TOMS Shoes » TOMS HQ

a taste of TOMS

swalpert — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:36:04 +0000

Projects are moving full speed ahead at HQ this week and I now see that there is no such thing as a “slow day” at TOMS. After an exciting weekend of adventures and exploring L.A. (intern Grace and I got a little lost in Korea-town and ended up in what might be the sketchiest, most amazing Korean BBQ restaurant in existence), there is no time for slacking before starting another busy week!

Yesterday, the Green Team (a group of eco-minded TOMS staff who work to make the office a “greener” place) hosted a potluck lunch, which was an awesome way to decompress amidst the craziness. Having attempted potluck lunches before, I halfway expected most people to forget about it and pick up a bag of chips at the store on the way to work. That was soooo not the case. Let me just say, not only are TOMS employees passionate, funny, and intelligent (not to mention totally hip and trendy), but these people can COOK! Several of the interns participated as well and impressed the office with our mad culinary skills.

I brought homemade spaghetti sauce, Grace made roasted beets, Julia brought a fruit platter, Alex baked some mac n’ cheese, David made arugula/feta pasta salad, and Amanda baked some delicious blondie brownies for dessert. Other interesting dishes included chicken stuffed with swiss and brocolli, veggie fried rice, baked brie, spicy zucchini, vegan oreo cupcakes, and oh yeah- the most amazing banana pudding I’ve ever tasted. And I’m from the South, so that’s saying something…. sorry Grandma!

Alex checking on her Mac n’ Cheese!

I am coming to realize that here at TOMS, people are constantly going above and beyond… even in the kitchen.

Amanda showing off her plate of homemade goodness!

Gotta remember to stir the spaghetti sauce!

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getting our hands dirty

swalpert — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 20:53:34 +0000

As the 5^th week of our internship rolls around (FIFTH WEEK?! No way…), the office is buzzing and the work is flowing steadily. We were promised on Day 1 that we would be doing work that mattered at TOMS, not just typical intern grunt work i.e. coffee runs and long hours at the copy machine. And as the internship has continued to unfold, this promise has definitely proved to be true. With several huge TOMS initiatives in the forefront, we have officially made the leap from “new interns” to marketers, graphic designers, event planners, online marketers, retail representatives, and more. What a rush!

Today is a huge day at HQ. We are having 32 sales reps from Canada come into the office, so interns and employees alike are scrambling to get everything in perfect order before our guests arrive! Not to mention the boss-man Blake is back in the office after several weeks on a speaking tour, so everyone is on their toes! Alt Sales intern Dianna has been busy making gift baskets and center pieces while Retail and Giving interns Grace and Amanda are hustling retail displays out the door before the mail man arrives. Creative intern Carly and Travis the office manager are sprucing up some of the walls as well. All of the interns have been working together to plan what we will do for TOMS 4^th Birthday coming up on May 5^th. We have so many exciting ideas in the works and we also have some cool stuff planned for our TOMS family across the world! We present to our marketing directors on Tuesday, so stay tuned… and wish us luck!

Beware to all rushing around HQ today ! Wet paint… and busy interns!

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who are we?

swalpert — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 18:55:31 +0000

I’ve gotten several questions since I started these intern updates regarding just what it takes to be a TOMS HQ intern. Each time I usually respond that you must be hard working, passionate, driven, smart, and eager to learn. But then as I thought about my fellow interns, it occurred to me that you must also be unique, silly, fun, and just plain awesome. I have not properly introduced my fellow interns to you guys and I think EVERYONE should see just how amazing these people are. So I present… the TOMS Spring 2010 Intern Class!

From left to right: Amanda, Heather, Julia, Jessie, Dianna, Sarah, Mike, Grace, Alex, Carly, David and our intern coordinator Caroline in front

Sarah – Social Media

Hometown: Augusta, GA

Fun Fact: I don’t have a belly button

Favorite Food: My Grandma’s CHEESE GRITS!!

Best Part About Working at TOMS: Being around incredible people who work hard and make a difference every day

Most Embarrassing “Intern Moment”: Bowling a 44 on my first “Fun Friday” at TOMS… I had the lowest score out of the whole company. Awesome.

Grace – Retail Marketing

Hometown: Old Lyme, CT

Fun Fact: I am from Old Lyme, Connecticut — Home of Lyme disease! I think I’m immune…

Favorite Food: Beans and Rice

Best Part About Working at TOMS: The awesome music that is always playing in the office

Most Embarrassing “Intern Moment” So Far: Having to ask how to use the phone at my desk

Dianna – Alternative Sales

Hometown: Thousand Oaks, CA

Fun Fact: I was the drummer of a punk band when I was in Jr. High called “Persecuted.” Then my freshman year, I was the cymbal captain in the marching band.

