next year. You know, by then I was 10 and I was probably, you know, Focus on something else. But as I got older, um, yeah, it started to become more apparent to me that, that, that shoe and that memory that I had from such a young age was the space sham 11. So in oh nine,
00:16:15
Speaker
I, um, I camped out for these probably at the same, um, either the same mall or the same version of
Career Challenges & Achievements
00:16:21
Speaker
the mall in the same town, which are California. Um, so that was in college by then. And this is the last shoe that I camped out for. And, um, it was the coldest night, uh, uh, of the year, which, you know, no one's going to cry for me. It's the coldest night in Southern California, but that's like 60 degrees, right near a beach. And I camped out for these and like, um, this was like,
00:16:43
Speaker
Easily the biggest purchase of my life like to that point from a sneaker standpoint because there's that shoe that like again The seven-year-old version of me wanted now in 1920 and and I got them and then you know We all know what the spaceship grew to become This was a big moment for stinker culture and then obviously the return a few years ago Was massive broke a bunch of 90 records. But yeah, this is the shoe my first kicks and
00:17:08
Speaker
Yeah, let's give the listeners a little rundown of what the Space Jams are. The Air Jordan 11 retro Space Jam made their first on-court debut in 1995 during the Bulls playoff series against Magic Johnson. But the Space Jams didn't become legendary until their appearance in the 1996 Space Jam movie where Marco was sitting in the
00:17:29
Speaker
in the audience cheering them on. When Jordan wore them during the final game against the Monstars, the colorway wasn't officially released though until 2000, it instantly sold out. Due to its popularity, the Space Jams have also seen retro releases in 2009 and 2016. I think, I mean, listen,
00:17:57
Speaker
in New York City, because that's where I'm from. The space jams went crazy. If you weren't getting a pair of space jams, you were just, you were not the hip kid in the school. Like people would just be like, nah, man, we ain't talking to you. Yeah. I mean, you had little Wayne with the hellos to Martian space jam Jordans. Like it's just owning everybody's Facebook statuses at that point. It was just, man, it was like, again, even the version, the year that I got it, like the 2009 pair,
00:18:25
Speaker
Like it was a big deal to me. And now when I zoom out, it was such a big deal for the industry and for sneaker culture. That was the first year that Jordan started doing the consistent Christmas day, 11 drops, which it still happens now. Um, and it's become basically the.
00:18:43
Speaker
Pinnacle moment every year for Nike from a sale standpoint we think about two million cool grays and what was it however million concord so it's interesting you look back at the moment sending back to your life and you realize that like so many other people and entire industries are experiencing those in their own way at the same time and it all kinda comes full circle so yeah definitely a special shoe that about that all that i'll cherish forever.
00:19:07
Speaker
I mean, it's interesting, definitely. I think it's like, to be honest, I'm not a big fan of the 11s. I just think they're just like, they're just like, to me, it's just a very cumbersome shoe, right? In terms of just like practicality for me, but I'm also like a size 13. So it's just like,
00:19:24
Speaker
every shoe is just like it has to be about like lightweightness and not be about like how bulky this but I think like the 11 is a very bulky shoe and I never I never jumped into it because I was and I was also just like a very big Nike SB kid like I just jumped into that and it was just like it's either Nike SB's or I'm not buying Jordan's or nothing I'm not buying anything else but like once I started like getting into George and stuff like that I did eventually get a pair of 11s and then I was just like yeah this is this validated that I do not
00:19:54
Speaker
enjoy Levens. I got the Carolina Blues. I waited in line. I won a raffle. So I think this would even make me not like it more. I was at Times Square for Locker Times Square and then I won a raffle, but the raffle wasn't
00:20:14
Speaker
the raffle was to guarantee my pair but apparently a ton of people also won raffles so we were standing in a line to pick up the shoes and i spent six hours to just to get the the pair of carolina blues and then
00:20:29
Speaker
I finally get them and I'm like, damn, I paid 210 and I'm like, working a retail job. So that already hit me. And I was just like, all right, fine. And I get them and I'm like, man, these are heavy. And then that was it. Like, I don't know. That was like, I don't think, listen, what were you thinking when you were waiting on that line?
00:20:48
Speaker
Well, to me, it was just the coolest. It was the it was the coolest shoe to ever exist. And at that point, it just it truly felt like I was I was hours away from from from like a dream come true. That's how big it felt to me back then. Like I remember just being excited. We get there like, oh, shit, we're like bit in line. Like it was me and my roommate from from San Jose State. We were down for the holidays.
00:21:14
Speaker
And I just remember like it was just it was just it was my first pair of 11s. And man, I wore those things like you couldn't tell me anything when I was wearing those man, I just felt like I mean, these these exact shoe now they're squeaky and they're falling apart. But I have the 2016 version to that I think I've probably worn once or twice like I'm with you now like 11s, having aged with the way that I dress or just speakers trends in general, right? Like people are much more into like a leather rubber sneaker right now or like a runner.
00:21:40
Speaker
11 is so polarizing, you know, I still consider the 11 the greatest basketball shoe ever made, but not from a performance standpoint, but like just from like an impact standpoint. But yeah, it definitely I can like it's really interesting crossroads right now. And I was talking about this on the podcast, soul savvy podcast a couple weeks ago with gmo and DP, my first kicks podcast alumni. And
00:22:04
Speaker
This is this year, like the Cherry 11, right? Like this might be the first year since the 09 Space Jam where they kind of started this whole holiday tradition that it's at risk of not selling out. So I mean, with that, though, I think there's also still that stigma of like of them losing all the boxes in whatever that happened with like a bunch of people stole a bunch of the 11s.
00:22:32
Speaker
You know, in that in that shipment. And then and then I think like they're missing the buildup and maybe they're way back to that is getting, you know, teams wearing it or like the marching band. We saw the marching band that went viral. Yeah. Like, I think maybe it'll get it'll get there again. But yeah, I mean, depends on the mistake of the 11 is a crazy rollout. Like when I think about my.
