Charleston’s Shoe Maven: A Tale of Craft and Passion
Charleston, SC, is a magical city, not because of its seaside views but because of the amazing and magical people it attracts and retains. I spend almost six months out of the year here because I love the city, but more often because I love meeting people, like Neely Woodson Powell, founder of The Charleston Shoe Company. You can read what Forbes said about the company, or Orange WIP article, or what the Fashion Network had to say, or what any of a half dozen publications reported over the years and we were also featured in FedEx on YouTube ( I read them all. What I noticed was the one “secret sauce” that Neeley used to propel her hobby for shoes into a multi-million dollar empire — networking.
I talked to Neely at length for this blog post. It may be the longest blog I’ve ever posted, but Neely and The Charleston Shoe Company’s behind-the-scenes networking and other secrets to her success are too amazing not to share with you. Following are the highlights of our delightful conversation.
Networking, empathy, and a genuine love for her customers circled through our conversation. Neely attributed her company’s success to “luck and hustle.” Still, as we dug deeper, the pattern that emerged was her personality, generosity, and passion for pleasing women who love shoes! Join the conversation:
“Well, it’s funny. I like to say I’m a 26-year overnight success,” Neely said. “ I wish there were more strategy and actual planning behind all of it, but everything happened by chance. I think it’s a mesh of the three: chance and hard work, and hustle, right? But that’s what it always takes.”
She’s right. It really does take hard work and hustle, but chance? Not so much. I think Louis Pasteur said, “Chance favors the prepared mind.” I think that’s relevant here. The name of our podcast – and we’re in our second year now – is Awake in the Network Where Destiny Happens. Here, we regularly interview leaders like Neely, who believe in serendipity and “chance.” And those come when you do what Neely does — engage with people. Neely shares how serendipity factored in her life starting in her childhood:
“It’s fascinating how things come together, right? My first mentors were my parents. They were so creative and revolutionary, and both ahead of their time. I think that creativity and that ability to pivot, think on your feet, problem-solve, and all of that were the building blocks for my inevitable. The only thing I could be was an entrepreneur, right? There was no other option.
If you have those entrepreneurial parents – and I was lucky enough to have two – to teach you not only just creating and building something but also that every business is a people business. I don’t care what it is. You’ve got to know how to talk to people and bridge all those gaps. “
Neely was fortunate. And while some of us have famous or successful parents who start us out early with an entrepreneurial mindset, it’s never too late to acquire one. Begin with networking and talking to others, especially people not on the same path as you. For instance:
“When I was eight,” Neely said, “we moved to the Florida Keys because my dad decided he wanted to buy an island and build a hotel on it. That was his dream and his “retirement” after he sold 15 restaurants that he had conceptualized in the 70s. In the early 80s, coming from Memphis, TN, that was a big deal. My grandmother thought we had moved halfway around the world because that was just unheard of. “What do you mean you’re moving my daughter and grandchildren to an island? What does that mean?
I watched my dad build this island from the ground up. I did everything. We were sampling smells for shampoos at night and sampling menus. I’d come home and create my little kitchen, draw up my menu, and serve it to my sister. That creativity was ingrained in me and people’s aspect.”
I think that’s where what Neely was saying deeply resonated with me. “…It’s also very much the people aspect of things. Successful people are generous, connected, and networking people. Whether you have a family or create one, we all need people who care about us, see opportunities they share with us, and mentor, support, and push us. And they may need to push us through unique and non-traditional things.
“During the day,” Neely stated, “I went to school on an island in a trailer, and at night, I’d go to this five-star hotel and have to entertain these famous guests. The Bushes would stay there, and Rod Stewart and all these people came through. There was this juxtaposition of cultures, classes, and people from all over the world. I didn’t know the difference between the people I’d go to school with and those I’d interact with on the island.
I think talking and speaking and interacting with everyone as if we’re all on the same level – because in the big scheme of things, we all are – that’s super important not only from building a team of 200 women but also a client base of millions of women. I can interact with anyone. That’s a super important entrepreneurial aspect people don’t focus on. It’s the people aspect.”
