Aspen Ideas Festival

About a month and a half ago I was asked to be a part of the Aspen Ideas Festival. Every year, hundreds of influential people get together to discuss the issues that mold our lives, cultures, and communities. I headed out to Aspen on the 4th to engage in some great discussions and speak on a panel with Facebook co-founder Sean Parker. We also screened our documentary, “For Tomorrow,” which definitely brings the TOMS story to life.

The highlight of this past weekend was joining President Clinton and the trustees of his foundation for dinner both nights in Aspen. Not only did I get a little one on one time with the President, I met some of the most amazing people at the dinners. His trustees and good friends are very committed to the work of his foundation and to making the world a better place, and this inspired me greatly.

For those of you who might not know, TOMS committed to providing shoes for 50,000 children in South Africa and at least 25,000 in Ethiopia with in a 12 month period as part of the Clinton Global Initiative.

I spent the following days with my family in Colorado, and will return to my TOMS family in Santa Monica end of this week!

Aspen meadows resort, at the aspen institute campus, super cool, where I stayed

Facebook co-founder Sean Parker and I


President Clinton and I

Welcome to Santa Monica

Join Us!

When TOMS first began in 2006, I put an ad on Craigslist for interns. Those first interns became some of TOMS’ greatest employees. Since then, our internship program has grown incredibly, and runs every Fall, Spring, and Summer semester. We invite the best students from around the country who are passionate about TOMS to come live in our intern house and work with us full-time in Santa Monica, CA. Our current intern class is well into the summer now, and working on some amazing projects. I just want to say THANK YOU, and also invite all the college students who want to make a difference at TOMS to apply for a future headquarters internship with us! The spirit of volunteerism has always been a huge aspect of TOMS Shoes, and I am continually impressed with the multitude of people who want to get their hands in and help out.

We are gearing up for our Fall recruitment of High School and College ambassadors, too. If you want to spread the word and create a positive buzz about TOMS in your own campus community, we would love to have you on board!

Click here to Join the Team!

Carpe Diem.

Ethiopia

I have had many incredible experiences since starting TOMS, but none have been more moving or humbling than the twelve days that I recently spent in Ethiopia.

It’s hard to believe, but thousands of children are dying every year in Ethiopia because they do not have proper footwear. Podoconiosis (or Podo, for short) is a terrible disease caused by a certain type of contaminated soil. Podo causes massive swelling, ulcers and deformities in the feet and lower legs – leaving young children with feet the size of elephants. Those suffering from Podo are treated like Lepors in their communities and have no chance to hold a job, get married or raise a family. At this very moment, between 500,000 and 1 million Ethiopians are suffering from Podo and 11 million total are at risk of contracting the disease. The statistics are mind-boggling.

The solution to this problem, however, is tragically simple: SHOES.

We want to completely wipe Podo off the face of the Earth by hand delivering a tough and durable shoe to kids at risk of contracting the disease. Show your support and visit our Causes page on Facebook!

Whole Foods Eco Vegan Shoe!

Tribeca Film Festival

I would like to thank everyone that came and supported us at the Tribeca Film Festival. You guys ROCKED! I have so many unforgettable memories from this week… of theaters overflowing with TOMS clad fans, mad dashes to secure more tickets, and experiencing tears of joy seeing Alejo charm the silver screen. Few experiences have topped this.

Check out some of the videos I took while in NYC:

Pre-order your copy of For Tomorrow on TOMSshoes.com!

TOMS Hits the Silver Screen!

I am really proud to announce that our documentary about TOMS has been accepted into the Tribeca Film Festival! The film is entitled ‘For Tomorrow’ and beautifully tells the story of TOMS first Shoe Drop in Argentina. The director is my good buddy Ken Kokin who, in a stroke of good luck, I met at a poker table in Ocean County just weeks before the Argentina trip. Ken co-produced the Academy Award Winning The Usual Suspects and worked with Ryan Phillippe a few years back on The Way of the Gun.

If you live anywhere near New York City, please come and support us at one of the screenings. It is going to be AMAZING. I am going to be doing QandA after each of the screenings. I hope to pack as many TOMS fans as possible into the theater…

Thursday, April 24, 4:00 pm, AV7-05

Saturday, April 26, 12:00 pm, AV7-04

Tuesday, April 29, 7:30 pm, A19-01

Thursday, May 1, 5:00 pm, VEC-06

Sunday, May 4, 1:00 pm, VEC-05

Locations

AMC Village VII (AV7)

66 Third Avenue (at 11th Street)

New York, NY 10003

AV7-5: Seats 160

AMC 19th Street East (A19)

890 Broadway (at 19th Street)

New York, NY 10003

A19-01: Seats 219

Village East Cinemas (VEC)

181 Second Avenue (at 12th Street)

New York, NY 10003

VEC-05: Seats 66

VEC-06: Seats 151

You can either buy tickets at the box office before each showing or buy them online at the Tribeca website.

See you guys there!