You’ve been there. The moment of truth when you take off your shoes and put your feet on foreign floors – airport, hotel, airplane, health club – who knows who has gone before you and what they had on their feet, or spilled or carried in from who knows where – it’s the Eeew moment. For Kathy Ameche this was not just an unpleasant and potentially unsanitary event, this was an epiphany that grew into a business.
Ameche started out with her feet on the ground as an accountant, an analytical field with a fairly well defined career path. That’s about the last time she stayed on the path (at least someone else’s path). Working for Dun and Bradstreet Software and Deloitte had her traveling 200 plus days a year. Simultaneously she headed down two separate paths: learning about software and technology led her to the position of Vice President and Chief Information Officer for the Tribune Company; being on the road (or more specifically in the air) turned her into an expert on woman’s business travel.
Some 2,000,000 miles later she is still traveling and has turned her experience and observations into two books: The Woman Road Warrior: A Woman’s Guide to Business Travel and The Woman Road Warrior: An Expert’s Guide to Domestic and International Business Travel; a website (womanroadwarrior.com) and a career. She evolved into a speaker, facilitator and counselor for women in business, which as it turned out required more travel. But she didn’t just talk, she listened.
“I heard this complaint over and over from women business travelers. Why wasn’t there a shoe solution for those in-between times when you don’t want to risk going barefoot?
Quite frankly it bothered me so much that I designed my own slippers. I wanted something which was washable, folded up compactly and was not ugly,” says Ameche.
The result was MicciMicci Treads. As Ameche describes them, “They are cushy and comfortable, slip on easily and are pretty darn cute, if I do say so myself. I wear them in hotel rooms, on the plane, in the health club, sometimes even in the airport when I want to be comfy. I can even wear them down to the hotel lobby if I want.”
“I had never really intended to become an entrepreneur but from traveling all the time, I could see that there were products that I wanted and needed to make my life easier and more comfortable. Turns out I wasn’t the only one,” Ameche continued, “when I wear them on trips people stop and ask me about them.”
Along the way she learned about insoles and fabric, sizing and manufacturing. At the same time she has managed her consulting business and the Woman Road Warrior website, videos and Facebook and Twitter outlets. This September 20th marks the 5th anniversary of Woman Road Warrior Day, an event started by Ameche to honor woman business travelers. This year’s theme: “Women Who Go the Extra Mile and the Shoes They Do It In.”
There’s something about stepping up and putting your best foot forward that helps you get a kick out of life. This is something that Kathy Ameche knows from her head down to her shoes
