Wayne on the job!

A few weeks ago, Wayne won the Twitter Action of the Day award and the prize is being featured. Well since I know Wayne pretty well, I thought it would be more fun to have Julie interview him. Of course Wayne, being the good sport that he is, was up for it. I gave Julie the scoop on Wayne, like the fact that he is super duper tall, drives a smart car and that he knew Scarlett Johanssen along with a few other fun facts and she prepared for the first big interview of her journalism career…hopefully not her last!!   Thanks to Wayne for his participation and great work Julie!!   -Julia

My Interview with Wayne Elsey

Soles4Souls has a simple mission: To impact as many lives as possible with the gift of shoes. Soles4Souls has a simple concept: They get shoes and give them away.

It started in 2004, after the tsunami hit Southeast Asia, that is when Wayne Elsey, Founder and CEO of Soles4Souls™ Inc. decided to do something. He explained to me how the idea came to him:

“One day, I was watching a documentary on Southeast Asia on TV and I just decided it was time to help people, even if it was a difficult project. I mean, you don’t need a natural disaster for a disaster to happen in someone’s life. You have little disaster every day.”

The idea with the shoes came thanks to Wayne’s background. In fact, Wayne left an executive position at a large footwear company invest his time in the charity he founded. “I’m happy to be able to help people with such a simple mission,” Wayne said. “The growth of this organization has been rapid and I am excited to get involved on a daily basis so that I can devote more time to a cause that makes a difference in people’s lives.”

So, I wanted to know more about the message behind Soles4Souls, and Wayne explained it to me very well, using a pretty metaphor about nature and life. “The message is very simple to understand. I mean, try to close your eyes and go barefoot out to the streets, and you’ll see how it is! It’s like life, it’s not smooth. Life is not like walking on the grass, there are stones along the way.”

Soles4Souls has given away 6 Million pairs of shoes, so it’s a good start to fight against the rocks in one’s way!

You could wonder if he always had been like that, but when I asked him, he said: “No, I was a dork! Seriously, I was happy-go-lucky, I wasn’t very outgoing, but I was a good role model.” 

Soles4Souls works with a lot of celebrities, and one of them is Jessica Simpson. I personally love her, I found her very sensible and touching, so I couldn’t help but asking Wayne a few insider thoughts on her. “She is really smart, cool, fun and energetic. And about the small disaster of real life, look at Jessica, she’s been through so much, and she has stood and fought. Her love life was in all the tabloids, she lost her dog, these things are terrible when they happen in someone’s life. But she stood through the disasters and fought.”

Another celebrity Wayne told me about is Scarlett Johansson, I was asking him if he ever had a fun memory with a celebrity and Wayne thought about an anecdote, “Oh, I remember having a very blond moment with Scarlett Johansson! She donated 2,000 pairs of shoes from her new apparel line from Reebok and I ended up thanking one of Reebok’s competitors for the generous donation,” he said.

More seriously, Soles4Souls is present in a lot of different parts of the world, 125 countries to be exact. Wayne goes to Latin America  frequently. But they also work in Africa, and some European countries.

Wayne’s daughter Melissa is attending University right now, and when asked if she was going to follow his steps, Wayne told me that “she wants to be a psychologist, but she organizes events on her campus for Soles4Souls, like the ‘shoe drive’ for example.” With such a blood in her veins we can expect her to accomplish great things in the future too…

Julia and Wayne met by “a mutual friend who introduced them. As Wayne explained me, “We first talked on the phone, a lot actually! For several hours. And we had a lot in common. I know she has my back and I have hers. She is remarkable and has an amazing enthusiasm.”

Knowing Julia a lot and Wayne a little, I can imagine why they get along so well! And by the way, Julia, I asked Wayne if he was willing to lend you his Smart car, and he said yes! So you can go visit now!

My last question was if Wayne had any advice to give to the new generation or anyone who would like to be inspired. “Yes, do something!” Wayne immediately answered. “Get out off the couch and do something that make a difference. You don’t know the people you can impact by little things. You offer hope.”

And that’s exactly what Wayne gives: hope, willingness, and courage to do the things that you have always wanted to do but never took the time to act on it. It’s “Changing the World One Pair at a Time”…

-Julie