Behind the scenes: Leadership in Colour - Sneaker Chat with Gary and Elaine

Join us for an engaging and light-hearted sneak peek into our upcoming interview with Gary Rayneau and Elaine Dela Cruz, the dynamic duo behind Project23 and Coaches of Colour. In this delightful behind-the-scenes outtake, we not only touch on the profound impact of their DEI work but also share laughs over fashion and sneakers, showcasing the infectious energy and camaraderie between us.

Dive into our nostalgic journey through sneaker culture, where we reminisce about our first pairs of trainers, debate the merits of Air Force Ones, and uncover the charm of outlet bargains. Elaine, a self-confessed sneakerhead, and Gary, with his sentimental shoe stories, reveal how our footwear choices mirror our life paths and personal values. We even discuss the lifecycle of our beloved kicks, from the excitement of unboxing to their eventual role as trusty garden shoes.

This conversation sets the stage for the full interview, where we delve deeper into the inspiring journey and initiatives of Project23. Get ready to be moved by the warmth, wit, and wisdom of these remarkable individuals, and don’t miss the chance to be part of the pre-interview fun!

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

We also popped into the Nike outlet, where I picked up this pair for about 40 quid.

Speaker 2: 0:04

I like it and he wasn't happy. Story behind it cheap yeah cheap, cheap outlet the dad's version, yeah.

Speaker 3: 0:09

I love it, I love it, and you know they're not really. They're not real.

Speaker 3: 0:12

No, they're not I started these conversations to discuss leadership, mentorship, growth and so much more from voices you may not have heard from before. I hope the conversations inspire you, motivate you and give you something to think about this. Leadership in Colour from myself, shezik Bal, supported and powered by MIFA. Welcome to Leadership in Colour. Thank you so much for joining us in this special edition. It's what I'm calling the coaching edition, and I'm so pleased to have with me my guests Gary and Elaine, co-founders of Project 23, coaches of Colour and the Equitable Coaching Foundation. So I wanted to get into your name. But before I go into the name, we had a chat on the way in about trainers and you were going to bring some trainer game today. So I've noticed you're both sporting air force ones. What's the story behind those? You know?

Speaker 1: 1:13

elaine is definitely more the sneaker head than me. My my these air for one stories is. You know, there is a funny story because my my son, oscar, who's 13, he's, he's getting into trainers and he was obsessed by getting a certain pair of Air Force 1s that he saved some money up for, spent 140-odd quid on Air Force 1s which he loved. The same day we also popped into the Nike outlet where I picked up this pair for about 40 quid.

Speaker 2: 1:39

I like it and he wasn't happy. Story behind it. Cheap, yeah, cheap outlet. The dad's version.

Speaker 3: 1:46

Yeah, happy story behind it. Cheap, yeah, cheap, cheap, outlet that's version. Yeah, I love it. I love it. And you know they're not really. They're not real, no, no, no, they're not. They're not readily available in outlets and that's one.

Speaker 1: 1:53

No, no yeah yeah, yeah very good.

Speaker 3: 1:57

And how about you, elaine? Yours are pretty cool. Yeah, we'll put pictures up later mine are um.

Speaker 2: 2:02

I'm not usually an air force.

Speaker 2: 2:03

One person I've got to say okay I'm definitely a nike person as well, as I wear other trainers too, but I find myself in the nike. I mean I could kick myself out with all nike all day. Um, I'm wearing a pair of air force ones because of sporting a wide leg trouser today, so you can't just wear any old you can't be wearing. I mean, you know who would wear hirachis with a wide leg trouser, or a pair of dunks potentially, but these are quite long, these trousers as well. So you need a little bit of lift, which an air force one gives me compared to, say, a pair of dunks or pair jordans. What are you sporting today?

Speaker 3: 2:38

got some jordan ones right. They're black, gray white, they're nice. My wife bought them for me, vegan, nice. Yeah, yeah, she didn't buy a vegan on purpose, but they happen to be. But they happen to be. I think, if you can go vegan, go vegan. But it's not. I just like them. I just I think the fact that she she bought them, yeah, makes them mean so much to me. It's the first pair of trainers she's bought for me. The second pair of trainers, unfortunately, I said to her I wasn't that keen on so we had to return them.

Speaker 3: 3:14

I don't even remember what they were, but they looked a little bit like Timberlands. They weren't vegan.

