How Leaders From Nike, Caleres, Vaila Shoes & Tiannia Barnes Are Succeeding With Diversity Efforts

In FN’s annual “Women Who Rock” issue, we asked female leaders from throughout the shoe world to talk about their latest efforts to make the industry more diverse and inclusive, and how that’s translating into success.

Below are their responses, in alphabetical order.

Tiannia Barnes
CEO, founder & designer

“I’m most proud of the partnerships that we have with organizations like Girls Inc. of L.A., and other service-oriented organizations that we’ve partnered with to help raise substantial funds for underserved youth in the STEM fields — and to provide scholarships for graduating seniors.”

Natelle Baddeley
SVP of design, product development and merchandise strategy, Brand Portfolio, Caleres

“We’re revolutionizing body positivity, diversity, inclusive designs and representation through our marketing and product. Our Naturalizer brand has been championing inclusivity through our ‘For Every Woman’ initiative, serving up every type of shoe in a range of skin tones, sizes and widths, with the inclusion of transgender models. We’ve also made tremendous strides in our environmentally preferred product offerings and manufacturing processes, [and are] on our way to meeting or even exceeding our 2025 ESG goals.”

Ahriana Edwards
Founder & CEO, Vaila Shoes

“My biggest accomplishment in the last year was my brand, Vaila Shoes, launching into Macy’s. We were able to secure that partnership in under one year of business. I’m proud that I’ve built a community of thousands of women who truly desire fashion flexibility when it comes to their footwear. This partnership was the start of achieving our vision of having plus-size footwear representation in the retail industry and we’re already seeing the impact.”

Tania Flynn
VP of apparel design, Nike

This past year, I went from leading women’s design to leading all of apparel design for Nike globally, making me the first woman and woman of color to take on this role. As a designer and a leader, I’ve been on a mission to expand inclusive design. At Nike, that means we’re truly celebrating all forms of movement and we’re putting our amazing resources against delivering a better fit for every body, shape and size. Nike has always been the best at listening to the voice of the athlete — now we’re just listening to a wider range of voices.”