My Sneaker Story: Lucy Crivelli Frey
Images: Lucy Crivelli
When creating community, our deeper sense of shared experiences builds a strong foundation for connection. As women of color, we experience a particular level of resiliency in the face of adversity. Lucy Crivelli Frey understands the duality of challenges and triumphs, and how each can be celebrated in its own way. Being a Mexican-born LA-raised immigrant daughter of immigrants, the mentality of hustle and heart are threads woven throughout the fabric of her personal growth.
Through a lens of rich culture and humble beginnings, Lucy traveled to California by way of Mexico with her family. This is where Lucy began planting deep roots and learning the true meaning of resiliency.
“My mom taught me that sacrifice and hard work build dreams and that you can always count on community and family.”
Growing up in Culver City and Inglewood wasn’t always full of fun and childhood bliss. The American dream consisted of hard work and dedication regardless of age. From prepping food to sell on the Cali streets to taking care of siblings and supporting parents, Lucy recalls the sacrifices as part of her heritage story. Doing your part to help the family is a rite of passage.
“You go through hardships together, as a family. It’s the next version of sacrifice after you have made it across the border. I have so much gratitude for these experiences because my family taught me resiliency but the experiences taught me adaptability. I’m proud of where I came from because it has helped me get to where I’m going.”
Lucy has taken the core values that have molded and motivated her into adulthood with a mission of creating more community through disruptive compassion. Calling her multifaceted is an understatement as her interests show no limits. Two years ago, Lucy co-founded a creative agency - Tomorrow Isn’t Promised (TIP). She continues to accomplish her dreams today with the launch of the TIP apparel business and working as the Executive Producer for Aglet App - a sneaker gaming Web3 app. TIP plays an integral role in amplifying the voices and helping creators, brands, and artists, to build their visions.
“Once I knew where God was leading me I didn’t hold back from balancing work and projects across the three. TIP, my agency is the bridge that helps us connect it all through our content, marketing strategies, volunteer work, and social impact.”
A consistently asked question is “If not me, then who?” Lucy is not only an advocate for people of color, but truly believes that we can shift how women are viewed in any industry. Her blueprint is rooted in authenticity and establishing a strong presence, which welcomes other women to do the same.
“It’s about taking up space, creating a safe space, and proving what we all know is true; Women make everything better.”
Lucy reminisces how she’s loved sneakers since way before she could afford them. She has found unique ways to bridge her passions for sneakers, tech, and Cannabis. These areas of her life have never been trends, but more of a daily lifestyle. The synergy she has with each niche has set the tone for her vision and how she navigates her businesses.
“I’m proud to say that I’ve found my own lane and an opportunity to represent what it looks like to break barriers and borders around what the world tells you, you can and cannot do. It was important for me to help de-stigmatize Cannabis across different industries that profit off of it but do not give back to the community that needs it most.”
Although Cannabis is a booming industry, Black and Brown business owners make up a small percentage of that. Lucy’s mission to diversify the industries that people of color elevate, includes the Cannabis market. This is inclusive of representation in the industry where women and men look like us at all levels of the process, even down to content, marketing, and products. Her passion overflows as she notes that “it's also not hard to see that this is because of a lack of funding, resources, and outright fairness.” There is a world in which the ability to change the narrative in how we support, what we consume, and what we highlight is an everyday focus. We live in that world now.
“It’s no easy task trying to convince your traditional Mexican parents on how Cannabis is helpful and not harmful. The stigma related to cannabis, especially in Latinx communities, is tied to the experience of our parents and what their parents went through.”
As we are steadily attempting to figure out what the Metaverse even is, Lucy is also using her talents to educate others on the digital world that can seem like an enigma. She describes the Metaverse as a convergence of Physical to Digital and it can be positioned as a ‘Futuristic Renaissance’.
“You may not be the person that is going to spend hours and hours of your day searching for the top NFT projects to flip on the market. But maybe you’re the person that wants to bring your brand into the future and you have ideas on how you can incorporate Web3 tools into your business to move it into the future. Or maybe you’re a person that wants to educate others and build content around what you’re doing in the Metaverse. I believe there is a lane for everyone as long as we are open to learning and open to creating something out of nothing.”
Lucy continues to connect the dots of not only needing consumers, but focusing on the need for more innovators. Through hard times at a young age and using that to fuel her ambitions, she provides us with a gentle reminder that we should stray away from allowing our hearts to be hardened by hurt along the way. She embodies the essence of showing up in all spaces. Showing up for herself, family, friends, and clients. All these elements and experiences are how Lucy creates her own table, versus pulling up a seat.
To catch more about Lucy Crivelli Frey, check her out on Instagram HERE.
This interview has been edited and condensed for brevity and clarity.