Finding the Perfect Fit
Written by Kimi Morris, #WakeEntrepreneur and Summer Intern
My name is Kimi Morris and I’m a rising senior Biology Major with an Entrepreneurship Minor. This summer I’m currently working at Cat Perkins in New York City as their Product Development and Entrepreneurship Intern. I’m so excited to be with a company that tackles the problem many women face today when trying to pack and travel with big bulky shoes. What makes this shoe company innovative and useful is that the upper and bottom part of the shoe can be changed and switched out. This allows the wearer to have many different styles and colors of shoes to wear. This product makes it significantly easier to pack different options for footwear without having to give up too much space in a suitcase. The shoes are both reliable and easy to use, which allows wearers to adapt their shoe style from day to evening, casual to dressy, summer to fall, and through all of life’s transitions. I knew that I wanted to intern for Cat Perkins because I believe in startups and want to be on the cutting edge of creativity and entrepreneurship. I wanted to work for a small company where I could make big changes and gain hands-on experience that most interns at big companies wouldn’t get. I also wanted to help with many different areas of a company so that I could gain a better idea of what I find most interesting and where I could be the most helpful.
I first contacted Deb Perkins, the CEO and Co-Founder of Cat Perkins, to gain her insight into the footwear industry for a school project in one of my Entrepreneurship classes. I loved our initial conversation with her and after spending an entire semester researching the biological impact heels have on a person’s body, I knew that this was a subject that I was extremely interested in.
This first week working at Cat Perkins has given me a broad oversight into the company. One of my favorite parts about this job is that no two days are the same. During the first week we participated in a professional photoshoot for the shoes. We went behind the scenes to see how long it takes to get a few good images or videos. We were also encouraged to go on our own photoshoot in Madison Square Park to take photos of us in our new Cat Perkins shoes to get “assets” for their social media and branding. I love learning about what makes a good photo for social media purposes and learning about the specific branding that Cat Perkins is trying to accomplish.
Another highlight of the first week was our trip to the factory in Hoboken, New Jersey. The factory makes one of the styles of uppers for the shoes. They also employ women who have been victims of sex trafficking and gives them a stable income. The art of shoemaking is a very complicated process which includes many different steps. Cat Perkins uses premium Italian Kid-Suede and leather for their shoes. Being a small company, we really care about the quality of our product, so we had to inspect every piece of leather and pig skin to make sure that our shoes have no imperfections on them.
I love working for Cat Perkins because I feel like I am deeply involved in the entire company and am learning hands on what it takes to run a small business. I’ve gained so much more knowledge of the fashion industry than I would’ve if I had been working for a larger company. I’ve already seen results from the work that I’ve done at the company. Cat Perkins has had a significant increase in social medial followers in the last few days since the other intern and I have started working.
Being in New York City has been a huge advantage of my internship. I commute into Grand Central Terminal every day and then walk past the Empire State Building to get to work. The Flatiron building is just a block or two away from my office and I love being able to see such historic sites on my trip to work. I’m so excited to learn more from this experience and I hope to gain a better insight into the world of entrepreneurship.