00:22:59
Speaker
favorite moments working, working at Jordan, like the 11 is always like, that's like game seven, if you work at Jordan marketing or anything like that's, that's, that's where you bring your a game. So we had some, some really, like, I mean, you start the rollout months in advance, you're having Jordan 11, let's just say bread 11 meetings in August and September and in your,
00:23:21
Speaker
you're doing all the storytelling, it's an unfortunate year for them to have a new colorway where you can't lean on the space jam or the Concord history. So it's going to be a tough one for them. The last time I think we were in that situation or the brand was my first year in 2017, we had the two, which is both, but it worked. It was the win like 82 and then the win like 96, the all red and then the white and navy for the Carolina color.
00:23:51
Speaker
You're basically, but you were still leaning on MJ moment, the cherry one. I'm curious to see what they do just as a storyteller, right? They're going to have to find a way to connect that to either him or to something that's going to resonate with people. So, um, the embargo lift for that is usually in November, but I think they went a little early this year or they've been, but yeah, I'm curious to see how it's going to go because I know how serious that rollout is to, to everyone at Nike, not just Jordan. Like that's a huge, huge, um, release for the entire Nike Inc. Um,
00:24:21
Speaker
I mean, you just, you just reminded me of, do you remember the rollout for the Johnny, Johnny Kilroy's? Yeah. Oh man. I need that to be honest. I need them to do another one of those where they just like make up a fake story and then have shoes that go up with the fake story. Like I need another one of those.
00:24:39
Speaker
I saw a tweet the other day. I can't, which I can remember who it was from. I want to say it was, it was, it was, uh, Nate Jones. Um, like the Jones NBA is, I think it's his handle, but he, he was comment. He was complimenting the LeBron 20, like the LeBron versus father time. And he was just, Hey, I missed this like lightheartedness, like, like, you know, like these funny commercials. Cause like secret culture got so serious for a while. Oh yeah. Brands rightfully so are leaning into more,
Sneaker Culture Insights & Career Advice
00:25:07
Speaker
um,
00:25:08
Speaker
more important stories like from a community standpoint, but that doesn't mean that there's not room to have balance with a little bit of fun, right? Or some amazing stories like, yeah, I'm with you there, man. I miss those stories that just made you laugh and created a little moment in themselves, even if it wasn't true.
00:25:26
Speaker
I'm very curious, like, oh, so what, what was your path always to sneakers or was it just like, so at some point they just all clicked for you? Well, I think anybody who genuinely like is a, is a sneaker person, like
00:25:42
Speaker
unless you were maybe a designer or I know some like some diehard sneaker heads and friends who were like, yo, my goal was always to work at Nike or whatever. But see, like I didn't know that those things were possible. So I studied PR in college. I was the first person in my family to go away to university. I never met anybody. I never even heard of the word PR or like the industry, right? So, but then- Are you first born, who is it? First born? No, first generation, first generation. And let's say the right.
00:26:11
Speaker
a little bit second, technically, my parents, my parents grew up in the states and my same town. My dad moved to the states when he was really young, and then my mom was born here. But like parts of their family, like we're both big families are kind of like back and forth between
00:26:28
Speaker
they're in Mexico. So like they grew up definitely like first generation in the States. Um, and then, and then I came in, uh, second generation. And again, was the, was the first one afforded just like the opportunities to, you know, thanks to my parents and my family to be able to like go away to school and study whatever I wanted. Right. Versus like, you know, having to go straight to work or do like things that my, the sacrifices that my family had to make. So.
00:26:50
Speaker
When I got there, but I didn't know like I didn't go there thinking like this is 2007 when I get to college I didn't go there thinking like okay I'm gonna do this this I'm learn marketing and I'm gonna work and like I already loved shoes but it wasn't like I wasn't connecting the dots between I was still kind of stuck in that mindset like You got to either go pro or become some sort of entertainer to like work in these cool industries And then I realized interesting You know what I mean?
00:27:11
Speaker
You're not going up like hey i want to be marking specialist for my gear you won't be signed to make it right in any realize like it's probably not gonna be possible like for most people so it was my path at all even in college like i always wanted to work on i can i kinda like put that on my list and i used to like read.
00:27:31
Speaker
a bunch of hip hop blogs, right? And all right. And two dope boys and all these like I said, I said, like I was in college during the blog era, right? 2007, 2008, 2009. And the blog era is not just sneakers, it's hip hop too. Or it's not just hip hop, it's sneakers too. People, people always talk about the blog era for hip hop, but there's also the blog era for sneakers that, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know,
00:27:51
Speaker
came before YouTube and came before social. So I was coming up and I was consuming all this information. And like in my head, I was like, y'all would love to like, imagine being the guy who gets to write about sneakers for hypebeasts. Like I would, like, I would love to do that. But I was like, I'm not a writer. I was a PR guy. I didn't study journalism. I studied a little bit of writing, but like, I never saw myself as a writer. So I never thought of those. Like, I thought these people were like, oh, they went to, you know, journalism school at NYU. Like, like, like,
00:28:18
Speaker
The super like pipeline right? Yeah, you can't just like start blogging. Like I didn't think that was a thing. So the answer is no. Like I blogged a little bit like casually just because like I was taking some new media courses and then I went to school in the Bay Area, San Jose State, and then it's like in the heart of Silicon Valley, right? So it's a natural next step if you graduate there.
00:28:39
Speaker
to just go into silicon valley for me i moved to san francisco because i wasn't an engineer so i was like i want to move to the city and have an exciting agency job i worked in my study p.r. it's kind of like a like you're working to go work in an agency and maybe in house eventually so i worked in p.r. and i worked in tech for like two or three years and i wasn't like i didn't love it but at the same time in the back of my head i wasn't like damn i should be working at
00:29:03
Speaker
Nike right now are complex because I didn't think I was qualified to work there. For me, I was like, I just love shoes and I love basketball and I love clothes, but I'm not, I wasn't like, I didn't, I didn't think I had a specialty that would allow me to work at these places, at least not yet. Now I know, like if you're, if you know how to do this, like in your passion about this, you can connect the dots back then. I didn't. And at the same time, the industry wasn't what it is. Like now a lot of these jobs didn't exist. Um, even like.
00:29:29
Speaker
from like it's a lot of it is just, it's just great timing. So I worked in tech for a few years. I was living in San Francisco. Um, he, you know, has some cool jobs in tech, but it just, again, it wasn't for me. My last job in tech was working at Twitter headquarters. The dope, I was working on an advertising team, which is, um, which is allowing me to be a little creative, but also still kind of rooted in sales. And that wasn't not, that's just not my personality. No. Yeah. Get me out of numbers this fast. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not a numbers guy. Right. So I, um, but.