Favorite Food: Panda Express: orange chicken, chow mein.

Best Part About Working at TOMS: I love being at HQ constantly surrounded by creative people who passionately believe in the One for One Movement.

Most Embarrassing “Intern Moment” So Far: I feel like we are new little puppies who want everyone to like us, so sometimes we like to “show up” to places where other employees might be without actually getting an invite. I can’t believe I just admitted this…

Mike – Web Design

Hometown: Dallas, TX

Fun Fact: I hit 40 mph on my bmx bike

Favorite Food: Kogi BBQ and Texas BBQ

Best Part About Working at TOMS: The people rock

Most Embarrassing “Intern Moment” So Far: Getting in trouble and then paged on the loud speaker for storing my bike in Blake’s closet

Julia – International Online Marketing

Hometown: Rostock, Germany

Fun Fact: I’ve developed an American accent when I speak German, so whenever I go home to Germany, people ask me where I’m from. Seriously?!

Favorite Food: I put cheese and ranch dressing on almost everything that is edible

Best part about working at TOMS: Being able to learn about marketing strategies from my manager

Most Embarassing “Intern Moment” So Far: Nothing yet… but I’m sure it’s coming.

Jessie – Human Resources

Hometown: Los Angeles, CA

Fun Fact: I am completely addicted to the TV show “Dirty Jobs”… when there’s a marathon on it’s my own personal heaven

Favorite Food: Crispy french fries

Best Part About Working at TOMS: Belonging to the family

Most Embarrassing “Intern Moment” So Far: My pants split when I bent over to pick something up

Alex – Online Analyst

Hometown: Arlington, TX

Fun Fact: I went to chemistry camp after my junior year of high school. SO cool…

Favorite Food: Cheese, all types, and bacon-wrapped figs

Best Part About Working at TOMS: The energetic atmosphere at HQ

Most Embarrassing “Intern Moment” So Far: To be determined…

David – Friends of TOMS

Hometown: Yorba Linda, CA

Fun Fact: I am pretty much an expert Cribbage player.

Favorite Food: My Grandma’s Mashed Potatoes and Gravy

Best Part About Working at TOMS: The company culture is amazing and the work I’m doing is very fulfilling.

Most Embarrassing “Intern Moment” So Far: I guess it was when I read “personal message” out loud as “personal massage” in our meeting the other day. Oops!

Carly – Creative

Hometown: Fountain Hills, AZ

Fun Fact: In 7th grade basketball the only shot I made was for the opposing team. But to this day, my Dad will tell you how awesome/quick I was on the court with 100% Dad Pride.

Favorite Food: Fro-yo. Duh!

Best Part About Working at TOMS: If I say learning… does that make me a nerd?

Most Embarrassing “Intern Moment” So Far: My first day!! Blake decided to take the desk next to mine to see the ins and outs of creative first hand. Pretty much had a nervous stutter all day.

Amanda – Giving

Hometown: Malibu, CA

Fun Fact: I am fluent in ANCIENT Greek

Favorite Food: French Fries

Best Part About Working at TOMS: Spending my time finding more ways to get shoes on feet that need them.

Most Embarrassing “Intern Moment” So Far: Not realizing TOMS’ phone # shows up on caller ID…I’ll leave it at that.

Heather – Creative

Hometown: Kansas City, KS

Fun Fact: I was voted most likely to be a millionaire in middle school. I wish…!

Favorite Food: Korean Food all the way!

Best part about working at TOMS: All the different projects I get to be a part of and, of course, the cool people!!

Most Embarrassing “Intern Moment” So Far: There’s this speed bump right outside Toms HQ and I trip over it EVERY single time… usually in front of people.

So… who are we?? We are TOMS interns.

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travis of all trades

admin — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 00:40:08 +0000

Twice a month, we’ll be delivering awesome videos giving you guys the insider view to TOMS HQ. So today, please meet Travis!

Or watch the video on the TOMS YouTube Channel by clicking here.

Have a great weekend!

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you? really?

admin — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 00:46:01 +0000

On our recent TOMS company retreat, we took a creative route to getting to know each other. We were given a list of facts that each matched up with one of our co-workers. Our mission? To have a lot of conversations about a lot of random topics with each other to try and decipher who fit with what fact.

Turns out I didn’t know as much about these people as I thought- what an interesting, strange, funny, intriguing, off-beat crew!

