Free Essay

Shoes to Maturity

In:

Submitted By ConnieWang
Words 535
Pages 3
I have a confession to make. I have a shoe fetish. Everyone around me seems to underestimate the statement a simple pair of shoes can make. To me, though, the shoes I wear are not for covering my two feet. They reflect who I am.

So who am I? Why don’t you just look down at my feet? I could be wearing my under armor spines – my confidence and my leadership shoes. My feet feel weightless much like myself. After I finish what needs to be done I tend to free myself from any stress I had before. On crisp winter nights I could be wearing my furry brown monkey slippers. These slippers are my comforting side. I can wear them and listen to a friend cry for hours. My favorite pair of shoes, however, is my bright pink Sperry’s. They are my individuality, my enthusiasm, my laughter, my love for risk-taking. No one else I am friends with has them. When I feel like being somewhat invisible I wear my solid colored flats. My flats allow me to be independent. I wear them to school, shopping, and even when I go to museums. My snowboarding boots show my love of adventure and being outdoors in the calm yet fierce white snow. Broken in and molded to the shape of my feet, when wearing them I feel in touch with my surroundings.

During college I intend to add more shoes to my collection in the closet. For each aspect of my personality I discover or enhance through my college years, I will find a pair of shoes to reflect it. Maybe I could get a pair of one black and one white shoe for when I learn about the Chinese culture and its belief in yin and yang. As I get to know myself better and my goals become clearer, my collection of shoes will expand.

By the time I am through with college I will be ready to take a big step into to real world. Being ready for change, I believe I will only need one pair of shoes to reflect the new me. The shoes will be fun and comfortable; I will be able to wear them when I am at work and when I return home after a long day. This pair of shoes will embody each aspect of my personality in a single footstep. No longer will I have a separate shoe for each quirk and quality. This one pair will say it all. It will be the evidence of my self awareness and maturity.

I am entering college as a naïve, teenage bundle of energy, independence, and motivation. My closet full of shoes that mirror my array of interests, and at the same time my difficulty in choosing a single interest that will satisfy me for the rest of my life. I want to leave college with direction, having a pinpointed single interest to pursue that will add meaning and texture to my life.

So there you have it. I have told you about who I am, what I enjoy, and what I want from college. Want to know more? Come walk a day in my shoes.

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Diva

...SSRN Inspection UVA-F-1222 Diva Shoes, Inc. TO ACCESS THIS DOCUMENT This is a protected document. The first two pages are available for everyone to see, but only faculty members who have verified faculty status with Darden Business Publishing are able to view this entire inspection copy. Username: Submit VERIFIED FACULTY If you have verified faculty status with Darden Business Publishing, simply enter the same username that you use on the Darden Business Publishing Web site, and then click “Submit.” Please note that this is an inspection copy and is not for classroom use. Faculty Register UNVERIFIED FACULTY If you are teaching faculty and do not yet have verified faculty access with Darden Business Publishing, please click on the “Faculty Register” link and submit your information requesting verified faculty access. Buy Case Now OTHER USERS If you would like to read the full document, click on “Buy Case Now” to be redirected to the Darden Business Publishing Web site where you can purchase this and other Darden cases. If you have any questions or need technical help, please contact Darden Business Publishing at 1-800-246-3367 or email sales@dardenbusinesspublishing.com Document Id 0000-1402-5981-000059FA The protectedpdf technology is © Copyright 2006 Vitrium Systems Inc. All Rights Reserved. Patents Pending. UVA-F-1222 DIVA SHOES, INC. In April 1995, Lisa Stone ended a conversation with Benjamin Bisno, the president and ...

