When Mary Oakley Robertson first came to East Tennessee State University, she focused on athletics. She ran with the Buccaneer track and field team, but when a hip injury forced her to give that up, she turned to another passion – one that has led to a growing business, with her work visible on the world stage.
The Knoxville native always had a creative streak, and while she was growing up, Robertson would paint designs on everything from canvas to the back of her bedroom door. In fact, at one point, she painted on the wall behind her bed so her parents wouldn’t see.
She even painted a pair of shoes with some old acrylic paint, and wore them on a family trip to the beach. She was surprised when another girl approached her at an ice cream shop, exclaiming, “Where did you get those shoes? They’re so cool!”
Robertson was hesitant at first, but with her mother’s encouragement, she agreed to paint a pair of shoes for this new fan who eagerly asked for her own pair of painted shoes, and MoakleyCustoms was born.
“My biggest supporter encouraged me to take the leap and just do it,” Robertson said of her mom. “It’s something that I love to do and it’s where my heart is – in design and creativity. So why not do it? I did, and it led to a lot of business and success since then.”
While she was focused on running, Robertson occasionally painted some shoes but did not have the free time to go at it full-force. However, after her injury, just when she was at a loss as to what to do, opportunity came her way.
A contact in Knoxville who works for a company that makes leotards for gymnasts reached out to Robertson, asking if she could paint custom shoes for the USA women’s gymnastics team.
“I was in shock and disbelief, and wasn’t convinced that this was happening until she sent me the list of names that each pair of shoes was going to,” Robertson said.
“Everything’s an opportunity to learn and grow. Take every opportunity. Don’t count anything out."
Mary Oakley
One pair of shoes normally takes Robertson between 20 and 40 hours to complete, depending on the level of detail. But with only five days to complete 10 pairs of shoes, she worked night and day – creating the design, getting official approvals for logo and symbol use, procuring the shoes and painting – and even enlisted the help of her mother and sister.
Together, they completed all 10 pairs of shoes and got to the post office just five minutes before closing to ship them to Texas. The shipment arrived just in time for Simone Biles, Jordan Chiles and the rest of the gymnastics team to open the shoeboxes during their send-off party before heading to Paris for what would become a very successful Olympics, expressing surprise and delight with their new footwear.
Since then, several of the gymnasts have reached out to thank Robertson, and she’s even ended up painting more MoakleyCustoms shoes for not only the gymnasts but also the entire USA Gymnastics staff.
Robertson is a junior at ETSU pursuing a BBA in marketing with a minor in entrepreneurship, learning skills she says she hopes will help her take her business to new heights.
“I go to class every day and I learn something new,” she said of her studies. “And throughout class, I think, ‘How can I apply what I’m learning now, when they’re talking about larger brands – how can I do it for my business?’ So then I come home and think, ‘This is what I’m doing for MoakleyCustoms.’
“I’ve learned the whole analytics side of entrepreneurship, the social media, how important customer relationship is. The education and my major focus classes have completely changed the game. I feel like there’s something I can learn every single day that I walk into the classroom and bring it home with me.”
While having to cut her running career short was disappointing, Robertson is thankful for all that has followed.
“It’s not what I had intended, but there were so many opportunities that came of it,” she said. “Very quickly, that door closed and the next one opened – the shoe and Olympic opportunity came about, and I could not be more grateful for the change that ended up happening.”
Robertson has learned valuable lessons through this experience.
“Everything’s an opportunity to learn and grow,” she said. “Take every opportunity. Don’t count anything out. Live each day to the fullest, and even though you might not be where you want to be, you’re also not where you were in the past. So keep pushing forward.”
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