Pensole, in partnership with Mass Housing and Mass Impact, has launched LEAD - Leaders Emerge After Direction. LEAD is a hands-on, intensive, three-week footwear master class, created to discover, encourage and develop black and brown Boston youth to become creative leaders.
Pensole hand-selected eight aspiring designers from a field of nearly 100 in a worldwide search through MESH01 to receive scholarships provided by Mass Housing and Mass Impact to the LEAD master class, which starts today and runs through August 5 at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.
"As one of the first people of color to enter the footwear industry, it has been a personal goal to create a program that was focused on providing black and brown youth the opportunity I did not have," PENSOLE founder D'Wayne Edwards said. "I want to thank Mass Housing, Mass Impact, AbekaM and MIT for providing me and these aspiring designers the opportunity to show the footwear industry what can happen when you invest in our youth."
LEAD final presentations will feature guest instructors from Reebok, New Balance, Converse, Puma, Cole Haan, Nike, Jordan and a host of other top footwear companies.