Words: 4913 - Pages: 20

Premium Essay

Nike Recommendation Report

...EXECUTIVE SUMMARY NIKE INC. In an effort to become one of the world’s leading designers, marketers, and distributors of athletic footwear, apparel, equipment, and accessories, Nike Inc. started with two visionary men who transformed themselves into one of the top selling brands in the athletic shoe industry. Through taking chances and understanding customers needs, Nike Inc. has established a large market position and strong brand equity. Nike Inc. understood early in its history that aligning its products with top athletes like Tiger Woods, Lance Armstrong and Michael Jordan, would propel the Nike brand to the very top. Nike also fostered endorsements with both individuals and associations like the NFL. Nike also takes into consideration the impact of giving back, having a positive Corporate Social Responsibility and being environmentally conscious. At the same time Nike experienced setbacks due to their dependence on third party manufacturers and having limited control. Nike Better World CSR Campaign targets smaller waste output (carbon footprint) and paying closer attention to the way their products are being manufactured (labor force) helping Nike to get back in good standing with consumers. Because, the market for sporting goods is intensely competitive, it is important for Nike to realize that it is not just the young “hip” generation that is going to keep them on top. The older “Baby Boomers” can help them to succeed too; this generation is known for...

Words: 4357 - Pages: 18

Premium Essay

Strategic Analysis of Nike

...Nike Case Analysis Nike is a world's leading supplier of athletic shoes and apparel. The company was founded in 1964, when it was selling shoes to athletes. It grow rapidly through the 1970’s, and expanded its product lines to produce footwear in the categories of running, training, basketball, casual shoes, and kids shoes. As the bloom faded from the domestic athletic footwear market, the company entered active apparel market in 1978. Nike made a series of strategic decisions in 1970’s and early 1980’s, which made it one of the most successful sportswear and equipment suppliers in the world. The Company’s strategic goal was to maximize its profit in a long run. It was successful because it was able to identify, develop and match its resources and its capability by taking the following strategies: Marketing Strategy Branding Strategy: Nike managed to establish its brand name by attracting top athletes for promotional campaigns. Nike viewed the footwear market as a pyramid, with a small peak -serious athletes, and a broad base – the millions of Americans who wore athletic footwear casually, and believed that by maintaining a strong position at the top, it would extend its presence downward. This was very crucial to Nike’s success. So Nike spent 3% of its revenues on promotion including contracts with professional players and coaches, agreements with amateur athletes and teams, sponsorship of numerous prominent sporting events and the underwriting of a world-class...

Words: 1203 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

To Kill a Mockingbird

...how people learn lessons. In this book there are many instances where people follow Atticus’ advice. When he says you need to walk in someone’s shoes before you can judge their lives. Throughout the book people learn about this lesson more and more. One example is when Scout walks in Boo’s shoes. During the story Scout was on Boo’s porch and was finally getting a view from Boo’s eyes. She said this is as close as you can get to walking in somebody’s shoes. She realizes Boo isn’t really the bad person everybody thinks he is. She realizes he really has a good heart and is a really kind person. She realized how it would have affected him if Atticus would not have lied. She saw how he saw the town and the people in it. Another example is Atticus and Heck walking in Boo’s shoes. They both realize that they have to lie to protect Boo. They realize Boo doesn’t want all the attention of being a hero. They both see he is a really good man. They see he’s never done anything wrong and doesn’t deserve to be brought out of his comfort zone. They compared it to killing a mockingbird, because a mockingbird does nothing but make pretty music and never hurts anyone, so why kill it? They walked in Boo’s shoes and saw why they should protect him from the attention and everything he doesn’t want. The next example is Jem walking in Ms. Dubose’s shoes. Jem thought Ms. Dubose was just a bitter old lady, but did not know she was a morphine addict and could not stop. He did not know she was lonely...