Speaker 2: 3:18

Do you know what the vegan trainer thing is? Kind of the way you said like oh, you can, if you can, if you can, you should kind of thing I mean yeah I'm down.

Speaker 2: 3:30

It's like a brownie, isn't it? If the brownie tastes good and it's vegan, I'm down. Yeah, yeah, but I still think, for me, trainers is about how I feel when I put them on. I'm like, or when I look at them, or not gonna lie, it might be shallow, but also like what other people can think about my trainers, because that is a thing yeah, that's the thing I love trainers and I love what they say.

Speaker 1: 3:46

We definitely talked about doing the other day, talked about how you know, as a kid, as a kid, having the latest pair of night. I remember it was like you know, air max. When I was young and some of my friends had air maxes we I can no way, my parents can no way afford the nice pair of Air Max. I had high-tech or Gola or some other brand that you'd hardly heard of. Yeah, matalan brand or whatever it might have been.

Speaker 2: 4:10

You're not young enough for Matalan.

Speaker 1: 4:12

I'm younger than you. That's all we need to cover there, and yeah, so you know, the whole concept of my son having, you know, various pairs of Nike trainers, which are nice and great and stuff is, is a bit of a strange concept to me and, like these pair of air force ones, even though they were cheap, I still only wear them every now and then because they're there for best I feel privileged, I feel privileged I've got one pair of air force ones.

Speaker 3: 4:44

I've only just bought them earlier this year. I also bought them from an outlet because I struggled to put money down. Yeah, on trainers, totally because of my like, my parents weren't buying me expensive first pair of nike trainers I bought I bought myself from a shop that was something like shoe world or it had a similar name. Yeah, it was 35 pounds. Knight cortez white, red tick. I actually only just I only just been them last year. Yeah, because I mean they obviously don't fit me anymore. Um, but yeah, my air force ones love them. They're white. I think I bought them for 60 quid, so I'm a little bit jealous of the price that you pay.

Speaker 3: 5:25

I wore them in New Mexico because we were told to wear white trainers. I thought, why not? I also don't wear them that often. And one of my colleagues put his foot on it. That's the right reaction. His reaction was to laugh. Oh no. So I got down and started cleaning it and he was laughing. I didn't think it was very funny. I feel like it's a little bit like the old school you don't get in and play with someone else's radio.

Speaker 2: 5:54

Is that an old school phrase?

Speaker 3: 5:56

Yeah, surely that's from Russia, Right, russia, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 5:58

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3: 6:00

I'm paraphrasing, but you know it's a fact. You, why would you step on someone's train?

Speaker 2: 6:05

Don't, unless you're doing it for bands.

Speaker 3: 6:17

Like I used to do that when we were don't think. I think this is. That's terrible, because how is he supposed to know they're leather and wipeable exactly yeah, there might not have been, I guess, yeah, but I I put a good spray on them and that did help I liked what you said the other day sorry, I liked what you said the other day about how long it takes.

Speaker 2: 6:35

How long do you think it takes for a trade pair trainers to make it to the garden?

Speaker 3: 6:39

yeah, yeah, I think that's, that's, I think, from box to garden, like garden shoes, because you know now, we're there, right, yeah seven years I don't know, I don't know about seven years.

Speaker 1: 6:52

That seems quite soon, oh soon, yeah, okay right, I think, seven years back, right For me, I'd say, and how long will they last in the garden?

Speaker 2: 7:01

Forever Until.

Speaker 1: 7:02

Well, there's different levels of garden training.

Speaker 2: 7:04

Oh yes.

Speaker 1: 7:06

That's a different podcast but yes, agreed. Just while we're on it, I need to say this because it will be in my head for the rest of the podcast if I don't. But I remember the early days of Dimexco and someone said I don't know if I heard this or read it, or it was said to me two people talking about Dimexco and just overhearing one person, and I don't even like tequila, which just made me laugh and it just popped into my head when you mentioned Dimexco.

Speaker 3: 7:33

I think that that's probably the second day of the conference. Yeah, yeah, and that conversation still happens Does it yeah, yeah, yeah. A classic joke. So now that we got yeah, we got trainers out of the way and we know what gear you're sporting right? Probably not a good idea to use the word gear. Is it what trainers you're wearing? We can edit that down what trainers you're wearing.