TOMS Shoes founder Blake Mycoskie to lecture at Northwest April 18

Blake Mycoskie, founder of TOMS Shoes will give a lecture at Northwest Missouri State University at 7 p.m., Monday April 18, in the Ron Houston Center for the Performing Arts.

The lecture is free and open to the public, but tickets are required. Student tickets will be available at the Student Services Center beginning Tuesday, March 29. Tickets will be available for the public Monday, April 11.

The lecture is sponsored by Northwest’s Student Activities Council. Mycoskie was scheduled to speak at Northwest in December, but the lecture was postponed due to scheduling conflicts.

At the lecture, 10 lucky Northwest students will have a chance to walk away with a free pair of TOMS shoes. Additionally, SAC has enlisted the support of Northwest President Dr. John Jasinski and first lady Denise Jasinski, who will send tweets when they are wearing their TOMS shoes. Students who capture photos with the Jasinskis wearing their shoes and upload the photos to Facebook or Twitter may also be eligible to win a free pair of TOMS shoes.

Known as “the Founder and Chief Shoe Giver of TOMS Shoes,” Mycoskie, 34, speaks at college campuses and conferences across the country in an effort to motivate young people to make a difference.

Mycoskie founded TOMS shoes in 2006 after he witnessed the hardships facing children growing up barefoot in Argentina. The company’s philosophy – “For every pair of shoes that we sell, we give a pair away to a child in need” – has enabled TOMS Shoes to give away more than 1 million pairs of shoes to children in need as of April 2010.

TOMS Shoes was awarded with the Prestigious People’s Design award in 2007 from the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution. In 2009, it earned the Secretary of State’s award for Corporate Excellence, which celebrates companies’ commitment to corporate social responsibility, innovation, exemplary practices and democratic values worldwide.

“We are really excited to bring Blake to campus,” SAC President Rob O’Doherty said. “We think this event will be appreciated by both familiar and non-familiar audiences of TOMS Shoes.”

For more information on TOMS Shoes visit www.toms.com or Mycoskie’s blog at www.startsomethingthatmatters.com.