I met Angel Calva a while back and hanging out with him is an absolute priority during each trip to NYC. Not only is he one of the nicest guys I have ever met, but he is also an industry vet who has an amazing perspective on the industry. I love talking to him as he still has a positive outlook and always has a funny story to tell me. He is also responsible for introducing me to Rick Paterno, the President of Nine West who was kind enough to give me a tour of the fab showrooms, which was great! Angel currently is the VP of Product Development over multiple brands at Nine West. If you have the opportunity to meet him, it is definitely worth it to hear his story and how he made his way in shoes… I was talking to Angel back in June and telling him (with as few breaths as possible) all about the re-launch of Shoebizness. Angel has always been supportive, except that until my last trip, he called me the wrong name! He even  told me to call him to make sure my number was in his phone, when I looked down as his phone rang, I was in it, but it certainly wasn’t my name! I feel like singing that Ting Ting’s song when I see him (btw, the song is titled “That’s not my Name”)! haha   I think he finally has is down now, but no matter….my feelings are not hurt. I like making up names too. So back to Jay-Z, as Angel and I were recently chatting, he told me a story about his encounter…Hopefully I can write it as well as Angel tells it!

Angel and me at the FFANY party in June.

Angel was in L.A. 9 years ago, during the height of the HOVA  movement , for you who don’t know what that means, it’s Jay Z’s nickname. Maybe you remember H to the Izzo, V to the Izzay??? lol  …Okay so Angel was in L.A. and decided to stop in Niketown in Beverly Hills for a sweet new pair of stylish kicks. As Angel sat on the allotted bench trying on his shoes, which by his own admission were pretty boring, he noticed a guy oddly watching him as he shopped around the store. It made Angel a bit uncomfortable, but he continued what he was doing until the gentleman came and sat next to him and kept staring. The guy then starts talking to him and told him that he should try on a different pair of shoes and pointed to a much flashier, more expensive pair on the wall. Angel agreed to try them, but he really just wanted a nice comfy pair of sneakers to walk around in. However, this guy was persuasive and convinced him that he should get the cooler shoes. As Angel sat there contemplating his purchase, the guy left and went back to what he was doing. Angel decided he would take the shoes that were suggested to him and went up to the counter to pay.

He found himself behind the mystery guy and watched the clerk ring him up for a variety of shoes, apparel and other random things for a whopping total of 6 grand! The guy pulled out a wad of cash from his pocket and Angel says to him, “Damn, I must be in the wrong business!” To which the guy responded asking him if he decided to go for the shoes he had suggested. Angel informed him that yes in fact he had taken his advice and said to him, “You know, while you are at it, you might as well pay for mine too.”  The guy grabbed the shoes from Angel put them on the counter and threw down the cash. Done.   He then turned around and started asking Angel all sorts of questions, his name, what he did for a living etc. As they talked, he went on to tell Angel that he was very interested in the footwear business and was looking to start his own line. He introduced himself as Jay Z, to which meant nothing to Angel. He also told him that he was getting ready to go on MTV and gave Angel his card.

What did Angel do you are wondering??? Well, at this point he was not necesarily believing what Jay was telling him and was really kind of confused. He certainly didn’t beleive he had just had and encounter with one of the world’s most famous rappers……so he THREW THE CARD AWAY!!!  Oh no! So Angel continued to his next stop on the West Coast which was San Francisco and as he sat in his hotel room, he turned on the TV and for the hell of it, decided to flip to MTV and not more than a minute later did Jay-Z pop up and at that moment Angel realized what he had just experienced. He frantically dug around his luggage looking for the card, but it was gone.

The funny part of this story is that Nine West’s Manhattan office is  in the same building as Roca Wear, so on a weekly basis Angel hears stories about people running into him and has seen his limo parked out front on several occasions, but has yet to bump into him personally. If he ever does, it will be interesting to see if Jay remembers the experience at Niketown and buying Angel  new kicks! I have heard that Jay-Z is one of the nicest celebrities out there and actually have several friends who have met him. I always hear great stories, so I would not be surprised if he does remember. That being said, I just thought of something……..Does Angel still have the shoes???? I will have to find out or you can ask Angel yourself this weekend as he will be attending a two day event at Manhattan’s first JC Penney store, located at 33rd Ave and 6th Str in the Manhattan Mall. The event will be celebrating the launch of 9 & Co, exclusive for JC Penney as well as the grand opening of the store. 

Thank you to Angel for being a great sport and sharing this great story, which btw, the moral to this story is never throw away a business card!!   If you have a cool celebrity story to share, please let me know….I would love to hear it!!