Words: 456 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Dava Shoes

...effect on a firm’s exposure to exchange-rate risk? what proportion exposure to exchange-rate risk will diva Shoes have in Gregorian calendar month 1995? Factors have an effect on a firm’s exposure to exchange-rate risk embrace group action exposure, economic exposure, and translation exposure. group action exposure may be a risk caused by the fluctuations in exchange rates. It arises from transactions like payments or sales in alternative currencies apart from the domestic one. Translation exposure, conjointly called accounting exposure, said the random changes that result from translation of monetary statements. It arises whenever profits, assets or liabilities are translated from the in operation country to the parent company reception. Economic exposure may be a risk caused by random changes in exchange rates as a result of political and political economy trends in countries wherever these international corporations operate in. In Gregorian calendar month 1995, diva Shoes have $43,625,694 exposed to rate of exchange risk. 3. Suppose that diva chooses to hedge its exposure in yen victimisation the forward contract represented just {in case} Appendix A or the currency choice represented in case Appendix B. Assume that you simply lock in these contracts at the forward value implicit by interest-rate parity for Sept 1995. Draw the payoffs to the position at maturity for every various with the rate of exchange outlined in USD/JPY × ten,000 units (i.e., identical units because...

Words: 435 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Nike

...emulating small organisations where entrepreneurial stretch would be required. The aim of this is to increase original thought and innovation stimulated by their environment (Cowles, 2013). The organisation could also adopt a Blue Ocean Strategy. This the company would need to examine the current marketplace, and identify markets which are currently not served (Kim & Mauborgne, 2015), this may be geographical sectors, but can also be consumer sectors. By identifying new markets, the organisation could gain a first mover advantage, which is a significant source of differentiation are able to leveraged advantage (Porter, 2014), as well as benefit from a market where there is no effective competition. With a wide range of different specialised shoes are ready on the market, the organisation may look for new gaps in the market which have not yet been satisfied. The organisation could also implement strategies such as the use of brainstorming, mind mapping, or the...

Words: 809 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

English

...Under Armour Under Armour is an American sports clothing brand and accessories company. This company supply sportswear and casual apparel. It is founded by Kevin Plank in 1995. He was the captain on the university of Maryland football team ,he found out that the cotton T-shirts and his teammates are always soaked with sweat. After graduation, he made a exclusive T-shirt which can stayed light under the hot sun. He then supply the “exclusive T-shirt” to his Maryland teammates. His teammates provided some feedback, he went on to work and quickly invented out with a new T-shirt from microfibers that can keep the athletes cool and dry. He had earned around $20,000 usd dollars by selling these t-shirt at the concerts. He ended up going about $40,000 in credit card debt spread across five cards.  After one year which is 1997,he was broke. In late 1997,he made a profit of $100,000usd dollar by selling the products to two dozen NFL teams. Major teams and retailer began selling the products. In 2002,the company carried 2500 retail outlets in the world. The company raised $115 Million usd dollars for expansion capital in less than 10 years. In 2002 Under Armour began testing its women's apparel line, hoping to make a new success on the market. Just after few months, the women gear product line is officially launched in retail stores and website. While Under Armour was a significant success, the company had been unwilling to patent his products. Other competitors had begun to compete...

Words: 1804 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Case Study Toms Shoes

... TOMS Shoes Written Assignment #1 By Eduardo A. Flores 1. The video suggests that TOMS shoes are primarily bought and valued by a younger generation. Discuss how each of the following generational groups might react to TOMS shoes: the baby boomers, Generation X, and the Millennials Considering the present economic instability, the sense of environmental responsibility and the inner maturity carried by the 78 million plus baby boomers, I believe TOMS shoes would have a very proactive response from this generational group (Baby Boomers) as far as consumption is concerned. I believe it could work both ways, they might purchase them as gifts to a younger family member or they might like a model and purchase it for themselves, either way is the “One for One” marketing strategy that motivates their sense of giving (shoes) that ultimately nurtures the enjoyment of helping others while they help themselves saving some extra money. According to the textbook, Principles of Marketing 14th Edition, one study showed that boomers, on average, see themselves 12 years younger than they actually are. And rather than viewing themselves as phasing out, they see themselves as entering new life phases. “Today’s boomer’s think young no matter how old they are.” This supports the idea that boomers could adapt with easiness to TOMS shoes since they see themselves in a juvenile way and TOMS shoes are primarily targeted to young...

