NPR: Allbirds co-founder discusses UC's impact on his career
DAAP grad Tim Brown talks about his UC days on the NPR podcast, "How I Built This with Guy Raz"
Co-founders of billion-dollar sneaker startup Allbirds Tim Brown and Joey Zwillinger recently appeared on NPR's "How I Built This with Guy Raz" to talk about their company, but the conversation soon turned to Brown's time at the University of Cincinnati.
Brown attended UC's College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning and played soccer for the Bearcats from 2000 to 2005 before going on to play soccer professionally and eventually create a wool sneaker that would become Allbirds.
In the episode, Brown talks about the early days of his career, choosing to come to the United States from New Zealand and play soccer for an American university. Of the six scholarship offers he received, he says he chose UC because of DAAP’s design program.
Tim Brown returned to UC earlier this year. Photo/Lisa Ventre/UC Creative Services
“There was a fair amount of pressure, but I’d found something that I was in love with,” Brown says of the intense five-year program.
“I found a place that was a catch-all for my curiosity.”
Listen to the full episode at npr.org, on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts.
Brown returned the university this spring to accept an alumni award and speak at DAAP. Read more about his visit.
Related Stories
Crosstown Foodout: UC and Xavier food pantries call attention to...
December 13, 2024
The Crosstown Foodout allows fans of the Cincinnati Bearcats and Xavier Musketeers to compete off the basketball court by supporting a campus food pantry at each school. The effort to ease hunger comes as UC and Xavier ready for the Crosstown Shootout. Nationally, about 23% of college students on campuses experience food insecurity.
President Pinto celebrates 2024: A year in review
December 12, 2024
University of Cincinnati President Neville G. Pinto shares a message and year-in-review highlights as UC's 2024 comes to a close
Building reuse is goal in board game
December 11, 2024
This fall, the Cincinnati Reuse Collective hosted a public workshop at the Smoke House in Camp Washington — a vacant building currently being transformed by artist Mark de Jong — to launch a board game called Holding Pattern, designed to teach participants about the often-complex process of vacant building reuse.