SHOT BY: @STILLBYHELLY

Tell us about yourself.

“My name is Naja Cooper, I’m 24 and I’m from Baltimore, Maryland. I’m a visual athlete at Nike NYC, a grad student at Sarah Lawrence College, a dancer and a sneaker collector.”

How long have you been a sneaker lover?

“Since I was in elementary school.”

Do you remember your introduction to the sneaker game?

“My mom had a friend who worked at Foot Locker and every time I needed a new pair of sneakers, he would always show me around to see what was new. He would let my mom use his discount to get me discounted sneakers.”

What is your favorite pair of sneakers?

“My favorite pair of sneakers is the Aleali May Satin Jordan 1s.”

What are you wearing now?

“So my bag is Vainglory which is my friends brand, a vintage Harley Davidson shirt, my skirt is a flannel that I tied into a skirt and on my feet are the Atmos Pack 3.0 Tiger colorway.

What is your favorite sneaker colorway?

“Anything with color, it is something I really play on when I get dressed. I like the UNC colorway and the Bred colorway so anything with color.”

If you could collaborate with any sneaker brand, who would you collaborate with and why?

“Nike/Jordan. Aleali May is a big inspiration of mine so I definitely want to follow in her footsteps. It’s crazy how there are only two women that Nike has partnered with that have their own Jordan so I think they need more women to have Jordans.”

What do you think the sneaker game is missing?

“More women, more bald women, more women who are actually in the sneaker game for the right reasons and just hypebeasts.”

To keep up with Naja, follow her on Instagram @BaldGalNaj! Look out for some outfit inspiration!

SHOT BY: @STILLBYHELLY

Tell us about yourself.

“My name is Sasha, I am 25, and I’m from Brooklyn, NY. I currently work in a talent agency so I work in live touring with music. So a lot of the contracting, the money and all that stuff. I help the shows actually happen.”

How long have you been a sneaker lover?

“I want to say from birth because I have always been pretty much a tomboy. I can’t remember this but one of my aunts purchased me every pair of Converse in every color before I even got here so that could probably be the start of it. Off and on I wore uniform almost up until high school so my shoes had to be my expression.”

Do you remember your introduction to the sneaker game?

“Other than as a baby, I want to say when I kinda sort of started buying my own shoes. It was these light blue and grey Air Max 97s and then the black and red Air Jordan 14s.”

What is your favorite pair of sneakers?

“Air Jordan 1s.”

What are you wearing now?

“I am wearing a pair of shades from Forever 21, my jumpsuit is by Universal Thread from Target (aow!) and I’m wearing the red and white Air MAX 1 OG re-release for Air Max Day last year.”

What is your favorite sneaker colorway?

“Black, red and white.”

If you could collaborate with any sneaker brand, who would you collaborate with and why?

“I feel like this is gonna be a broken record but it’s gonna have to be Nike. The versatility I feel like they give the women that they do collaborate with, creative freedom to do whatever they want with whatever they want... I feel like that’s the kind of creative brand I would want to be a part of. Not to mention the fact that they uplift black women pretty much any chance they get these days. So I’m gonna go right where I’m respected and loved.”

What do you think the sneaker game is missing?

“If we’re gonna be literal, quantity, because it’s super hard to get shoes now and I think they do that on purpose. Especially with women releases *clears throat*. So quantity but in general, black women. We’re the standard, we’re the culture, we push the culture forward, we set all the trends and it’s like we need more of a presence. We’re in there and you see us but now it’s time to kick down the doors and let them know it’s time.”

To keep up with Sasha and her love for kicks, follow her on Instagram @AyoSashh!

SHOT BY: @STILLBYHELLY

Tell us about yourself.

“My name is Nya, I’m 27 and I’m from New York. I was born in Brooklyn then I moved to the Bronx and I am an elementary school teacher right now.”

How long have you been a sneaker lover?

“I’ve loved sneakers my whole life. I remember my first pair of J’s my pops got me when I was 9 years old. After that it was just like you shouldn’t have done that man.”

Do you remember your introduction to the sneaker game?

“Yup! I was 9 years old, it was 2001 and my pops used to work in Staten Island. This was before the game got wild crazy so he came home with both the Cherry Low 11s and the UNC joints. My gym uniform was red so I couldn’t wait to go to school. I was too excited!”

What is your favorite pair of sneakers?

“My favorite pair that I have in my house right now would be my Taxi 12s. It’s so clean!”

What are you wearing now?

“I have on this Nas shirt, these track pants from Forever 21 and I guess they call these Panda 1s.”

What is your favorite sneaker colorway?

“My fave colorway is probably just the classic Bred 11s or Bred 1s so anything red, black and white. I feel like you could style those with almost anything.”

If you could collaborate with any sneaker brand, who would you collaborate with and why?

“Brand? Nike. Why? Because I feel like I have an unlimited amount of options as far as materials, colorways and sneaker models. I feel like everyday they come out with something new and the options are limitless.”

What do you think the sneaker game is missing?

“Quantity and I think that now since they are trying to incorporate women, I think they’re missing black women. I think they’re just missing a space for us to get our own stuff. If you’re making a colorway for us, I shouldn’t be the last option. It shouldn’t be harder for me to get it versus dudes that don’t even wear my size.”

Want to keep up with Nya? Follow her on Instagram @_WakeUpInTokyo and check out her YouTube channel here!

SHOT BY: @STILLBYHELLY

Tell us about yourself.

“My name is Denia, I’m 25 years old and I’m from Newark, New Jersey. I work at the court house as a clerk and I’m trying to be a probation officer. I also have my own business and I sell hair bundles and eyelashes. I get fly on the weekends because I’m a 9 to 5er and yeah that’s me!”

How long have you been a sneaker lover?

“Honestly, since forever! When I look back at my baby pictures, my mother had me dressed in Nike and Adidas but once I got into high school I really got invested into Jordans and waiting on lines for sneakers and now my boyfriend is a sneakerhead so yeah it’s for life.”

Do you remember your introduction to the sneaker game?

“Yeah I would say high school. I was a basketball player so everybody on the team got fly and we were really into sneakers like Jordans and Nikes.”

What is your favorite pair of sneakers?

“My favorite pairs might be Jordan 1s and Air Max 97s. Those are my favorites. I just go for comfort and color. I like when people stare at my shoes so I like to stand out.”

What are you wearing now?

“So right now I’m wearing Sean Wotherspoon Air Max 97s, they’re very exclusive and my boyfriend bought them for me. This shirt is from a local brand from my city called Vale Lives, I got this bag in Georgia at a consignment shop, the corduroy jeans are from GAP and I cut them into shorts but I got them from a thrift store.”

What is your favorite sneaker colorway?

“Anything with red, I just LOVE red and red just pops with my skin so anything with red, black, maybe pink but red.”

If you could collaborate with any sneaker brand, who would you collaborate with and why?

“Nike, duh, period! Because Nike lets you take over for the sneaker, they provide you the foundation but they allow you to just take over like Sean Wotherspoon did. He just had fun with these fun colors. Maybe Nike or Adidas.”

What do you think the sneaker game is missing?

“Imma say more fun sneakers for kids sizes because there’s a few Jordans I want but they don’t come in kids or they don’t come in womens or they’ll change it up from leather to like a satin and I hate that. I want what the guys have so I’m gonna say they need to stop playing us and represent for the small feet girls.”

To keep up with Denia, follow her Instagram @JuicyJupe. To check out her business and buy some bundles or lashes, check out the Instagram @JuicyBundless and JuicyBundlessLLC.com!