Can you figure out which fact belongs to our HR Director? Director of Online Marketing? One of our graphic designers? One of our managers? Our special events coordinator?

“I applied to work for the CIA. Was offered a position and turned the job down.”

“I got lost in the woods for 3.5 days when I was 9 years old.”

“I was on the junior olympic figure skating team in England as a child.”

“”I once won a Spice Girls costume contest.”

“On the spur of the moment, decided to tag along on a last minute motorcycle trip up the coast from LA to San Fran with a group of non English speaking acquaintances whom I just met 2 days prior through a mutual friend. Had less than 12 hours to pack and find a helmet and camping gear. Neither individual spoke English and I didn’t speak a word of German. Camped under the stars for 3 nights and rode on the back of a motorcycle for 4 days.”

With that set of talent and spontaneity, we’re destined to achieve great things….

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the starting line

swalpert — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 20:09:23 +0000

Eleven strangers from around the country were chosen to work in one warehouse for five months. Welcome to the life of a TOMS Spring 2010 intern. My name is Sarah and I am one of the newest members to the TOMS family! I drove across the country all the way from Augusta, GA to begin this incredible adventure in L.A. Why would I travel 3,000 miles to California for an internship? Easy. TOMS is more than a job, more than a company, or more than a pair of shoes. TOMS is a movement- a movement that everyone can be a part of and one that actually has the capability to change the world.

On my journey from Georgia I made a stop at the Grand Canyon. Wearing my TOMS in the snow, no doubt!

After only a few days on the job, I can tell that working at TOMS is going to be intense. But then again, so is anything that’s actually worthwhile. We walked into the large warehouse that houses TOMS HQ in Santa Monica last Thursday for the first time, nervous, excited, and not sure what to expect. We had come from far and wide; Connecticut, Georgia, Arizona, Texas, California, Kansas, and oh yeah… Germany. I think it is safe to say the TOMS mission is inspiring people all over the globe! Our first day on the job was spent getting “oriented.” Our awesome intern coordinator, Caroline, showed us the ropes and introduced us to several of the employees. We chilled in a conference room for most of the day as each manager came back to introduce themselves and explain their position at TOMS. It was surreal. I think it is safe to say that all of us were on cloud nine… were we REALLY here? Was that ACTUALLY Blake Mycoskie that just walked by?

Some of the interns gathering for the first time at TOMS HQ!

Hard at work already in the Online department “office.” One wall is made completely out of old TOMS shoe boxes!

We got to sleep in a little on Friday and were told to report to the office at 10:30 to be introduced to the ENTIRE staff. I’m not gonna lie… I was pretty nervous. I knew we were going to have to stand in front of everyone and introduce ourselves and would have about ten seconds to convince everyone that we were funny and cool. However, as soon as Caroline led us into the room with all the other TOMS employees, any previous jitters immediately disappeared. Everyone was hanging around in a circle and gave us a round of applause when we walked in. And standing in front wearing bright green sweatpants and clapping loudest of all was the man himself, Blake– the brains behind the whole operation. He was so cool and welcomed us all to the family. Because TOMS is just that, a family, and we were now a part of it.

Our new boss!

And then, of course, we still had to stand in front of the 60+ staff and introduce ourselves, but everyone was super nice and at least pretended to laugh at our jokes. After our meeting, we got right to work, and I’ve got to say it was quite a rush. Working in an environment like the one at TOMS makes you actually WANT to work, because you know you’re doing it for a reason bigger than yourself, bigger than a paycheck.

Our intern coordinator, Caroline, introduces new intern Grace to the TOMS staff

Well, that is all for now, my friends. I hope you all will enjoy keeping up with the adventures we are about to embark on at TOMS. Stay tuned…

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mystery box revelaed: photo booth!

admin — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 21:29:39 +0000

As Blake put it, TOMS HQ is a pretty special place and we now have a way for visitors to remember their trip here: photos from our sweet vintage photo booth. It was quite an adventure to find the piece and our tech and creative department re-built it to get it in functioning order. It’s decked out with a collage of Shoe Drop photos and has a huge TOMS flag wrapped around.

“If you have someone visiting, or a colleague has done something special and you want to take a photo with them to congratulate them on their work- that’s an excuse to jump in the photo booth,” said Blake.

I also think if you have a bad day, you should grab a friend and jump in the photo booth to cheer you up. Or if you have a good day – photo booth. Or if the day ends in a “y” – photo booth. Who doesn’t love a vintage photo booth?

The TOMS culture is definitely something special and its little things like this that remind us what a positive environment we work in.

