Entrepreneur of Impact: Neely Powell
We're delighted to introduce you to Entrepreneur of Impact Award winner Neely Powell of Charleston Shoe Company. She is one of the amazing, everyday entrepreneur heroes doing good things for the world & her community during the COVID pandemic. We hope you're just as inspired by her story as we are!
Tell us a bit about your business & how it came to be.
I started this business over 20 years ago out of the trunk of my car with the belief that shoes can be both functional and fashionable. While in Mexico with my mother where she and her partner had started a furniture business, we met a small town cobbler (who is still our production partner today!) who was hand crafting fashionable shoes in elastic materials making them perfect for flexibility, support and all day wear. I piled loads of these cute shoes into my suitcase and headed to her next trade show and started selling them to the brilliant, successful women standing on their feet all day long who needed to look and feel great. From the moment these women slipped their feet into my shoes I knew I had something! After many “trial and error” years I went back to school at SCAD to garner more knowledge of design and the fashion industry as a whole. With this knowledge and the drive to really get this brand off the ground, I officially started the Charleston Shoe Company with a brick and mortar location in Savannah and then shortly thereafter on historic King Street in Charleston.
In our initial phases we produced 50 pairs a week and today we receive nearly 8,000 pairs to be distributed to our 20+ stores, 300+ wholesale partners and of course, our global e-commerce site. Since the beginning I have watched this company grow from a passion project to a full-fledged business - I have experienced every emotion and faced plenty of challenges over the years, but can honestly say that I am beyond proud of what myself and my team have created. With over 100 cobblestones-to-cocktails shoe styles, we have never veered from our focus to design for the charismatic, confident, modern woman who juggles everyday life with grace!
How was your business affected by the COVID pandemic? What shifts did you have to make in order to continue operating?
Being a part of the fashion and retail industry during these uncertain times meant that the COVID pandemic hit us pretty hard. We were faced with new hurdles each day - from store closures to loan applications to employee furloughs, we faced new hurdles each day. Instead of looking at the challenges that these times have brought, myself and my team faced this head on with creative and innovative solutions. I knew that my employees, whom I consider family, would be there on the other side but that we had a lot to do to persevere for the business. We hosted Zoom calls with the entire company just to say hi and catch up, we gave store managers opportunities to sell to friends and family through social takeovers and digital shoe parties, and we launched new marketing programs to reach out customers in different ways than they had ever heard from us. One of my favorite initiatives was our virtual store. We did a 360° filming of our iconic King Street store and then tagged all of the products throughout the store so that our customers could literally Shop In Store from the comfort of their couch! It has been truly humbling to see the collaboration of my team coming together during these uncertain times. They have been supportive and patient, and creative, and all just want to get back to what they love - selling shoes! Their outpouring of love and loyalty to this company is unbelievable - I am truly moved everyday.
You were recognized by the community as an Entrepreneur of Impact! Tell us about your efforts to create a positive impact during the COVID crisis.
In addition to keeping a positive outlook and working together to persevere for the business, we focused on finding ways to support our communities. Although we had a few different initiatives throughout the pandemic, including having our artisan cobblers in Mexico switch gears to produce masks for our employees and customers, our primary focus was our Healthcare Heroes Campaign. At the beginning of this year, we had expanded our shoe assortment past the fashion line to include a line of professional shoes specifically designed for healthcare and hospitality workers. These shoes are closed-toe, flexible and breathable, supportive and of course, machine washable. With cancellations of trade and trunk shows, and for-going the marketing spend needed to help launch the line, we decided to use the inventory to spread 'Shoe Joy' to the amazing women working on the front lines in hospitals.
In early April, we launched our Buy One, Give One campaign, where each shoe purchased on our website went towards donating a pair of these ProLine shoes to healthcare workers. Our very first donation was to our hometown MUSC Hospital with 100+ shoes to be distributed to workers on the COVID floors. Since then, we have up-front donated over 2,100 pairs of shoes to 28 different hospitals in 10 different states (and counting). We have received such wonderful feedback from our hospital partners with one of our favorite quotes coming from our partner at MUSC:
"The nurse runners who’ve come to me for donation pick-ups have been wearing them and LOVE them! Your donation had an immediate positive effect on our care team members, and we are seriously so grateful for you.” - Jen Simon, Lead for MUSC Health System Donations
Despite the challenges that we are facing as a small business, we feel so incredibly blessed to support those who have supported us for so many years. This campaign is our way of sending a deep felt thank you to our healthcare heroes - those incredible doctors, nurses, technicians and healthcare providers who are in the thick of it every single day. It’s in times like these that we realize something as small as spreading a bit of Shoe Joy can go a long way and make a powerful impact.
What quote or motto you live by?
Enjoy what you do. Life is too short to spend it not to the fullest. If you have a passion for something keep trying until you get it right...you will always be more proud of something the harder you worked for it.
What does the world need more of?
Not to be cliche but I truly believe that we could all use a bit more compassion. Every day, every person is faced with their own unique challenges and it is up to us to take ourselves out of our own box to better understand what others are going through. It is okay to not be able to relate to another person’s struggle but it’s not okay to not be empathetic. If we can all take a moment to see through the eyes of another person, the world may find a way to settle some of the current unrest we are experiencing.
In 3 words, what does it take to be successful as a business owner?
Passion, hard work, problem solving
If you were to impart one tidbit of wisdom to up-and-coming entrepreneurs, what would it be?
I have a couple that I have either received or given over the years. The best advice I ever heard from someone was to get a good lawyer and an even better accountant! This obviously sits on the direct side of how to run the business, but at the bottom line it’s about having people who you trust to have your best interest at heart supporting you. My advice that I would give to anyone starting a business is to constantly push yourself to ‘reinvent the wheel’. It’s okay to try something and fail - it means that you’re doing something new and pushing your business forward. The important thing is to take a lesson from your failures and use them toward your next trial until you find what works. Building a business is not a straight line - it has ups and downs, failures and successes, and you will experience every emotion between joy and terror. Live in those moments, learn from those experiences, but never stop pushing forward.
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