Neely played the piano at the restaurant, one of the first Relais & Chateaus in the country, which is an exclusive hotel organization. As she suggested:
“I think my dad bought the island because it was Harry Truman’s fishing lodge, and the only thing on it was a fishing lodge and a hurricane bunker. My dad thought it would be this quaint fishing lodge, but he never did anything half-assed. So, it became a lot more than that.”
Neely’s life was anything but run-of-the-mill-normal. At Christmas and in the summer, they’d return to Memphis, TN, where she lived this quintessential southern life. The juxtaposition of all of it was crazy. Her mother, who was pretty complacent in the Florida Keys, became bored and started going to visit her friend in San Miguel, Mexico. Neely shared:
“Mom started a furniture business there. I watched her bring products home and sell them at trunk shows. She started that business out of the trunk of her car, and now they’re sold to hundreds of thousands of decorators and retailers worldwide. That’s when we started going to San Miguel and built a house there in the late 80s. Then I met my cobbler. It is a world of destiny, fate, and all those good things wrapped up in one.”
As wonderful and supportive as her father was, she sadly lost him at a young age — leading her to realize how short life is and how important it is to do what you love:
“I always say to my employees, “You’ve got to do something that you love,” as an entrepreneur, I feel like I’m the luckiest person in the world because I get to do what I love. “I look at employees sometimes and say, ‘You do this more than half of your life, and life is too short to do something you don’t enjoy.
I’ve always had that mentality, so I love brick-and-mortar. You need help getting that across on a website. You can only get that across on social media in our stores. We’re not just the Gap. We like to say that our stores are like shopping in our best friend’s closet.
When someone walks in, I don’t just say, ‘How can I help you?’ I immediately tell them our story and then ask them where they’re from. Because I’m curious, I think engagement, relationship building, and just a day learning about other people, being in the moment, and living your life are important. Again, life is too short to do it any other way.”
I asked Neely how she made her most important connection because that’s about networking. How did it happen, and how did it grow into something more? What made you go from meeting someone who created a stylish but comfortable shoe that intrigued you, and you felt that there was relevance? What was the backdrop of your thoughts that were ignited around potential?
“A lot of it happened by chance. Obviously, we stumbled into my cobbler shop. It had a dirt floor, maybe 50-100 square feet. He and his wife were in there, and my mom and I bought our first pair of shoes. They are quite magical when you put them on. Being on vacation and in a strange town foreign to you, women in shoes are just an immediate kismet. We’re always intrigued by that. To see someone actually making shoes is even more amazing. To see all the colors and just witness that is in itself amazing. Then, try it on and have the comfort; it’s a magical shoe.
When you wear these shoes, you get this weird response from people. I’ve never had more men and other women comment on my shoes. We never advertised a day in this business because our word of mouth was so amazing from our customers that it was just viral. That’s because women will wear our shoes out of the store where someone else will see them. From there, they’ll randomly become friends. The next thing you know, strangers are letting strangers try shoes on. Then they’re sending them to the store.
That’s how the business went from the early 90s all the way through its duration. It was just this viral reaction between people. When I got home, I’d have friends say to me, “Oh, next time you go, will you grab me a pair?” The next thing I knew, I was bringing home suitcases full of shoes for friends.
In college, I went to furniture markets with my mother to make extra money. I realized that people were wearing uncomfortable shoes. We started bringing back shoes from Mexico and taking them to furniture markets, and I’d sell them out from underneath her tables. Mom had these beautiful showrooms, and she’d be meeting with Neiman Marcus, and I’d be on the floor with all these housewives, making a total mess.
The way people reacted to the shoes was always viral, and it was always just very magical. I almost felt this responsibility to do it because I didn’t make any money. I was selling the shoes for $30 or $40, so I wasn’t making any money. But whenever I went to the market and didn’t bring the shoes, people would come in and tell me, “Where are the shoes?” I became the crazy shoe lady, and it was the hat I wore for about 15 years. I didn’t make much money, and I had other real jobs – that did make money.
When I would go to these furniture markets, people would come and say, “I bought a pair of shoes from you last year, and everyone in my store,” – and they’d have furniture stores – “wants the shoes. Can you wholesale them?” I started a wholesale line to sell to these other retailers coming to the furniture market. Then I’d start calling my factory instead of going down to Mexico all the time, and I’d order 50 pairs of black shoes for J&J interiors and get 50 pairs of yellow shoes. I’d say, “Oh my God, this is not what they ordered.