00:29:56
Speaker
I got I tell the story all the time too so I'm going to spare I'm going to spare the listeners but I got really lucky, I was following a bunch of older writers, writers who are writers from complex who like a few of them moved to finish line at this time, you know if you're in sneakers you remember finish line going hard on the finish line blog they're really getting to the content they're really smart and have the game for for a traditional retailer.
00:30:15
Speaker
If you're looking for riders, man, I was like, Oh, here's my shot. I have this like blog, like Marco Henry dot wordpress.com that I started in college. And you know, every now and then I would, I would, I would like, I want to get some words out right now. I'll go talk about this Kobe that I like, or these did this whatever shoe. So I sent him that he gave me a shot and then, you know, I was able to start just immediately started working.
00:30:35
Speaker
my eight to six job at Twitter and then get off of work and just go home and write. Like they would just send me, Hey, for this week we need these 10 posts and like, really? Like this, this doesn't feel like work. I get to go write about like all these different brands and shoes. And I was just, you know, just a blogger writing a few paragraphs for each, but I was really starting to like, Holy, Holy, this is fun. I'd rather do this than what I'm doing at work. And matter of fact, I like this so much that I'm going to work all day and then do this when I get home. That's how much I like it. So after like a year, year and a half doing those two jobs, I was like,
00:31:05
Speaker
Damn, you know what? I should just try to do this. I didn't know that I was qualified to do this. Now that I'm doing it, even though I was freelancing, it's like it was a full-time job. I was like, shit, the next step is me figuring out if I could do this. So I quit my job and I moved to New York.
00:31:21
Speaker
No job, nothing lined up. Just like, Hey, the city of dreams. As soon as I move out there, this is funny that we're talking today. Cause after this, I'm going to go play basketball with my boy, Brando, uh, Brandon Edler, who was like the head of like brand guests now. And he was at finish line for a long time and at complex before that. So he was one of those guys, him, him and Nick involved that I kind of followed.
00:31:43
Speaker
from complex to finish line. And then they gave me like that finish line look like without knowing. I was just about to say shout out Nick because I also had him on the podcast as well. Nick is an absolute legend, man. He's a big guy who who.
00:31:54
Speaker
was the first guy to just to open that door and invite me in and give me that chance. And Brando as well. So when I get to New York, like right when I get there, Brando's like, yo, do you have time for a call? I think I might've still been in San Francisco, but I was already planning to leave. It's like, yeah, I forgot to cut our budget. Like Nick, like I think Nick already had left by this point. So now I was expecting like all this like freelance money to be coming. It wasn't a lot, but it was enough to like, you know,
00:32:16
Speaker
to give me, I can move to New York, crash on a couch or whatever. And then I, at least I have like some work. It's a lot easier to find work when you have work, right? Anybody who's ever been looking for a job knows that. And, you know, I've been in that position multiple times. So I'm like, oh, shit, now I lost my thing. But luckily I had connected with like to Twitter is like where I connected with Nick, Twitter is where I connect with Brando, Twitter is where I connect with all these people. And like, like that was like, especially back then, sneaker Twitter was like,
00:32:44
Speaker
It wasn't like it's blowing up so much. It's actually its own thing now, like sneaker Twitter. Like that's not what I'm talking about. I'm just talking about people who are talking about sneakers on Twitter back there. Maybe they're saying there's probably some overlap, but no, I think I think I definitely think because like I've had a couple of people on and they were talking about like, yeah, sneaker Twitter was crazy before. You can kind of just like get access to people. Like I was like, I'll be talking to dudes who like worked at like
00:33:07
Speaker
Did cool stuff in the streets and like it was just like it was much smaller back then so you can kind of hit somebody up like you know that was a dope article and you have back and forth somebody and it's like oh cool and it's super cool at the end of the day we both just love shoes he just got there and then i am appreciating his work one of those people with john marcello who heads up which report kicks now.
00:33:25
Speaker
Um, and, but back then he was working at complex. I had been following his journey a little bit too. And he has done a lot of, written a lot of stories that I enjoyed. So we, we had gone to DM and found out he was from San Jose, which is where I was going to school at. Long story short, he moves to New York. I'm like, yo, congrats. He's like, yeah, I took this job at complex after freelancing. I get there, I call him up and.
00:33:43
Speaker
i was like i just saw an open role complex for freelance writer monday through friday seven pm to midnight news writer. You can give me a you think you can get me an interview is like i got you so i had this whole year and a half of finish line by lines so it really gave me a but i had no media experience so.
00:34:00
Speaker
He was able to connect me with the team at then. And then I met some cool people and they gave me a shot. And then I kind of started just being a freelance writer there, but that's a long freaking way to answer. No, I didn't see this. It kind of just happened. And I got, and I met some really cool people, but I wasn't like somebody who was growing up like, Oh, I'm going to.
00:34:20
Speaker
the working campaigns marketing campaigns but i don't know that those words a long way a long way to say it but now i manage this kind of listings route i liked it and then i got really lucky timing wise where the times i was looking to make a move. There is some things
The Thrill of Sneaker Collecting
00:34:37
Speaker
open and there are some good people that don't connect me to them.
00:34:40
Speaker
Yeah. So like, how were you able to, to get sneakers or were you just like somebody was, I mean, I'm talking about like finish line days. So like, were you given sneakers to talk about or was it like, what is the process? Cause I do not know. It was more so than just relying on my ability to know sneaker history or to research well. So it wasn't like, you know, this wasn't, this wasn't Pulitzer prize. Um,
00:35:05
Speaker
Nominated work, right? This was this was me. You never know you maybe you should know your name one time Never never never claimed his pole surprise You wrote about the venom green tens I dropped in 2014
00:35:22
Speaker
But for me, it was more so like, okay, there's a venom green 10. I remember that it was the first blog I ever published. And I just felt like, holy shit. Like, again, I felt like I had a byline in the New York times after that, like it was the finish line of the blog. But to me, that was like, holy shit, this feels real now. I'm going to keep my foot on the gas.
