Meet AJ | Color Footwear Designer & Journalist

We had the good fortune of connecting with AJ and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi AJ, career-wise, where do you want to be in the end?
The ultimate end goal is to work for a brand like a Nike, Adidas, Puma, or Under Armour making new color schemes for basketball sneakers and working with some of the best athletes and designers in the world on making a basketball shoe. I’d like to work for a brand for a couple years making colorways/color scheme and make connections. I eventually want to open up my own store where it’s all hands on from getting to make your own shirt and customize your own sneaker as well as selling sneakers for retail and not resell. I would also like to release a sneaker under my brand my very own signature sneaker for people to buy.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’m more of a business management person and that’s what I am going to school for but designing is my minor specifically athletic footwear design. I really started my creative design when the Nike KD 7 released and I was fascinated by that sneaker. Ever since then I tried to better my self at designing shoes. After awhile I took a break from sketching sneakers, and then my sophomore year of high school came and I created a clothing brand labeled “SneakerNerds” which till this day stands. My clothing brand was not a success and I had thought about giving up the whole “SneakerNerds” brand. At the time I nearly gave up I was also heading into college and wanted so badly to attend the University of Oregon which I was accepted into but due to not having the money for college I opted for community college and am still looking to transfer to Oregon my final two years of college and obtain a master’s degree out there. But after I situated everything out with college and not wanting to do clothing for the time being I rebranded my “SneakerNerds”page where I share my colorways I created for basketball shoes and basketball footwear designs. Everyday I try to make a new colorway on a pair of sneakers, I took that concept from one of my favorite athletes of all time Cristiano Ronaldo, in an interview about Ronaldo it was said Ronaldo goal was always to score one goal a game, so I decided to make a concept a day. What I want my brand to stand for is to think outside the box and put your own creative ideas on anything I just put it on sneakers. What I want my brand to eventually stand for one day is that anything is possible if you keep striving for what you want. I always wanted to be a footwear designer at Nike, Adidas or Puma I’m not quite there yet but I have made some strides and connections on getting to where I want to be. I started with 0 followers, 0 connections, 0 chances of making it and I continue to try to make it no matter what. I am self taught I have never taken a design class in my life every colorway design I made or new shoe I made is self taught with more guidance and educators I could probably improve my skills. I think one of the hardest things throughout was not having any guidance or someone who was going through the same things I was going through. I met two people who have helped me tremendously in the sneaker industry who I’d like to mention which would be Ian Cobb who is a designer at Merrell and Travis Singleton who owns SneakerReporter news outlet.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I was born in raised in the city of Chicago for 19 years but now I live in Dallas. No disrespect to Dallas I love Dallas, but Chicago is the better city. Chicago has the Bean, the bright lights at night, the Willis tower, Lake Michigan, shopping centers, cultural differences in food, and some of the best sports teams in the world.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My parents and family members have all played a role on my life and who I’ve become today. But I would like to specifically thank my parents and grandfather who have helped me through everything and made me who I am. My mother wanted to be a fashion designer so I got a lot of inspiration from her on wanting to be a footwear colorway designer for basketball sneakers. My father is also a very creative person and has given me a lot of ideas about how to be creative and always striving to be a little bit different. My grandpa who always said kindness is always the key and passion and hard work will get you where you want to be.

Website: https://sneakernerdsofl.com/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/sneakernerdofl?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angel-ortiz-jr-baa6b9229

Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@sneakernerdsofl?_t=8VLs3i1WZos&_r=1

Image Credits
https://instagram.com/seanoulashin?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==