So glad that big mysterious black box is gone…

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top ten top tens, day 9: this is who we are

admin — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 23:21:20 +0000

Unfortunately, we don’t all work remotely from Shoe Drop locations (potential 2011 idea, Blake?), but our HQ scenario isn’t too bad. Posted up in a funky complex in sunny Santa Monica, CA, you’ll find a long alley way that leads to a big warehouse door. A TOMS flag atop the entry-way is the first indication that you’ve reached TOMS HQ. From there you step into our lobby area, complete with Shoe Drop photos extending from the cement floors to the high ceilings, and two cozy chairs. Meetings are taking place in the “barn” (our main conference room), people are skating out the door to lunch, and you can hear our customer service team helping customers with exchanges over the phone. A few more steps and you’re in the middle of the magic that is TOMS HQ. This is a special place to all of us, one that has grown and changed a lot over the past year. And because we’re so proud of this space today, we thought we’d give you the inside scoop with the Top 10 Things you didn’t know about TOMS HQ…

10. HQ is a big sound stage ware-house turned office. 7,500 square feet of awesomeness kept warm by little space heaters in the winter, and cooled only by desk fans in the summer.

9. We’re resourceful: one wall is made entirely out of boxes of old TOMS.

8. Most of our retailer’s window displays are made right in our make-shift wood-shop: the alley way outside our front door.

7. Two sets of brothers work here: Justin and Jordan Farr and Blake and Tyler Mycoskie.

The J.Farr bros and the Mycoskie bros

6. Our office manager, Travis, and his dad built all of our “cubicles”. Its really a family affair here at TOMS!

5. We require FUN on the last Friday of every month. A TOMS tradition since the beginning, Fun Fridays are a time for us to get together and make gingerbread houses, carve pumpkins, have potlucks and sing karaoke.

4. Our kitchen is stocked with dishes and silverware to reduce our waste, we take recycling seriously, and many of us bike to work.

3. With so much production equipment and crew in the office for the AT&T commercial shoot in February, a bunch of us employees were happy to relocate our work days to a sunnier location…

2. The audio system was installed this past year and you can always catch something unique on the loud speakers: Today, for example, is reggae… but we’ve also had the RENT soundtrack, Motown, Fleet Foxes, Andrew Bird, Mariah Carey, Brazilian Samba… It’s also great for impromptu karaoke.

Spin those tunes, DJ!

1. Our CEO’s desk isn’t in a corner office: its actually in the most high traffic area. Front and center, right next to customer service.

We’re just about at the finale of our ten Top 10 lists, but the next one NEEDS YOU. After reflecting on such an amazing 2009, we’re excited about what 2010 has in store… So what will you do in the next twelve months to change the world? We’re highlighting our 10 favorite ideas here on the blog this week, so COMMENT ON THIS POST! Tell us your ideas, your plans, why, how, when… inspire us!

Visit the TOMS website too!

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mystery box

admin — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:46:10 +0000

A few days ago, a mysterious, huge, tall black box appeared at the entrance of the TOMS warehouse.

I have no idea what’s inside it. The people I would expect to know have no idea what’s inside it. There must be something epic inside that big mystery box and it’s killing us to not know. Today it sounded like something was being sanded and there might’ve been a drill as well.

Apparently it’s dangerous… and might have something to do with baby dinosaurs?

Or maybe we’re all getting kittens as a Holiday bonus?

WHAT IS INSIDE THIS BOX?! Tell us what you think… your guess is as good as mine…

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TOMS family thanksgiving

admin — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:41:19 +0000

It’s like we just can’t get enough of each other… when we say we’re a family, we mean it. That means working hard Monday through Friday together and taking lunch breaks just to hang out more. And spending time after work together, and sometimes weekends too. This year we held our first annual TOMS Family Thanksgiving dinner right here in our cozy “home” (OK, crammed in to the back corner of the office on picnic tables). Blackberries and iPhones were not welcome at the dinner table as we shared random fun facts about ourselves (like one of our employees was a Ski Champion in Iran! Whoa!), lots of good stories, and plenty of bad jokes.

We each brought food to share, which allowed for a diverse selection of the best Thanksgiving foods: turkey, biscuits, stuffing… and enchiladas and home-made guac and salsa (we’re in SoCal! c’mon!).

And after dinner was over and our tummies were full, we may or may not have turned up the audio system and been graced by the karaoke skills of Garett and Liza….

From all of us here at TOMS in Santa Monica, we wish you a wonderful, safe, and delicious Thanksgiving!

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