Santia Deck is an athlete who is getting used to making history and showing that she is anything but average.
Last year, she became the first female athlete to play football after signing a multi-million dollar deal.
Now, she has taken her shoe brand, Tronus, a step further by signing a historic partnership with Eastbay, a subsidiary of Foot Locker, Inc.
Deck hopes to inspire young people, especially people of color and girls. She wants them to realize that Deck’s partnership is proof that they too can make their dreams come true.
The road up to this point has not been easy. However, Deck and her team all agree that it has been completely worth it.
The company is resilient in its culture, and this stems from its humble beginnings along with its owner.
Tronus is already a historic brand. By launching it, Deck made it the first sneaker company owned by a professional female athlete.
Deck wasn’t always the most successful athlete, but instead of giving up, she turned her dashed dreams into motivation for her to make an even larger impact.
After realizing that rugby was not going to work out for her, Deck pivoted to American football.
There wasn’t a clear path for women in such a contact-heavy sport, but Deck did not give up.
And in 2020, her efforts were rewarded when she received a multi-million-deal to play in the newly formed WFLA.
Just as Deck’s star was starting to shine, though, the pandemic hit.
The WFLA’s first season was inevitably delayed. But instead of just waiting for things to go back to normal, Deck showed her fighting spirit by launching Tronus with her mother.
The website was an instant success. Within the first 24 hours of allowing pre-orders, there was so much demand that their website crashed.
This is the kind of resolve that landed Deck a partnership with one of the world’s major retailers. However, she isn’t just relying on determination and drive. Deck also uses data to make smart business choices.
In Tronus’ first press release, the COO, Cureton-Robles, revealed that athletic footwear’s leading company sold running shoes worth $8,000 in its first year.
This amounts to around $70,000 today if you calculate inflation. Tronus easily surpassed this figure in its first four days alone.
Tronus’ range of footwear will officially become available at Eastbay.com from September 15th.
