Blake Mycoskie

Blake Mycoskie (born August 26, 1976) is an American entrepreneur and author. He is best known as the Founder and Chief Shoe Giver of TOMS Shoes.

Entrepreneurship

In 1999, Blake created his second business, Mycoskie Media, an outdoor billboard company based in Nashville, Tennessee, that he would later sell to Clear Channel Communications. Following his stint on the CBS reality show, The Amazing Race, Mycoskie sought to create an all-reality cable TV network called Reality Central. Reality Central was covered by CNN and featured on the front page of Variety, but ultimately folded when Rupert Murdoch launched the Fox Reality Channel. After Reality Central, Blake partnered with the founders of TrafficSchool.com to create Drivers Ed Direct, an online drivers education service and in-the-car training school featuring hybrid cars and SUVs.

Amazing Race

Mycoskie and his sister Paige competed as a team on the second season of CBS’ The Amazing Race. In one of the closest finishes in the show’s history, Blake and Paige finished just four minutes short of winning the $1 million dollar grand prize. The Mycoskie siblings finished third overall.

TOMS

While vacationing in Argentina in 2006, Blake spent a day volunteering with a local non-profit organization delivering used shoes to children in the villages outside of Buenos Aires. Blake’s self-described epiphany moment came when he realized that he could start a for-profit business, not a charity, to continually give new shoes to children in need. He would do so by selling an updated version of the alpargata, a shoe worn by farmers in South America for over 100 years.

Blake created the One for One business model, which provides a new pair of TOMS shoes to a child in need for every pair purchased. Blake originally called his company “Shoes for Tomorrow,” but later shortened the name to “TOMS Shoes.”

In 2011, TOMS Eyewear was launched using the One for One model. For every pair of glasses sold, people in need would receive prescription glasses, sight-saving surgery or medical treatment.

References

Time Magazine - http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1582305,00.html

Wall Street Journal Online- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204632204577131031031671906.html

Huffington Post – http://www.huffingtonpost.com/blake-mycoskie

WebMD – http://www.webmd.com/eye-health/features/blake-mycoskie-starts-something-that-matters

Fast Company – http://www.fastcompany.com/1776334/toms-shoes-ceo-blake-mycoskie-on-social-entrepreneurship-telling-stories-and-his-new-book

CNBC - http://www.cnbc.com/id/44408799/Interview_with_Blake_Mycoskie_the_Author_of_Start_Something_That_Matters

Inc.com - http://www.inc.com/magazine/20080301/my-place-blake-mycoskies-cozy-cruiser.html

Footwear News – http://www.wwd.com/footwear-news/brand-of-the-year-toms-shoes-3391402

ACE Awards – http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2009/dec/133351.htm

Go Go Gala – http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/alltherage/blake_mycoskie/

Key to West Hollywood – http://www.hanson.net/site/postings/5860?section_id=17

Cooper Hewitt – http://peoplesdesignaward.cooperhewitt.org/2007/

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