00:35:38
Speaker
So it was more so like that, like, Hey, these retros are dropping in and me, but fast flashback to college, all those years of me reading every single day, I worked on an office job in college on campus. So I kind of had a little bit of freedom to, to, to browse the internet. And my boss hated it. And I always told her like, V, this is, this is, um, this is work research for my future job. I was.
00:36:02
Speaker
joking back then, but who knew, right? So, yo, that's crazy. I used to, no joke. I would, I would, I would get to, I would get to work and I would read the entire homepage for that day of hype beast, the entire homepage of soul collector, the entire homepage. Maybe like, obviously like if the same story was written on different sides, I would skip, but so I was like, basically like going to college, but also like taking part-time courses on just like regular sneaker history. So I'm learning. I already knew she was growing up, but I wasn't like,
00:36:28
Speaker
I wasn't like an expert, you know, I just, I like Jordans. I'm like Kobe and I liked all this stuff, but I didn't know like, Oh, every single colorway of every single shoe and where you were and what color shorts MJ was wearing when they debuted. You know, I didn't know any of that, but I'm learning all this stuff. So by the time I got to finish on, I had like years and years about almost studying the house sneaker bloggers wrote about product. And then also just, you know, doing research on your own, but it was usually just like upcoming releases like, Hey, is there a Jordan Nines dropping or this Adidas superstar? Like.
00:36:57
Speaker
just make it look cool. So when we share it on social, people want to buy it. It was more like that. And it gave me a few opportunities to do some long form stuff, which was really cool. But for the most part, it was break product, product login. Well, what stopped you from being like, yeah, I could just make up a story right now.
00:37:11
Speaker
I was, that was the point. I think they trusted me. Plus I had an editor, right? You know, like Nick, Nick and them, like I needed to have a fact checker editor. Cause I had no like formal paid writing experience besides like college essays. Like that's the most formal was my writing experience I've gotten. So yeah, it wasn't really like they weren't like sending me sneakers to review and write about it. It was more so just like, Hey, these are the shoes that we need to promote that are dropping next month on finishline.com and in stores. And we need you to.
00:37:37
Speaker
You know, it's a little bit of history, a little bit of release dates, but for me, it was like always like, okay, pretend like this consumer has never gotten Jordan five before. I'm going to like talk a little bit about, about the, the OG design and when he wore it, and then I'm going to weave into this colorway and say, if it's an OG or save, it's a spin on something or save as a brand new. So it was a lot of, it was a lot of product.
00:37:58
Speaker
product copywriting basically. So I mean like, that's super crazy. But like, as you're writing this, are you still buying sneakers? Or now this is just like, I'm gonna just save my money up. And now, and we go into New York at that point. I wish I would have done that. No, man.
00:38:15
Speaker
I really started buying a lot of sneakers. Like, you know, like everyone has the same kind of story unless you just, I grew up like Matt rich or something. Like you get to shoot for school starts. And then for me, I get to shoot when school starts and I get to shoot when basketball season starts and then, and then the next year. I mean, you lucky. I didn't even get it. I just got, I got a school was, I got a shoe with school starts and that's my basketball sneakers. Definitely, definitely feel grateful for that. Like my parents always understood like, um, you know, what sneakers meant to me and, and, um, and.
00:38:45
Speaker
And they just always made sure that like, I think they knew from like a young age, like, oh man, like he cares a lot about this. It really gives him a lot of confidence and not the other parents didn't. I'm just saying like, I got really lucky, man. So I would get that. So my whole life I'm working on this, like on this schedule and I get to college, I get this on campus job, the summer report college, I work at finish line, spent all my checks on sneakers that summer. So like the bad habit started as soon as I graduated high school.
00:39:12
Speaker
And then I'm like, I got a little bit of money. What do I do by all the sneakers that I can? So when I got to college is when I discovered like Craigslist and Nike talk marketplace and the soul collector marketplace. So do I'm in there like every day, like I have one tab open, I'm reading all the articles and I have another town like searching in the barriers, like
00:39:32
Speaker
Big sneakerhead capital. Oh, yeah. I mean, listen, you got E-40 there. E-40. I feel like that like the Bay Area has such rich culture because of how ground to boots on the ground. Everything that somebody does in there is. Yeah.
00:39:49
Speaker
No, like, uh, people always confuse me with like, Oh yeah, you're from the Bay, right? Cause I like, I definitely like, I'm proud to have lived there for eight years in my life. And I have a lot of friends there. Um, yeah, man, like going there actually, like that's another thing that like, again, when you talk about just like timing and chance and, and like, if I hadn't went to school in the Bay area, I wouldn't want to work in sneakers right now. Cause I got to college and I already liked like shoes, like I mentioned, you know, I got a couple of pairs growing up. I love Jordan. I love Kobe. And when you get there and I'm seeing like all these shoes I used to dream about or like, just look at the back of retro cards.
00:40:19
Speaker
I've never even seen like a I don't know like some of these silhouettes in real life and then use that guy wearing true blue threes that guy wearing Bread, you know, oh one breads like where they gain all these like the Bay Area has like they they love their underappreciated sneaker sneaker community so shout out to them there because like it was there when I got there and I'm like
00:40:39
Speaker
like back then it was like what you would call like hype beast like it was like really like it was like it was just like you know a really strong era for streetwear and for sneakers like the late 2000s in the early 2010s so that that that made a big a big
00:40:52
Speaker
impression on me, but yeah, it was when I got to college, I started buying like meetups, like, you know, meet me at the McDonald's and I'm getting all like these crazy shoes that I wish I could have gone in high school, but they just like would never be on the shelves when I would go shopping, right? Like I wasn't like chasing releases in high school. I didn't have the money to do that. I was just like, you know,
00:41:10
Speaker
Like if it's in August, I'm going back to school shopping if it's basketball. So I had some really cool stories about getting shoes in high school, but not like I wasn't hunting them down, right? Like it was just whatever would be at the mall when I could go. So, um, it was, it was a college when I really started buying shoes, but after college, when I come working in San Francisco, I'm working in tech, I'm like dabbling. I'm like buying here and there. I'm still already known, like, especially in tech back then, like I'm still known as like the dude that wears sneakers, but it was, it wasn't like it is now.