Growing up as a child of an entrepreneur, your parents would always come home with problems, although my dad never called a problem a problem. He always called it an opportunity. I had to be creative, and I had to pivot. I realized that I was never going to make any money with my margins in wholesale, and I was never going to get the shoes I ordered. So, I went back to the drawing board. I went back to school and took shoe design. While in Savannah at Savannah College of Art, I had a one-and-a-half-year-old with me, whom I put in daycare. I’m in Savannah and realized this town has 16,000,000 tourists a year. What are they buying as souvenirs? They’re buying coffee mugs and T-shirts. Why can’t I have a comfortable, amazing shoe here that I tag The Savannah Shoe Company?
Then, it becomes an amazing souvenir. What woman doesn’t want a shoe? That’s when I opened my first store, realizing that if I got a box of yellow shoes, I could sell those in a retail store. It wasn’t an order from another retailer. I still meet employees of his today who will say that to me. That has shaped my life because anytime I’ve had a problem, I’ve learned from it, and I’ve grown, and you cannot have a business without having that mentality.”
I hope you see the theme of generosity, mentoring, and connection with others here. Neely thinks of her shoes and business, not just how she makes money. She sees everything she does as how she connects with other women. The other thread woven throughout her life is the number of mentors — including her parents- and her brief interactions with famous and successful people along the way.
We tend to think of mentoring as an ongoing or formal arrangement, which it can be. Still, mentoring can be a meeting, a conversation, a one or three-time meeting with someone who teaches us something, formally or informally, or through their actions, about what it means or takes to be a success. We’ve all had such moments and mentors, whether we acknowledge or remember them. I love that Neely knows most of her mentors and connections.
The thing about her shoes is not just that they’re very comfortable, which they are, but that they’re more. They’re a gift to ourselves. The shoe is a souvenir. I never thought of that, but it’s the most well-spent gift you can give yourself. It’s also the best souvenir you can give yourself. It’s wise, economical, the gift that keeps on giving, and you can give it to other people, and they would be very happy to get it.
Neely, afraid of flying, makes it a point to get the names, addresses, and shoe sizes of all the flight attendants she meets. She then sends them a pair of her shoes.
It’s how she makes a connection and keeps distracted enough to tolerate her flight. She turns that fear of flying into an opportunity to connect, to network — which is impressive to me!
Her strategy works. In one year, she opened three stores. Every year after that, she opened a new store and did more trunk shows. All the while, she was never on the cutting edge of fashion, but she was endearing herself, her business, her shoes, and her mindset to hundreds of thousands of other women who also loved comfortable shoes. As she recounts:
“I went to SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design), and I saw all these kids there making 4-inch blue suede stilettos. I always thought to myself, ‘There’s so much more behind a timeless classic shoe than anything.’ especially if it’s comfortable and practical, like mine, and machine washable.
The biggest part is that I designed everything based on my customers’ and employees’ feedback. When I started in the shoe market, like when wholesaling the shoe lines at shoe markets, I was an anomaly. They were all the “old shoe dogs.” Men were shoe salesmen, and it didn’t matter if they sold women’s shoes. They were all men. For me to be on the floor wearing the shoes, wearing two different shoes, and not sitting behind a desk and writing orders and really engaging with people and talking about the comfort and designing the comfort for other women was unheard of.
Back when I first started, comfort was a bad name. 24 years ago, it was Easy Spirit. Comfort was not Keen. It’s been interesting over the decades to watch comfort become something where everyone says everything is comfortable. With our shoes, it’s just not the case. I never tire of working in the store – which I’m doing today – watching that person trying my shoes for the first time and going, “Oh my gosh, you’re right. This is comfortable. This is amazing.
I love creating lines based on my customers and the feedback I get from my 20 managers and 20 stores across the country. They’re my lifeline, and they revert back to me and say, “If you could make a shoe like this for this person,” we’re constantly creating new things.
Since our shoes are comfortable and machine washable, one big thing is really diving into a more closed-toed option because we primarily started as sandals, just for that professional woman. Medical and hospitality professionals must wear closed-toed shoes that are comfortably slip-resistant and go in the washing machine. We’ve really started doing that to take her all day at work and night.
