Salehe Bembury is a designer born and raised in New York. He studied industrial design at Syracuse University and right after college worked for PayLess. Payless was very beneficial because it allowed him to design every kind of shoe. After his stint at Payless, Salehe went to work for Dame Dash at DD172, which was a media company that had its base in Tribeca. What took Salehe from New York to Los Angeles was a design job with Kanye West.
What changed everything was a cold call. Salehe used LinkedIn to find the Versace design director and made a pitch about Versace entering the sneaker industry. This ended up working and Donatella Versace reached out to him. He presented market research, sales, and some of his ideas directly to her in a one-on-one meeting. The first product he designed for Versace was the chain reaction sneaker. Salehe went on to collaborate with New Balance, Crocs, and Moncler. He has also started his brand called Be a Sponge, which has an emphasis on experiencing the outdoors and being free.
The lessons learned from his journey are that education still matters, don't be afraid to shoot your shot, and stay creative. Industrial design is the design of mass-produced consumer products. Studying it at Syracuse more than likely led to the first position. Education helps with both networking and focus. The idea of shooting your shot all the time is important. Messaging people on LinkedIn or emailing people can still work. What's important about Salehe is that he would tell people what he was willing to offer them as opposed to asking them for something. Through it all, he stayed creative.
