When collaborating with celebrities and influencers, one of the first steps BStreetShoes does after confirming with the client is to order the specific shoe the client wants to have customized.

For 2018 Interterm, I was given the opportunity to intern at BStreetShoes, a company that hand paints and designs custom shoes for customers around the world including celebrities and professional athletes. My mentor during my internship was the founder and owner of the company, Blake Barash. While my duties there included content creation, managing shipments, organizing new arrivals, customer service, and product updates, my two main focuses were marketing and public relations for the business.

My first goal was to create a newsletter that Mr. Barash could use to start his “Monthly Updates” to all his emailed subscribers to keep them in the loop and share exclusive content for new custom shoes and recent celebrity clients. It was my job to create a template that matched Mr. Barash’s company website as well as his sense of style. While working closely with him and using my creativity, I made an email marketing campaign for the company that Mr. Barash could use every month for his “Monthly Updates.”

After sending out the first email and seeing the data analytics collected, it was eye-opening to see what links and features subscribers found interesting or attractive and which areas lacked attention. Using what I had learned in my Media Communication classes and the advice Mr. Barash gave me about personalization with customers, I was able to send out my first email marketing campaign that surpassed the average CPT most companies strive for.

A selfie with Mr. Barash in the Shoedio!

My second goal was to conduct celebrity collaborations for the company to increase traffic and future orders to the website.  It was my job to reach out and contact the influencers and their managers for the opportunity to have out custom shoes promoted and featured on their popular social media platforms. I was able to successfully plan and coordinate multiple collaborations including popular YouTubers and a professional dancer.

Communicating, networking, and meeting these successful individuals really gave Mr. Barash and I new insights into how these influencers branded themselves and successfully built up a profitable enterprise. The attention gained from these collaborations with the influencers greatly increased visitors and traffic to the company website as well as social media platforms.

Having been in such a motivating and productive environment with amazing artists is what helped make my time at BStreetShoes worthwhile. Knowing the work I put into the company to make a big difference and influence the success rate of the growing business is what pushes me to want to return to BStreetShoes as well as intern for other companies and look for other jobs in order to gain exposure to how other successful companies run their business and to compare it to my amazing experience with Mr. Barash.

Custom Hand Painted Shoes

Here are some pictures of custom weightlifting shoes BStreetShoes creates for our professional powerlifters and crossfit athletes.