My Miry, which translates to 'my thoughts’ in Malinké, a language from Ivory Coast where the CEO/founder Sara Coulibaly is from, was founded 2 years ago. My Miry is a shoe brand, of shoes made of African Ankara fabric from all around Africa. I chose this brand because it is unique, women love to dress, have shoes that match, but mostly I chose this brand because I was fascinated by this young woman and her idea of creating a shoe out of material from what we wear.

I was first introduced to this brand early summer 0f 2013 when I was having a conversation with my family about using unique ideas to create something and starting a successful business. It’s at that moment that my brother told me about a lady who makes shoes using material or fabric, that we use for clothes. I had to see it to believe it.

To get a little more familiar with My Miry, its mission and where this idea came from, I found information about their mission on their website (www.mymiry.fr). Ms. Coulibaly imagined creating a shoe that was elegant, classic, ethnic, contemporary, unique and vibrant shoe for women, so she created shoes and accessories that bring out the African woman's femininity, makes her noticeable and allows her to represent Africa. She goes all over the world to find fabrics that tell a story.

Ms. Coulibaly started out with a Bachelor in Architecture and also studied communications. Both helped her into becoming who she is today. Architecture allowed her to work on projects, bring ideas to life (innovation), and be liberal. Communications helped her sell her shoes on her own as she was starting out. Though she had a scientific background in architecture, it helped her creative side come out. Because of her creative and innovating capabilities, she decided to make a shoe for herself out of African material to go to a friends wedding. It’s at that time that she realized not only did she have a love for fashion and shoes, but also she had the tools to create and execute a great business. She wanted to represent her country and continent by wearing an African outfit to a wedding between a French guy and Ivory Coast girl: this is where her mission stemmed from.

My Miry makes shoes out of leather and fabric, only premium leather is used on the exterior, interior and the sole with only the best quality Ankara fabrics sourced from around Africa are used, with a contrast of colors. The brand presents a 13-piece collection called “Precious” each representing the name of a precious stone; the first collection under My Miry Comfort is assured – “the pieces are refined and glamorous, modern and ethnic to accentuate your feet. A great quality fit adapted to the life of the woman in motion”. Sara Coulibaly says she “wanted to create pieces that were literally as precious each in their own right so we employed different fabric styles on each of the 13 pairs to ensure they were unique, elegant and classic”.

This brand is growing day by day. It has been received well, and women all over Europe and Africa are raving about not just the beauty of the shoe, but the comfort, the fact that it is affordable and it ships to places all over the world.