00:41:39
Speaker
Like, or, or, or like it wasn't, it was like, I wasn't trying, I don't know. Like it was back when you like wake up to early Saturday to try to get a drop at the locker and it didn't get out. You just kind of move on. I wasn't like hunting down shoes after I missed them back then. Right. Um, that's what we're.
00:41:56
Speaker
What was like a pair that you hunted down on Craigslist and was able to get like, Oh man, I got some good ones. The funny part is, or not the funny part, but just like the cool part is, is a lot of my favorite shoes. Now, like from a nostalgia standpoint, our shoes that I got like from Craigslist meetups that like, maybe I didn't even want. So like that would go in this dude would be like, Oh, I have, um, these.
00:42:22
Speaker
Cardinal sevens for sale for like a hundred bucks. Like, Oh man, those are sick. I like those. And now I'll go there and he'd be like, yo, I've got these still tens. They're beaters, but I'll give them to you for like 50. And I'm like, Oh, I never had a pair of tens before. And then now I'm like, my favorite hoop shoe of all time is Jordan wise as a still 10 because, and then I took those and I used them as like my hoop shoes in San Jose. Like, so now like, and it would be like, I remember the one that, that I really like was excited about though, like out of everything was the stealth five.
00:42:49
Speaker
because going into my senior year basketball season, I dropped in 06, which would have been the fall of my senior year. My school colors were royal and white, so that's why the royal one means so much to me. That's why all the true blue, because I always dreamed about having those during basketball season.
00:43:07
Speaker
And I remember for some reason I felt so good that day going to the mall, like, yo, they're going to have these stuff. I didn't know they're called self-fives. I just knew that these white and royal blue set of fives that just dropped. And of course they didn't have them. They like, there wasn't even anything on shelves. I remember I opted for a pair of, um,
00:43:24
Speaker
What did I get that year? I think I played an air revolution. It's like high tide. I always been like retro stuff. I love air revolutions. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, man. It was in the flight 89s, man. Yeah. I was my junior year shoe. I have a really cool story. Hi. I picked those up too. Like all, all, all patent white with the role. Yeah. I got this from some party LA, like this, like really like iconic boutique on Melrose.
00:43:47
Speaker
Um, crazy, but yeah, it would have been the self fives because I hunted them down on Craigslist. I probably got a good deal on them, right? They were used, but I remember just being like, I didn't get to play basketball on these nights at school, but like they're in mind now, you know, like, it's like, it's like childhood, childhood, uh, uh, dream, like.
00:44:02
Speaker
Yeah, you get your mental checklist now and I feel like that is straight up missing now in terms of just people who collect sneakers now where it's not about going back and remembering how bad you wanted these sneakers and now seeing them for less than what you thought there would be and then getting them.
00:44:23
Speaker
Like, I think a lot of that is missing. And I wish we could bring that back. But like, you know, that's you know, that's the definition of why you created Soul Savvy to help people out and why I created this podcast also bring back storytelling. So like, I think it's it's it's very interesting how it's we're.
00:44:41
Speaker
Now we're getting into this phase where a lot of people are just being like, Oh, now sneakers are just bricking. They're just sitting on shelves and stuff like that. But like, if you really wanted a shoe and now we're, we're at this point where we're actually able to buy the shoe that you want it, like, is it really a brick? No, you just, now we have to just buy sneakers that we actually want. Yeah. We got lucky cause it like, you know, grew up pre-social media. Um,
00:45:04
Speaker
So the things that you like didn't need to be validated by a bunch of people on the internet, nor did it need to be validated by how much it was going for. You got a shoe, that shoe could be worthless to every other person on earth, but if you liked it, the internet almost eliminated our ability to feel things like that because there's always a second opinion available. I've said this before,
00:45:27
Speaker
I don't even mean this in a generational way. Back in my days, it was better, but I really true that you feel bad if you're generally into sneakers right now and you're coming up because you're never going to be able to know what it feels like to like something and not know how much it's worth or not know if people online think it's fire emoji or it's a brick.
00:45:51
Speaker
You just generally will never be able to experience that, like just that walking to the store and be like, Oh man, I want those so bad. You know, I do feel bad for them. You know, there's, there's other ways they're able to enjoy that more access than ever before. But yeah, to your point, it was a different time. And it was, it was just that feeling, right? Like it's hard to explain, like.
00:46:10
Speaker
And when you, when you, when you get something, you're like, ah, like a part of like, like, like my five year old version of myself just smiled really, really hard. Yeah. Yeah. And it's, it's, that's what I feel bad about. Like what, what's going on now, because I don't think a lot of people are getting that. Like I don't.
00:46:25
Speaker
Like, I don't think anybody who's paying whatever, whatever price you're paying for, for a pair of Travis Scott's, right? The shoe just came out a couple of years ago. You spent all this money, but you're not feeling that like, yo, I remember when these dropped when I was a kid and now I'm able to get them, right? No, we don't have like, or waiting until you get the opportunity to get them. It's all just like, oh, I want them. I just have to pay whatever price that's being listed it for and now I'd have them. Yeah. And then not to mention like who could afford that, right? Like, um,
00:46:55
Speaker
It was hard enough getting, I remember the first pair of shoes I ever got, that was $100 was Kobe, I think it was the KB2, the Adidas. And I remember being like, holy shit. That's not the toaster, is it? No, the toaster. No, the one before that. I really liked the KB2 a lot. I think it's KB2. I really liked that one. And they brought it back a few times. It didn't have the same impact on me, but I remember being like, holy shit, this is saying my mom back.
00:47:23
Speaker
But now imagine being like, oh, mom, I really want this Travis Scott shoe that goes for $2,900. Like, no, it's just not possible.
00:47:31
Speaker
No, if my kid do that, I'd be like, boy, you want to pay less. You're going to get roasted when you go to school. So like, you know, you talked about starting a complex, too. So like, well, actually, you start about you talked about moving to New York and not having enough money. So like, what did you do with your sneaker collection? Did you sell it to move to New York? Did you like, did you did you or did you go? All right, I'm still leaving this at my parents house. I'm a figure it out and then they can ship it to me. Like, what was the plan?
