Aspiring Sneaker Color Designer

My name is Cole Peterson. I am an aspiring sneaker color designer from Seattle. It has been a lifelong dream to work in the footwear industry. It has been a passion of mine since junior high school. In April 2019, I learned I had a rare and aggressive pituitary adenoma, requiring multiple surgeries, physical, occupational, and speech therapy, and multiple hospitalizations lasting many weeks. I underwent two rounds of chemotherapy and 5 weeks of radiation and had to relearn how to walk, talk, and eat. I am very fortunate to still be alive and now well after this life-changing experience.

Growing up, I was always intrigued by athletes and their footwear. In high school, I started to get into doing my own color blocking on sneakers, such as designing on NIKEiD and printing out blank footwear designs to color in. After high school, I went to Seattle Central College to further my education part-time while I worked full-time and tried to figure out what to do in the future. I finished school in May 2018 with an Associate of Arts degree. In February 2019, I was accepted into Pensole Footwear Design Academy in Portland, Oregon. I worked on a project with two great teammates and the legendary brand Cross Colours. After not being able to finish my project with Pensole in 2019, I returned in 2022 to their new location in Detroit, MI to take a class with New Balance. After realizing how short life is, I am looking to attack my goals while looking at them differently, and appreciating the little things in life. Now, I am looking forward to the future and getting back into designing sneakers. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.