Today we’d like to introduce you to Patrick Dempsey.
Hi Patrick, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I’m 48 years old and I was born in Brownsville, Texas. Growing up in the Valley seems so much easier now that I watch my daughters grow up and see all the things in the world they have to encounter at such a young age with the internet and social media. My dad was white and my mom is Hispanic, and growing up in Brownsville you pretty much have to speak Spanish. I was lucky to grow up speaking two languages and experiencing two cultures. At the same time, there wasn’t a lot of diversity outside of that, and it wasn’t really discussed. Pre-internet, it was magazines, TV and movies that provided us a glimpse of what else was out there.
Upon graduation, I attended Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. This is where I really got to see who and what else is out there. Most importantly, it was also where I met my future wife. While at SU, I utilized some family connections to secure an internship that led to meeting the person who is now my business partner. We own a boutique graphic design firm, RSD Advertising, and I’ve been here for almost 25 years now. Along the way, we’ve been lucky to have some amazing clients and travel the world to support them.
After college, my wife attended grad school in Houston so we waited until she graduated to get married. As an architect with her own firm (Studio Robins Dempsey), she has designed and built two beautiful homes for us, including our current residence. Along the way, we brought two beautiful girls – 11 and 14 – into the world. Fatherhood has been the most rewarding experience of my life. And being a “girl dad” makes it even better.
As a family, we laugh a lot. You have to have thick skin in our house! My wife and I are both pretty sarcastic and we realized at a young age that our girls had inherited that from us. As they head into high school and middle school, we are enjoying the time we get to spend with them. Schedules are packed during the week so we still try and get our movie nights in. The fact that we all still get along after over a year of working and school at home says a lot about us. And as corny as it may sound, my wife and I are still best friends.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have it easy growing up. I grew up in a stable household with both parents and all my siblings and went to private school. School came easy for me and I did well. Always loved being active so between sports and extracurricular activities, we stayed busy. This is something we try to impress upon our girls today: be well-rounded and do your best in school.
If I were to identify a struggle, I’d have to say it was after college, transitioning to being on my own. Leaving the nest, I guess you’d say. While I see friends who had it rougher growing up, it was the opposite for me. Nothing had prepared me to live on a budget, avoid credit card debt and not go crazy buying stupid things. As well as I had done in school, I hadn’t learned those important life lessons.
Luckily my wife was a stabilizing force for me. I worked a lot too, and we grew the business year after year at work. I bought a small house at 24 – one of the best investments I ever made. When we sold that house, we built our next house. This one a little bigger and a little more expensive. By the time our second daughter was on the way, we sold that house, made a little more, and upgraded again. For us, those incremental steps up, combined with the hard work, made it all that much more enjoyable. I hope we do a good job of preparing our girls for leaving the nest.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I guess my “claim to fame” is sneakers. A lot of them. As a kid, sneakers were always a thing for me going back to the original Air Jordan 1. And then the Air Max 1, Reebok Pump, every other Jordan release – I was there for it. The difference was we were buying and wearing shoes for their intended purpose. It never occurred to me to keep the box and “collect” sneakers. Fast forward 20 years and I was finally at a place where I could afford to buy some extra things. It was around 2009, during a trip to NYC that I saw the red and black Jordan 1 from the Defining Moments Pack. Had to have them. Soon I discovered that all these shoes I had or wanted growing up were now receiving retro releases. And my collector gene was triggered.
Ten pairs turned to twenty pairs turned to fifty pairs. One day on Twitter, I saw that a store called Nice Kicks here in Austin was going to carry a very limited pair of New Balance runners I wanted. I commented on the tweet and received a DM from Matt Halfhill (creator of the website Nice Kicks and owner of the shop at the time) that if I stopped by the shop, they would hold a pair for me. This was when line-ups for releases still happened, before online releases or app access like SNKRS. It was amazing.
When I stopped by the shop to pick them up, I met the guys working there for the first time. Little did I know how long we would end up being friends and how often I would visit them. As my daughters got a little older, a trip to the sneaker shop became part of our weekend routine. We’d spend hours in there, me talking sneakers with the guys and them running around, trying on shoes ten times too big for them.
About the same time in 2012, I started an Instagram account strictly for my sneakers. Almost daily, I would post a different pair. Through the account, I connected with other like-minded collectors and the account grew. I chose the name SneakerGrandpa as kind of an inside joke based on a Twitter comment about my white beard. Back then hashtags meant something and through them, I would get featured on weekly posts from sites like Nice Kicks and SneakerFreaker. Eventually, the account had over 2000 followers. The funny part was I only posted sneakers, so no one knew who I was or how old I was.
During one weekend visit to the Nice Kicks shop, George Kiel (at the time, the main face of the Nice Kicks website) was there talking to the guys. One of them said my name and they called me over to chat. It was suggested that my collection would be nice feature for a popular segment called Sneak Peek. Usually reserved for athletes, actors and other celebrities, George was going to do a season on unique collections from ordinary collectors. We exchanged contact info and I didn’t really think much about it. One day George messaged me and said “It’s time” and within two weeks, they were at my house recording the episode. Before that, I had to rush and watch a few past episodes because honestly, I had never watched it before!
The episode premiered in March of 2015 on their YouTube channel and I wasn’t sure what to expect. At first, I said I wasn’t going to read the comments. Then I said I would read the comments but not reply. When the video went live, my IG alerts went crazy. Before I knew it, I had 5000 followers and then 10,000. Eventually, it grew to over 15,000. I was also blown away by the positive comments on the post. Evidently, a lot of collectors appreciated a collection that looked more like theirs and not some unattainable, exclusive and expensive sneakers. My anonymity was gone as well. With over 500,000 views, my Sneak Peek still gets comments to this day.
Since then, my collection has grown. As a result of the follower growth, brands started to reach out. I’ve received quite a few free pairs of sneakers, plus free apparel and accessories. My goal is always the same: try and be myself and never try too hard. People can tell when you’re selling out. My sincerity and integrity are too important to me. The idea of trying to monetize my following doesn’t sound fun to me. I have a business and a job – sneakers are fun for me and I don’t want to lose that.
What I have enjoyed are the friendships and connections I’ve made as a result. I traveled to Singapore, Copenhagen, Las Vegas, NYC, LA and was able to meet up with people I only knew from IG through sneakers. My friends from Nice Kicks went on to open their own sneaker social in the Domain called Kicking It. My wife and I were able to collaborate on a full project for the first time too: our firm worked on the branding and she did the store interior. We now have a place to hang out and talk about sneakers again.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
I’ll take the angle of social media and “influencers” on this one. Platforms are becoming and more and more commercialized right now. Seems like every other post is sponsored or promoted and it is harder and harder to find the people you want to see.
The role of influencers is evolving as well. At one point, companies were paying exorbitant amounts to people to pimp their products and services. It appears many are smartening up and being more precise with that. For my taste, more organic and sincere promotions that reflect the taste of the promoter are much more effective than forced, staged and scripted posts.
As a parent, social media continues to be one of the biggest challenges parents face. There is only so much we can control. I was told early on by an older friend that teaching them how to use the platforms carefully and correctly was important. Also essential to point out the differences between real life and online life and how often they are not even close to being the same thing.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sneakergrandpa