00:47:59
Speaker
No, man, I have such an emotional attachment to these shoes that it's so hard for me. I remember being, I got really lucky when the Air Yeezy 2 dropped for the first time on Nike.com in 2012 and I hit on Solar Reds, which felt like
00:48:15
Speaker
I got piqued as a sneakerhead because of what Kanye meant to me growing up. I tried so hard that day. I've had maybe like seven browsers open. It was the day of my college graduation party, so I had a lot of family over.
00:48:33
Speaker
And it was like you had to wait for the tweet remember this weekend yeah yeah p.m. pacific i was watching i think it was eastern conference finals or the NBA finals celtics are playing and i'm just like holy shit refresh i threw the ipad on my cousin i was like go for the platinum pair i'm getting the solar reds and yeah so crazy so like i remember there's so many times where i was like my first couple jobs in san francisco or even in between jobs like.
00:48:56
Speaker
looking at that shoe, like, like, this is back when, you know, like 10 pairs or five pairs or whatever. So yeah, kind of have them like the boxes stacked up. Oh yeah. Right next to the bed. Yeah. The little room that I was renting. And I just remember being like, that shoe could pay my rent for like the next month or two. Like I'm over here like stuff, but I couldn't do it, man. So when I moved to New York, there was actually a point in San Francisco where I was pretty down on my luck. Like, you know, my friend was my first job. I had like an internship or an agency. I was making like, like nowhere near enough money to survive in San Francisco.
00:49:26
Speaker
And then I had my little brother in the Bay Area going to school at my college that I had just graduated from. So I was trying to look out for him too. And I just wasn't making any money. I was making my checks where basically one check would be for rent and then the other check would be for all the other stuff, which by then was student loans.
00:49:44
Speaker
And all these other expenses that I had, my train commute, because I lived so far from my job, boom, et cetera. And I ended up getting ripped off on a lot of pairs of shoes that I didn't regret. Things comes around and comes around. I got on some good deals too on some stuff. But I remember I let go of...
00:50:05
Speaker
like with these white cement threes, which have always been one of my grails. I wore those around the world. I studied abroad. I have photos of me wearing those in Hong Kong. You know, like that shoe was traveled and went through some crazy times with me. That was like one of the cops I got in college. I got put like on Saturday release. I got ripped off for those. This guy told me, he's like, yo, if you meet me, it's like, meet me at the target in daily city. And, um, you know, I want to buy your threes and your nines off of you. I had like the white, black OG nines. And then I realized when I got there, he had set me up. He was like,
00:50:34
Speaker
Cause I was like, yo, if you buy the nines off of me, I'll give you a deal on the threes. But like, I can't just give you a deal with threes by themselves. It's a white cement three. And I remember like, Oh man, I don't really like my pass on the nines, but I'll still give you this for the three. And then I, here I am like, bro, I don't even got enough gas to get home. Like that was kind of dirty. So like the bad guy won that day, you know, but like, so yeah, I did, I did get rid of some stuff, but it wasn't like.
00:50:57
Speaker
You know, I was getting like, I think I got like a hundred bucks for them or something, like a hundred, maybe 150 or 120, nowhere near what they were worth. Right. And I remember just being like, yo, I need that. I need this bread. So when, when, when I got to New York, I had, you know, luckily I had a place to crash with my rent. Wasn't too crazy at one of my good friends. And then I, you know, I started freelancing right away and then I eventually, I ended up getting a nine to five. So while I was working at complex of a same thing in San Francisco, I was working from like nine to six at my tech job and then take the train home.
00:51:28
Speaker
And then log on and then write from seven to midnight Monday through Friday at complex, like just write about news all day. So, um, the whole like new to New York city to become a writer without any, any, any money didn't last very long. Like I had to get another job, but I was still able to do it. Right. So I did that for like, uh, like, no, almost a year, like maybe like nine months. And then I was able to get a full-time job at complex. And I quit that, I quit that day job. And then, um, uh, I, for the first time had had some free, some free weeknights.
00:51:56
Speaker
Yeah, for real. I mean, listen, that's a tough. How do you how do you get into being so, I guess, hustle forward on it? You know, like, like, is that part of the makeup that is you? Like, did you get that from, I guess, basketball or or was that like in your family of just like, you know, I'm going to make this work. I'm going to make this work. Yeah, I don't know, man. I think it's like it's a lot of like, just just.
00:52:24
Speaker
Sometimes irrational confidence or just like the ability, like the mindset that like, if I really want to do this, like it's only like, I can't quit, right? Like I have to figure it out. And I remember even going to New York and being like, yo, if it doesn't work out, like.
00:52:39
Speaker
I guess I could always like, you know, just move back to California or, you know, I remember even being in New York and giving up a sneaker dream. I was so exhausted, man. I'm telling you, I gotta be, I gotta be at my job in mid town at nine. And then I gotta be on calls all day, tech calls, tech sales. And then I gotta, and then I get off at six and then I have,
00:52:58
Speaker
an hour to get from Flatiron actually not Midtown to Upper Eastside where I was staying and in that one hour I had to find a way to get dinner and then also had to scan the entire complex new site and then every other new site so I don't pitch my editor
00:53:15
Speaker
I'm out wealthy at the time I don't pitch him ideas that they already wrote cuz there's a day right or two there's a weekend writer a day right nine to five writer and then a seven to midnight writer ninety-one like news is now there's weekend social people right new news is not the same way as it was back in this is back when like advertising was still in name of the game site.
00:53:33
Speaker
And I remember just being like, I was burned out by like February. I was like, yo, I moved to New York. Like I finally like got settled in. I have a job that's paying me out of freelance jobs. So I'm kind of living this double life again, like in San Francisco as a writer slash like dude working in tech sales. And I remember just being like.
00:53:50
Speaker
I don't know if I could do this anymore. Cause I'm not even enjoying life. Like I, my weekend doesn't start till 12 oh one Saturday morning, like midnight, Friday night. So I'm like, now I can't even enjoy it. My dream city. So it got tough for awhile, but then I'm again, like good timing and good people. They got, I ended up, my friend John got promoted and he was like, Hey, I want you to interview for my spa and it all kind of worked out at the end. But yeah, the hustle, I don't know, man. I just like, kind of like once I got a taste of
00:54:17
Speaker
Oh, somebody will pay me to write about shoes and to like be into shoes. Like no other job was ever going to satisfy me again. Cause I was like, even if it was like, you know, it was like that first paycheck, it was like $30 for a blog post or $20 for blog post, whatever it was. I was like, Oh.
