Leslie Segan and Larry Schwartz of Aetrex

What a great way to kick off the new year with an interview conducted by Julie. She spoke with a fun and facinating lady named, Leslie Segan who is the Executive Assistant to Larry Schwartz the CEO of Aetrex. Leslie won a Halloween costume contest and her prize was being feature here on the site. Lucky for me I was also able to snag an interview with Larry himself, which I will be posting tomorrow. Aetrex had a great year last year and while it is apparent to me that this is largly contributed to the fact that they have outstanding people within the organization they also have great product. I have had problems with my feet for years and finding the right running shoe has always been tough…until now. Larry was kind enough to send me a pair of shoes based on what I told him my problems were and I cannot tell you how amazing they are. Best pair of running shoes hands down….ever. More on that and my conversation with Larry tomorrow, but for now enjoy Julie’s inteview with Larry’s right hand lady! Happy New Year!! -Julia

My Interview with Leslie Segan of Aetrex

Interviewing Leslie from Aetrex was definitely fun, but also very interesting and gives a lot of hope about the workplace!

Leslie is the Executive Assistant to the CEO of Aetrex, Larry Schwartz.  Founded in 1946, Aetrex is a $60 million dollar family-owned corporation widely recognized as the global leader in pedorthic footwear and foot orthotics.  The company’s innovative new lines of fashion-forward high performance sport, dress and casual footwear for men and women are creating a high level of industry “buzz.”

Aetrex also owns and maintains the world’s most popular foot health website, www.foot.com, which hosts more than 300,000 visitors per month and was named by Yahoo.com! as the best health care site “below the knee.”

I interviewed Leslie because she won the scariest Halloween Costume contest at her company, dressed as a “Demon Parrot!”

Scary!!! haha

As Leslie told me herself:  “I am crazy about Halloween: it’s the biggest holiday of the year!  I wake up at 4:00am, start applying my makeup and I’m usually finished by around 7:30am.  I have always loved monsters.  I go to my favorite costume place a couple of times before Halloween and work very hard on my costume.  Last year I was a gargoyle, and this year a demon parrot.”

“I had a parrot for 21 years,” Leslie explained.  “She passed away almost a year ago, so my costume this year was in honor of her.  The bird feet I wore were from a show that I was in called “Inferno,” a rock’n’roll musical opera.”

As I mentioned to Leslie, I found it very nice that Aetrex organizes fun events like the Halloween contest for their employees. Leslie agreed.  “It boosts morale.  Aetrex makes it fun for their employees, and that’s the most important thing!”

I asked her what her prize was:  “Fifty dollars plus a pair of shoes of my choice!”

I asked Leslie what was the most interesting part of her job.  She told me that first of all it was an honor to work as the CEO’s assistant, and that fortunately it was a very busy office.  “I communicate with a lot of reps.  I am running around all day busy with various tasks.  I’m responsible for distributing trade publication leads, do loads of product information projects, etc… I work with a lot of very creative and wonderful people, which is the most rewarding part of my job.”

“Aetrex has evolved a lot,” Leslie explained.  She has worked there for a decade.  “It became the company of the moment.  This is consistently a wonderful job and I’m very lucky to be working at Aetrex.”

When I asked Leslie how she landed at Aetrex and what kind of background she had, I expected her answer would be something original, but not as original as the answer I heard!

“I am a musician”, Leslie said.  I was a theatre and music major.  I used to sing commercial jingles.  I come from a music/theatre family background, but the music industry was very difficult.  I then worked for a management company, and now I’ve been with Aetrex for 10 years!  Larry Schwartz is a wonderful boss.  I actually got hired on my 40^th birthday.  Larry wouldn’t even let me say yes to his job offer until two days later on my actual birthday!”

“Aetrex is a wonderful family business,” she added, noting that Larry’s brothers, Evan and Matt are both executives at the company and their father, Richard, is the Chairman of the Board.

I expect all people working in the shoe industry to have an obsession with shoes and Leslie told me she had always loved footwear.  So the next question naturally came to me:  What was her favorite shoe brand besides Aetrex?  “I love Betsey Johnson!  They’re beautiful and colorful, and they make a statement.  I also like Two Lips” she said.

Leslie was so energetic and positive. I asked if she had someone she looks to for guidance:  “My older brother,” she answered.  He is an author, a product developer (inventor) and very creative. 

To conclude our interview, I wanted to know if Leslie felt there was a highlight in her career up to this point and she answered, “It’s the evolution of our products, making people look good and more important, feel good.”

Meeting Leslie was wonderful, too, and the only thing I could add is that working at Aetrex seems like a very unique experience!:)

-Julie Prado