If you love high-heeled shoes but don't wear them as often as you'd like because of pain and discomfort, this article is about to change your life.

A young woman from one of the roughest neighborhoods in Miami, Florida, with big dreams and even bigger ambition, defied the odds of her upbringing and created one of the most innovative products the fashion industry has ever seen: Shoe Gummi, the world's first outer sole made specifically for combating the pain and discomfort high heels are infamous for.

From discrimination to invention
Shantel Jackson, a fair-skinned Black woman, experienced the discrimination that comes with colorism very early on in life. The term "white girl" was used to tease and bully her, but these issues she would readily solve with her own fists.

"In my neighborhood, girls would call me white and want to fight me because of how I look," she said during our conversation. "I was a little hot-headed back then, and felt I had to defend my honor and my blackness... Growing up in a certain area and looking a certain way, people feel like they can try [to disrespect] you, so I was like, go ahead and try."

This type of behavior tends to get many young Black girls labeled "problematic"; adults and authority figures typically disregard the provocation for it.

There are a multitude of stereotypes that follow Black girls into womanhood, (mammy, whore, baby mama) and others that follow Black women in the media limelight (video vixen, gold digger, etc.). These expectations and perceptions are applied in a cookie-cutter fashion.

Jackson, also known by her stage name Miss Jackson, has defied them all, while staying professional throughout her modeling career. She built from scratch what is now one of the world's most unique inventions, Shoe Gummi, which orthopedic surgeon Dr. Richard Lehman calls "the most innovative orthotic to relieve foot stress in high-heeled shoes that I have seen in my 31 years of practice."

Lab tested
Wearing high heels shifts your body weight forward, putting pressure on the balls of your feet, toes, and ankles. Shoe Gummi is designed to change the way you feel in your high heels by shortening the distance between the impact of the ground and your foot, absorbing the pressure applied to the balls of your feet. It tilts the shoe back slightly, adjusting the pressure put on the forefoot, stopping one's feet from sliding forward and redistributing weight to the heels.

Designed with shock-absorbing, waterproof, heat- and wear-resistant foam with anti-slip ridges, Jackson's product has gone through extensive testing to confirm its effectiveness, optimize product design, and create marketing data based on performance.

After hundreds of prototypes, redesigns, and restless nights, lab testing of what would become Shoe Gummi's final product was conducted. Eight women equipped with in-shoe sensors walked in high heels with and without Shoe Gummi prototypes.

The results without Shoe Gummi indicated pressure in the front of the foot. Those with the product showed a redistribution of weight more evenly throughout the foot, proving it is effective for relieving pressure and pain while wearing high-heeled shoes.

Expanding options
What began as a simple idea for personal use has since blossomed into a global phenomenon, with shipments worldwide.

Shoe Gummi is also not a one-size-fits-all product. When it launched in December of 2019, it would only accommodate women's shoe sizes 7-9. However, as of this month, it now accommodates foot sizes as small as a women's 5 and as large as a women's 12, and has added a design for pointed high-heel shoes, for which there wasn't an option before.

Shoe Gummi may have been originally designed with a certain view of women in mind, but it is steadily evolving. When I asked if she planned to research the market for Trans women's foot sizes that go past a women's 12, she replied, "If all goes well with the launch of my larger Gummi, I would like to offer an option for shoes extending to a women's 14. From there, I'll be looking into a more cost-efficient way of offering custom sizes for our sisters with bigger feet."

Bottom line: This is a Black-owned company with a product dedicated to providing relief and comfort for high heel lovers everywhere.

Visit Shoegummi.com to learn more and place an order.