00:54:35
Speaker
Oh, I don't ever want to go back to a job that I don't love again. So I think it was that I was driving me to, cause like I had a, like a rough start to my career. I got laid off from my first job at that agency and I kind of bounced around a little bit, ended up in sales and never wanted to do, but I was just like kind of survival mode, you know, fresh out of college. So I think once I realized like, Oh, I can make a career out of this. And then it's also like everybody wants to work in like the cool industries. Like everybody wants to learn sports and Hollywood music and sneakers, but like,
00:55:03
Speaker
Everyone that I know that made a career out of it had to be the same way, right? You gotta be the person that doesn't quit. One of my good friends, his name is Alia Santiago. He's a writer at Hype, he's now an editor there. I remember he was at a crossroads, he was living in California and he had gotten a job offer to go be a writer in New York. And he's like, yo man, I don't know, they're taking a pay cut, I'm moving to New York, rent's expensive. And I remember just telling him, I had been through the exact same crossroads. I said, listen,
00:55:34
Speaker
There's going to be two, there's a crossroads right here. You're either going to do that and pursue something that you think is cool and make a career out of it and figure it out, or you're going to spend the rest of your life and this is going to be your hobby. There's nothing wrong with that, but you're going to, you're going to be at work all day thinking about what you're going to do when you get off, or you could be at work all day.
00:55:56
Speaker
doing the thing that you actually like. So you got to pick right now because like, there's a lot of people that gets that crossroad and they're just like, eh, can't take it. And granted, this is not like for everybody either. Like not everybody can do that. Not everybody has the resources to do that. Not everybody can just pick up and go to New York. Some people have families, some people have other things in their way. But for me, I was like, if it's possible, then I don't have an excuse. So that's why that's my advice to him. Like if you're, if you're, if it's possible for you to do that,
00:56:24
Speaker
And then you have to, right? So I think, I think that's where I came from though is just like, you just can't give up and because like, there's so much competition. Yo, I mean, you're giving a masterclass right now because I think, I think a lot of people will definitely reach those crossroads. I mean, I've been, I've seen it actually multiple times where you just like, I'm like, I mean, I went to school for print, right? And now I'm working in, currently I'm working in an ad agency on digital, right? So like,
00:56:50
Speaker
When you maneuver in a corporate set corporate setting, you know, it's all about, you know, how do you make this cater to what your interests are? Are because not everything is going to start, you know, matching up. Not everybody gets that that chance to be like, you know, I get to I get to work on something that I want, like,
00:57:08
Speaker
Even if you are working in something that you do want, it's like, all right, you still have to do some extra stuff on top of that. Or like if you do something, you know, you don't get the full fulfillment of it. So you have to do something extra on top of that. Like, you know, it's all about give and take. But in order to make yourself successful, you still have to set yourself up for success. And I think, you know, like you've said it perfectly.
00:57:31
Speaker
It's crazy because a lot of people who are into sneakers, I feel like their main goal is always to either have to get into it somehow. It's tough to give somebody advice in an industry that kind of rolls with the punches a lot of the time.
00:57:53
Speaker
And it's always ever changing because you never know when something's gonna go and become a crazy commodity, right? Or you never know when something's gonna actually flop and it's on on you, right? So like, when it comes to being creative, that is so tough. And especially with writing too, because like, you know, some people are just some people like, I always find it funny because like, when you read something, you can just be in a very bad mood.
00:58:17
Speaker
and read it and be like, this person doesn't know what they're talking about. Like, but you're like, but it's like, it's like, yes, they do know what they're talking about. You just read it weird, chill out.
00:58:28
Speaker
And I feel like that's what Twitter is in general, right? So like, I mean, what is your suggestion for people who do want to do something that they love like sneakers? Like what? Yeah, like that's my question. Sorry. Yeah. My, my, the one thing that I learned is that like passion is not enough. Like passion is barely a qualification in our eyes. We think that it's the most important thing, right? Like if you're not passionate about it, how are you going to be good at it? But what I've learned,
00:58:58
Speaker
throughout the last few years of trying to navigate this industry, especially from a corporate standpoint. No one quizzed me on my Jordan knowledge when I started working at Nike. They were wondering what I could do to help that business thrive and grow. They weren't worried about my, they weren't asking about my sneaker collection. So I think we get caught up because this is our passion and the
00:59:26
Speaker
sneaker, sneaker head stuff like, Oh, wow. Like how does that person work there? They don't even, they don't even know the difference between this and that or, you know, and it's like, because right or wrong, a lot of these companies don't care about that. Like they are a business. And if you don't have a something to bring to the table outside, like there's no, there's no such thing as like full-time sneaker historian at Nike. Like, like there, there are people like, um, like the absolute legend.
00:59:56
Speaker
like who like like the people who work in um uh the dna like their yeah the archives history right like wilson but like he started off as a designer right like you don't get hired just like i i think there will be one day a job where you're just like the fact checker you're like yo was this the was this the right leather on this like no no no it's like right but for now you gotta have something else to bring to the table right like i do i would need to make like a tiktok of that yeah just really like
01:00:27
Speaker
Like, oh, this is the buttery leather, the buttery leather inspector at Nike. Like, yo, is this leather buttering up? You're like, nah, not shattered back. But we don't have that yet. So like my advice is to find a, find a, a trait that could be valuable to somebody. For me, again, I didn't grow up a writer. I didn't,
01:00:49
Speaker
I didn't think I could be a writer. I didn't study journalism. But as soon as I found out, like, okay, well, I know a little bit about writing. I love storytelling. I love brands. I love reading other people's writing. And I know all this stuff about this thing. Why not give it a shot? And it just turns out that.
01:01:05
Speaker
I started entering the career where the word content becomes the most important thing at every brand in the world. Right. So I got lucky. So we got to, you got to figure out what that is for yourself and a way that's going to be successful, whether that's, you know, design, writing, marketing, um, you know, everything else, like, like events, packaging stuff, like, like, like, uh, like there it's, it's about finding something to bring to the table so that your biggest selling point isn't on the sneaker head.