My expansion in the line has gotten broader. It just goes on and on. And our colors. I make 150 colors, so that’s always expanding.”
And she continued to buck the traditional and went with her gut, as she added:
“Even though a business manager would probably look at me and say, “You really only need to sell black and tan,” I say, “Yeah, but I really like red, orange, yellow, green.” I’m creative regarding that, that’s for sure.”
She’s had her challenges. During COVID, the company was “inches away from bankruptcy because we had to close all the stores, and I had opened fourteen stores in 2019.
I said, ‘I’m not giving up. I’ve done this more than half of my life, and I don’t know where I’d be without this company, all the people I’ve met, all the people I’ve employed, and all the friendships I’ve made. Obviously, I get offers all the time to come in and partner with me, and I don’t know what I’d do with a boss that I haven’t had for 26 years.’”
So, instead of quitting, she started a clothing line company during COVID. As she adds:
“It was awesome, and it’s really taking off. During COVID, getting people in the store to sit down and interact with you was hard because of germs and all that. We started carrying clothing lines, making our own clothing, designing it all, and making all the fabrics. This little baby just keeps pivoting and creating new things as we go. We do accessories; we do hats; we get into new divisions. We get into the medical profession, and we get into the hospitality profession.
Expanding that consumer base is awesome because I’m a generational shoe. I can’t tell you the number of times that I’ve worked at a trunk show or worked in a store, and the granddaughter, the mother, the grandmother, they all come in at once, and they’re all wearing the shoes because they are timeless and they are amazing. They hit every demographic in every age. That speaks to my childhood and that personality of being able to speak to everyone and relate to every walk of life.
Another thing we did that I’m getting increasingly into these days and which I love and obviously brings great joy is a term we coined “Shoe Joy.” It started during COVID because I had started this medical professional line of shoes and signed up for all these shows to present my shoes to the medical profession. They were all canceled, obviously, because all the nurses were busy, and the conventions were canceled.
I had all these shoes, and we started giving them away. I brought many of my furloughed employees back by putting them in charge of donating shoes and finding hospitals and COVID floors across the country to donate shoes, too. We found that these nurses, during COVID, would get free pizza and they get all these things, but a woman getting a free pair of shoes is a different reaction. These are tears of joy. They were just so excited to have a gift like that and have something to take them away from the traumas they were facing daily.
We gave half a million dollars worth of shoes during COVID when all my stores were closed, and I had no money coming in. We continued that because it brought so many people joy, and we continue to do that. It’s not just a one-for-one or a give-back. I’m not saying I will give you one if you buy a pair of shoes. We just want the reaction of people in need.
We also team up with a company called Soles for Souls, which gives shoes to entrepreneurs trying to start their own businesses. They’ll sell the shoes to make money to start their businesses. That’s paying it forward. It’s just an amazing thing.
The children of the world these days who didn’t grow up in my generation and earlier have such a disadvantage because they don’t know how to interact with people because they’re all interacting with their phones. It’s a shame.
My daughter Gigi will be 16 in a couple of weeks. She loves to work in the store and go to trunk shows with me. I feel like I’ve succeeded in having a child with a work ethic in this day and age.”
Neely Woodson Powell
***
As Neely and I ended our conversation, I referenced a quote from Louis Pasteur: “Chance favors the prepared mind.” Neely is always preparing by creating the next wave of beautiful shoe offerings, which I believe is why she has been so successful. Her attitude is always about being customer, stakeholder, and employee-centered. In my world of networking, I call this “The Great Exchange.” Here, I use the powerful metaphor about the amazing trees of world that take in carbon dioxide and, using sunlight, turn it into oxygen. We breathe in this oxygen to survive. This process creates a natural, life-giving exchange between trees and humans.
Dear reader, in case you didn’t know, the new contest I have is for networking mentors. I’m just sharing this with you because the core of this conversation has been about how you’ve been mentored and how you mentor others. Neely created this fantastic business through multiple mentors. My contest allows you to recognize, share, and showcase your mentors. Go here for more information and a link to nominate a great networking mentor you know: bit.ly/BestNetworkingMentorsContest2024