Words: 1207 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

To Kill A Mockingbird Empathy Character Analysis

...Maturity is essential for life and people go through different processes to achieve it. However many people never mature, and they lose themselves in childish worlds of ignorance. Empathy is an essential tool for reaching maturity, which is prevalent through Scout, a character in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. In her novel, Scout matures by following her father’s advice to “climb into his skin and walk around in it.” (39) Examining how Scout treats the Cunninghams, Mayella Ewell and Boo Radley, empathy allowing for maturity is clear. The way Scout treats the Cunninghams shows Scout maturing through empathy. Near the beginning of the novel, Walter Cunningham’s behavior at the dinner table disgusts Scout. Throughout the meal, Scout acts...

Words: 604 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Nike Market Segment Analysis

...Team Project – Part 2 Team 5 – Hawkeye Marketing Stephanie Jensen Moyin Li Joseph Snyder Yuqi Sun Wenzhe Zhang Introduction to Marketing University of Iowa Tippie College of Business 03 April, 2016 Nike Segments Consumers by Athletes and Non-Athletes In a time when most things are no longer in simple black and white, Nike remains binary by segmenting its consumers into two distinct, opposite categories: athletes and non-athletes. While these segments are particularly broad, there’s a reason for it: it would be impractical to target the two groups in the same way. To successfully reach the company’s target markets, Nike employs differentiated marketing strategies. Athletes are mainly targeted with one of Nike’s major marketing strategies: the “hero athlete” (Kalb). The company pairs up with prominent athletes to endorse their brand. Athletes will then wish to be affiliated with these sports figures, so they will go out and buy Nike footwear to accomplish this. Contrastingly, in order to successfully target the non-athletes, Nike employs ad campaigns to inspire and motivate them to continue working hard. Around the London Olympics in 2012, Nike launched a new campaign with ordinary people enjoying themselves in their respective niches. The campaign was titled “Find Your Greatness,” and it included slogans such as, “Greatness doesn’t need a stadium.” This appealed to everyday citizens, because if someone else just like them can enjoy doing something that makes them...

Words: 3056 - Pages: 13

Premium Essay

Rhetorical Analysis Of Abigail Adams 'Letter'

...regarding the matter of his maturity. Mrs. Adams had previously goaded her son into traveling abroad to France amidst the Revolutionary War with his diplomat father, John Adams, and his brother. John was only thirteen years old at the time. His mother saw him as a young, immature, whimsical boy unable to make wise decisions for himself. Thus, Mrs. Adams believed it would be smart to send him on this trip; she had high hopes of maturing his closed mind and heart while under the guidance of his father. In order for him to make the most of the trip, Mrs. Adams wrote to him including lots of advice. The rhetorical devices employed in Abigail’s letter were metaphors, comparison, and allusion – all of which helped drive her message about maturing into a young adult. The primary device used by Mrs. Adams in her letter is a metaphorical reference. She mentions an author that she had met with and how this author referred to a traveler as “a...

Words: 757 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Marketing Plan

...This marketing plan expansion expands upon the concepts applied in the first part of the project. It incorporates the knowledge we have been learning over the past several weeks, research, and personal experiences. Each part of the marketing plan targets specific aspects of the marketing campaigns for shoes. This paper will address each part of the plan and how it supports our team goals. Target Market Profile An effective target market profile contains three steps: 1. Create a broad description of the ideal consumer with associated demographics. 2. Develop unique user goals. These goals need to address customer requirements while supporting brand loyalty for the company. 3. Develop a plan to target the customer base. This plan needs to include market availability for the customer including traditional retail and online outlets. The target market is targeted at sports and fitness enthusiast with a desire for a quality product that fits their lifestyle and budget. Our shoe line will encompass shoes for golf, tennis, fitness classes, running, court sports, and team sports. Key buying factors Women and men see shoes differently. They both see shoes as important and have different decision criteria for purchasing. Men historically focus on specific brands with minimal time at the retail location. Typically they leave a store without making a purchase if their specific shoe is not available. It is estimated that 5% of sales to men are lost to this...