01:01:35
Speaker
Yeah, you're more of a commodity than just somebody who's appreciating everything. Yeah. You're adding value. Like I said, like I can't, I can't, I can be hired to be a full time fan of, of sneakers. Like, like, like, you know what I mean? Like, like you have to, I had to be able to bring stuff. So that's what I always tell people is like find something that you think
01:01:55
Speaker
either you're ready good at or you can get good at annual actually generally like i generally like writing is on the agenda like story time to read people's story so writing is a challenge i do not do it full time anymore for me that was like alright well.
01:02:08
Speaker
This is going to be hard to figure out, but at the same time, I'm also going to enjoy it and be proud of it. It feels cool. To me, that felt cool. And to other people, what feels cool might be other stuff, forecasting. It might be photography. It might be all these things. I think that's my advice.
01:02:28
Speaker
loving sneakers is great or loving being passionate about something is great. But I keep in mind that there are a lot of people that also love that. So what are you going to have to separate yourself from them? Yo, absolute fact. So we're at the end of the towards the end of the podcast. I also ask another another question every week as well. And that is what does the thrill of the hunt mean to you? The thrill of the hunt. Yeah. Oh, man, it's it's it's like
01:02:56
Speaker
It's at the very core of at least our generation of people who love shoes, who just grew up circling them in East Bay magazines. Like bringing me back. Yeah, you know what I mean?
01:03:10
Speaker
Like there's nothing like, dude, I have so many shoes in my closet that I was so happy to get like in the last few years. Love them. Can you never even warn them because like they don't fit my style anymore. But I wanted this shoe so bad that now that I have it, I'm like, I'm so glad that I have that. I don't regret it, but like.
01:03:28
Speaker
There's a part of me that wasn't going to be satisfied until I got that. And, um, that's great, but it's also like the thrill of the hunt is like when the shoe, like, um, the other part of that is like when, when, when you put it on me and like, like there's something about sneakers, this is going to sound match easy, but I truly believe it. Like at least through, through like the, the mindset of, of, of, of.
01:03:52
Speaker
child version of ourselves that you lace them up and it feels like a cape. It feels like you're a superhero again. It feels like you did it when you were eight years old and you're getting ready for the first day of school or you're a youth basketball game and you're like, it really has a powerful impact on my confidence. So when you get a shoe that you wanted for a long time and then the feeling matches with how you thought it would feel. There's been a few shoes where I got them and I'm like,
01:04:22
Speaker
This feels exactly how I dreamed about it feeling, but yeah, that's another one from like, that's why I think that throw the hunt is so like, that's how, or how I would describe it too. It's like that feeling of putting them on. It's like, yeah, it was worth. Yeah. And it's like a lot of these shoes, like now everything's so accessible because of how big the aftermarket industry has grown. But like there's something special about like, no matter what shoe you want in the whole world,
01:04:49
Speaker
You have the money and are willing to spend it. You can get, you can have it by next week, right? That's not what I'm talking about through a hunt. Like, cause anybody could do that. Like people that are spending $10,000 for a sneaker to flex, they're not feeling what we're feeling. For me, it's about like, like, all right, I want that shoe. I'm not spending that for it, but I'm going to keep my eyes peeled. I'm going to play the long game here. One day I'm going to own that shoe. It's going to be a trade. It's going to be a steal. It's going to be used. It's going to go. There's all these things are going to happen between now and then. But when I get that shoe, it's going to be worth it.
01:05:19
Speaker
And especially if like, again, it's too easy to just be like, Oh, just drop the money on it. Like I still like trading. I still like hunting down deals. Like the other day I, I'm staring at them right now. I finally, after all these years, got a pair of white fly knit trainers, right? Like the ones that Kanye made famous and after all these years, I don't know why I didn't get the restock in 2017. Um, and.
01:05:44
Speaker
I want to, I want to bid like last second, crazy price. Like, like a hundred dollars cheaper than I thought like the price was going to be on a buy now basis. And like, yo man, there's no feeling like it. It's like hitting the game winner. You're like, yo, I got it. So much like it just feels even better. There's no more thrill of snipe bidding. And it should be like, exactly, man. You're like, I was like,
01:06:07
Speaker
But then now every time I wear that shoe, it just feels so much better. Cause if I had just walked up to the store and got that shoe or just bought the buy now one for a ridiculous price, I still would enjoy it. But like the hunt makes like.
01:06:22
Speaker
ties, like, like as a chapter to your journey with that shoe. The first chapter might be seen it when you were a kid. The second chapter might be missing out of it when you were a teenager. The third chapter of acquiring it. And like, like now that shoe has a chapter that's like, um, that applies to your life today, not just when you get right now. It's like, like, like you have multiple, multiple chapters of the shoe. Now I have multiple chapters of the shoe. Now, like I got the shoe at 33. Like I'm so excited about it.
01:06:50
Speaker
I mean, yeah, listen, that's so like, listen, that's so dope. You spoke to buy my sneakerhead heart with
Exploring Soul Savvy Platform
01:06:56
Speaker
that. Let everybody know where to find you. Yeah, first and foremost, check out Soul Savvy. If you like shoes and you like getting shoes for retail, you know, you want to buy style and trade your shoes with no fees, then Soul Savvy.com is where you can learn more about our services or just follow us on social. We also have a drops app.
01:07:15
Speaker
Catch every restock, do not pay a restock for stuff that's restocking every couple of weeks and you'll get alerted. Literally the second your shoe is, your size of that shoe is available anywhere in the world. I just hit last week on the pair of these Jordan 1 Smoke EX lows that I wanted and man, it feels so good when you were on the brink of over being for a shoe and you get it. So check out Soul Savvy and if you want to check out
Closing & Social Media Plugs
01:07:42
Speaker
My page, I'm Marco Henry, my first two names, first name, middle name on Twitter and on Instagram. I was like, first two names. You got two names? Long story, man. We already talked for a while, but you know, I got to have you back off. We already got to the cusp, the cusp of your story, man. So I mean, listen, yo, it was great having you on everybody. Everybody check out Soul Savvy.
01:08:04
Speaker
Follow Marco, listed a podcast, listen to Soul Savvy podcast as well. And for everybody out there, you know what we say every week. Wear your kicks. Peace. Peace.