Throughout our personal journeys, we’ll always come across pivotal moments that transform our lives in many different ways. Whether it was a milestone like turning 16 years old, your first day of college, accomplishing a big dream, or getting married and having children–those moments are special and will always stick with you. For a sneaker lover, one of those special moments was finding that one shoe that made you fall in love and would ultimately change your life forever. You remembered everything about that experience, from where you were when you saw the sneaker to finally putting it on your feet. This moment was the introduction into a new world that would take you places you didn’t even know existed. For Bria Janelle, Melani Carter, and Simran Kaleka, it was a basketball shoe that became their first love, and would ultimately guide them to each other to build a platform for women in the sports and sneaker space. This is a testament at how interconnected origin stories birthed an amazing platform - MADE FOR THE W.

For these ladies, their hometowns had a lot to do with their upbringing in sports and sneaker culture. Growing up in Snellville, GA, Bria spent a lot of her childhood playing basketball and softball. As a young hooper, her go-to was the Air Jordan 10’s, and would be the shoe to stick with her during her entire career–winning her high school championship game in them and all. It wasn’t until after she graduated from college that she would be introduced to more of the lifestyle sneakers. Seeing a pair of Black History Month Air Jordan 1’s in a window while visiting Los Angeles was the moment that popped off her sneaker collection to what it is today.

As for Melani, growing up in the heart of Atlanta, GA gave her a unique experience of becoming a sneaker lover. It was a big deal to wake up early on a Saturday morning, go to South Dekalb Mall and wait outside for hours on sneaker release day. It was more than just buying a new shoe for her, it created life-long friendships and traditions that would live with her forever. Bridging her love of sports and sneakers during her elementary school days was the Allen Iverson Reebok Questions, and as a young athlete in basketball as well, a pair of Jordan Women’s OGs were destined to be in your collection.

Simran’s sneaker introduction came during peak Michael Jordan days while growing up in the late 90’s in Chicago, IL. As a life-long Bulls fan, she was able to experience MJ in his prime and learn the stories behind each Jordan silhouette as a child. Understanding how sports and sneakers go hand in hand developed her love of the sport and sneaker culture. A pair of black Jordan Cement 3’s holds the spot in her heart as her first love, as she remembers saving money from her birthday as a shield and paying for them herself.

The three ladies had a front row seat to the transition of the sneaker game being male-dominated, to getting women-exclusive silhouettes and seeing WNBA players obtaining their own signature lifestyle and basketball sneakers. There was always a lingering awareness that this space needed to be a lot more inclusive. Having the same love for sports and sneakers, with the mindset of having a platform just for women, brought them together to create MADE For The W. 

MADE For The W is a lifestyle platform creating inclusion for women’s sports and sneaker culture on and off the court. As a way to decrease the lack of representation for women’s basketball in sneaker culture, lifestyle marketing, and cross-promotion for the WNBA and women’s sports - the MADE For The W team has made it their mission to continue the conversation and highlight women in this space. For the past three years since its inception, they have created a full movement from media attention to WNBA players mentioning them, and have built a safe space for fans to get all of the exclusive access to players and sneaker culture in general.

Building this platform and overall ecosystem to elevate women in sports and sneaker culture has paved a new road for other spaces to come along as well. Women have a right to be alongside the men in this industry, and should be acknowledged and heard as a contributing factor. Gone are the days where women had to be in the background or at home while the men went out into the world to work and explore. We have gained our independence and have contributed so much to the world. The conversation around more acknowledgement of women in sports is still happening today, which shows there is more work to be done. Having platforms like MADE For The W are needed to keep pressing the issue, highlighting the amazing women in sports and sneaker culture who are making a difference in their work and respective lanes, and ultimately building more opportunities for women to be prominent figures in the industry.

This leads to servicing their community in multiple ways and investing in the women around them. Specifically for women wanting to go into the WNBA, it’s going to take financial resources, giving them a platform to tell their stories, endorsements, and support in all avenues. We know that the WNBA is not as supported as the men are in the NBA, but that is changing. It’s going to take the community to continue raising their voices and acknowledging their accomplishments. MADE For The W has created content around WNBA game days, weekly sneaker releases, and any news surrounding the players off the court. They continue to show up for them when other media are not always doing the same.

What served as a passion for these three young athletes, grew into a purpose that goes beyond just basketball. For Bria, Melani, Simran and the MADE For The W team, they’re just getting started. The future of MADE is bright and filled with big opportunities to take their platform to higher levels. From more curated content that they’re creating on their own to intentional collaborations and partnerships with other brands–their mission will continue to expand and open more doors for women in the sports and sneaker space to be heard.

Stay connected with Made For The W via Instagram and their Website.

Interview content has been edited for length and brevity.