Words: 1798 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

English Literauture

...CLASS –X ENGLISH NCERT SOLUTIONS LITERATURE READER TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA Answers Answer1: Answer2: I think the story is about a person who bears amiable nature. The story is based on the theme of human ethics. Answer4.1: (a) the boys were untidy and poorly dressed Answer4.2: (b) willingness to work Answer4.3: (a) did not want a stranger to become involved with their plans Answer4.4: (a) he did not want to intrude into their privacy Answer4.5: (c) the Germans had ruined their family Answer4.6: (a) he thought the boys would prefer to keep their secret Answer5.1: This statements shows that the two boys were not ashamed of doing menial jobs such as shoe polish or fruit-vending. When the narrator saw them working as shoe shine boys he was surprised as he had seen them selling wild strawberries the previous day. He asked them about it. Then Nicola, the elder brother spoke that they did many things. Nicola said that they also did a lot of other things for a living. The boys hoped that the narrator would ask for their services and in return would earn some good money. Answer5.2: This statement shows the uneasiness of the speaker, Nicola. The narrator was astonished to see that boys worked hard day and night and yet lived meagerly. He wanted to know what the boys did with the money they earned. When he questioned Nicola, he appeared uncomfortable. Perhaps the boys were not used to anybody questioning them regarding their earnings, and the narrator’s question embarrassed them. Material...

Words: 1986 - Pages: 8

Free Essay

House on Mango Street

...Simon Adelle UCOR 102 Paper 3 Professor Marcum Making It in A Man’s World April 29, 2013 “The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros exposes the life of the main character, Esperanza, for one year as she struggles with trying to find her place in America as a Chicana young girl while also coming of age. The novel starts the day Esperanza and her family of six move into a house on Mango Street, and immediately she expresses her antipathy for not only the house, but also for the area in which they move into and the people around who judge them because of their ethnicity. The story is not told in the traditional format of a continuous story divided into chapters, but rather Cisneros uses forty-four vignettes to allow for the reader to fully understand why Esperanza has the struggles that she has. Along with Cisneros’ illustrating Esperanza’s looking for her identity through images of Esperanza’s thoughts and female obedience, symbolism of violence, legs, the Statue for Liberty, and Nenny, and diction of Spanish words, not using quotation marks, and a maturing tone, she also uses these them to permeate Esperanza’s desperation to leave Mango Street throughout the whole novel. Cisneros’ use of vignettes highlights important moments in Esperanza’s life that emphasize how she develops over the course of a year. Cisneros uses the brevity of the vignettes to enhance the imagery to give the most vivid image through her limited amount of words for...

Words: 3794 - Pages: 16

Free Essay

Toms

...David Lew Qingwei Rachel Crumpler Business and its Publics: Section 29 May 12, 2013 TOMS Shoes and the Effective Creation of Shared Value Over the last 30 years, absolute poverty worldwide has fallen 20%, yet poverty levels in Africa have remained static, hovering around 40% of the continent’s population over the same time period (“Poverty”). Poverty is endemic to many developing nations in Africa, and many attempts have been made to ameliorate the socio-economic toll that it wreaks on the region. However, the continued predominance of poverty in the region today makes it clear that previous attempts at traditional poverty eradication have failed. More recently, the rise of social entrepreneurship has revitalized the discussion about poverty alleviation, with companies committing themselves to creating transformational benefit for the disadvantaged segments of society (Martin 151). TOMS Shoes is such a company that has made a commitment to social responsibility. Unfortunately, TOMS and its footwear draws a great deal of criticism, and there is mounting evidence that creating shared value, as seen in Oliberté Footwear’s business model, is a more effective route to poverty alleviation. Ultimately, we must carefully consider the advantages of Oliberté’s shared value over TOMS’ social responsibility, and call for future social business models to take note of what both of these social enterprises do right and wrong to create the best solution for bringing upward social mobility...

Words: 2248 - Pages: 9