"I CARRY MY OWN PODIUM"

This is us, in our East London neighbourhood, documenting what it feels like to win daily. Even if sometimes you fall, it's about getting back up.

"We wanted you to step on your own podium, that you carry every day."

This idea was born while self-reflecting on what it means to push yourself for that special moment of daily achievement. Competing to get better, but not necessarily at sports. As women, juggling a million things at once, having to perform it all so well, and being judged if not.

Being seen once as a ‘SHOE BRAND,’ we joked. Let's build THE MIISTA PODIUMS. For seasons and seasons we kept coming back to the image of a podium: something that elevates, something that says ‘even if I’ve lost enough times, I’ve earned this place.’ Not because it was handed to you, but because you got there yourself.

To honour this, we created sculptural winners’ podiums and placed three of our Icons — Asia, Miri and Brenda — on top. 3D-printed blocks, like the ones used in competitions.

You (like us) weren’t born on your high horse. It’s taken years of work, doubt, compromise, courage. And still, you show up — in your industry, your family, your community. Winning, even on the days it doesn’t feel like it.

"For people that sometimes win, and when they don’t, they know how to get themselves back up."

So, we started exchanging DMs on Instagram with women that were ready to step into them, right in the middle of East London, where we are from.

We met with 9 women at the crossroads by Hackney Central (a very close part to Miista’s heart, where Miista was actually born) surrounded by all the noise and chaos of a weekday morning. Buses, bikes, people rushing by — but for a few moments, they were still. Seen. Noticing each other. And being noticed in return.

Passers-by took a moment to stop and look, stare, question, admire (and let’s be honest many were baffled!). But everyone stood proud, statuesque and tall. Quite literally 2 steps above the rest. Experimenting with what one feels when you step on the winning podium.

Thank you for being part of this experiment – ‘You carry your own podium,’ every single day.

We tested further the formula: what if "I carry my own podium”?

It doesn’t have to be visible to be real. And when life knocks you off, the tools to get back up again are already yours.

This new campaign photographed by Shahram Saadat launches alongside the new miista.com — a site rebuilt to better reflect how we stand, through our commitment to the alternative.

The Opposite Thing.