Foot Locker Celebrates Unsung Community Leaders with Mural to Kick off Black History Month

Today, Foot Locker Europe, together with BELOVD agency, proudly launches its latest campaign 'Our City, Our Heroes' – a powerful initiative that aims to celebrate and honour community leaders and cultural icons who have made significant contributions to their communities.

As part of Foot Locker’s commitment to promoting diversity and representation, BELOVD has helped to create a campaign that seeks to recognise unsung heroes, who are often overlooked, and provide them with a platform to be heard, seen, and appreciated through art.

To launch the campaign and mark the start of Black History Month, Foot Locker has collaborated with a talented Black UK artist, Jade Pearl, to create a mural. An inspired creative since childhood, Jade Pearl has grown to be recognised as an established abstract expressionist artist through her signature unmistakable, holistic approach to fashion. The mural will be unveiled in two locations; one in London on Brixton Road, around the corner from the Foot Locker community Brixton store, as well as in the new Croydon store, which is due to open in the next few months. The artwork is also available as a digital version, and will serve as a lasting tribute to the extraordinary individuals who have shaped and enriched their communities.

Produced by Global Street Art (Brixton) and Lawless Studio (Croydon), the mural uses bold colours and playful graphics to celebrate three iconic changemakers and pay tribute to their influential contributions to their local communities.

Stephanie Okoye: DJ ‘Pure Life’, basketball player, model, casting director and activist born and bred in East London. Stephanie is also co-founder of music platform championing female and non-binary DJs ‘Girls Love Soul’ and founder of youth organisation ‘Girls Like Us’.

Nathaniel Cole: a versatile professional as a writer, researcher and workshop facilitator, whose work centers around community projects and elevating the voices often unheard.

Chante’ Joseph: host of The Guardian’s Pop Culture Podcast and founder of ‘Bristol is The New Black’.

Tomas Petersson, senior vice president and general manager at Foot Locker said: “At Foot Locker, we recognise that the people who drive culture, business and social change in the city are not always the loudest. That’s why we believe that by weaving iconic people, such as Stephanie Okoye, Nathaniel Cole and Chante’ Joseph, into the architecture of key cities through murals, we will help to celebrate and honour their impactful legacies within their local communities and their connections with the local people.

Through the 'Our City, Our Heroes' campaign, we hope to inspire a stronger sense of unity, and encourage the next generation that they too can play a powerful role in society.”

Marvyn Harrison, chief vision officer at BELOVD shares: “This is a chance to celebrate the incredible people on the ground and forever elevating the conversation around Black people and our lived experience with honor, honesty and integrity. These types of people are often overlooked by the mainstream but within Blackness we have our own mainstream and these people are it.”

To mark Black History Month even further, Foot Locker will host a fireside chat launch event at its Brixton store on Wednesday 11th October 2023. The event, led by renowned community leader Marvyn Harrison, will bring together artists, community leaders, panelists, and press. Harrison will engage with members of the Black community in the UK, interviewing them about the significance of the campaign and its potential impact on the area.