Angie Martinez IRL - Steve Madden: Overcoming Addiction & Building An Empire

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2:02There's always something new to see because we've got plenty of space to just be. Plan your trip at TravelNevada.com. Your story's not always written for you at the beginning. It's like you could have went in a completely different direction. I could have. I could have died too. Yeah. You know, drugs and alcohol kill. I like to reach out to young people if I can to not throw in the towel in their 20s. If they get going out and getting fucked up and being foolish and, you know, it's not too late to turn it around.

2:40Thanks for watching, guys. Today's episode is brought to you by Boost Mobile. We're rolling. Okay, our entrepreneur is here. Uh-oh. An entrepreneur and award-winning designer of Business Titan with a company currently worth over$3 billion. He is also a devoted family man, a provocative shoe designer. He is nothing but an inspiration. Oh, God. You are. You also happen to be Brittany, my executive producer of the podcast. She worked at Steve Madden. Oh, no way. You kind of happen to be her boss. You were her boss before I was her boss. Steve Madden is here. Okay. Yay. All right Shoes The shoe tights me Is that how you think of yourself?

3:23No Oh God, that's such a deep question How do I think of myself? Is that too soon? No, no, it's okay, it's all good You know Because your name is beyond you Well, sometimes I mean, at the end of the day We're all the same We look in the mirror and we see pimples and we think we're fat or whatever it is. And so, yeah, every once in a while, that's cool. I'm Steve Madden, but mostly it's, you know, throw out the garbage. Throw out the garbage. That's it. It's mostly that. You know, it's so funny whenever we book somebody, we had this Barbara Corcoran was on recently and then I would see her buildings.

4:05All of a sudden, I noticed every building that she had in New York City. So the same thing with you. I knew you were coming and it's like, there's a Steve Madden store. Like, I feel like on every corner. I know it's not every corner There's a lot of them I was just spending some time in Miami They're all over Florida They're all over New York What does that feel like to you when you drive past I get a real big kick out of seeing people wear my shoes That's fun More than your name Well the stores are good but then I think about How are they running and all of that Not that I don't enjoy all of this I do I'm happy I've been through a lot But you know You know, it's like it lasts four seconds, that little euphoria, and then life is…

4:49You're on to real life. Yeah, I think so. Our kids, you know, my kid goes to school. She looks sloppy. She looks clean. Is she wearing Steve Madden's? Most of the time. Sometimes not. Sometimes not. Does it piss you off? It causes me pain. Yeah, I was going to say, does it piss you off? It is a sore point. How dare she? Yeah, and my son doesn't always wear Steve Madden, which really drives me crazy. What does he wear? Sneakers? He wears Marjela sneakers. I know it's unbelievable. And he fibs to me and we're going to be in an elevator. I said, whose shoes are those? And he's 18 and he says, they're yours, Steve Madden.

5:26And I find out they're Margiela. Oh no. The disrespect in your own home. I know it's unbelievable. But it's fascinating, really. I can't imagine for you, when you make, you design these shoes and you walk around the city, because you're still in the city, right? You live in New York. I live in New York. Yeah. So you're walking around New York and every like one out of how many people have a pair of shoes? Oh, I don't know. I see the bags around a lot. Yeah. The bags are everywhere. The bags are everywhere. The shoes are everywhere. Yes. Like you went to the Knicks game last night. Are you sitting at the garden looking at people's feet?

5:55I do. Yeah. I always look at people's feet. I've been in the shoe business since I'm 17 years old. Yeah. And that's my life. And so I often, when I shake someone's hand, I always look down. And I don't know if people notice it. I'm sure it's weird, but I do. I can't help it. That's really funny. That's what I do. What is that like? Because I've interviewed a lot of artists, music artists, and I always hear stories of people like when they first started rapping, they would sell their mixtapes out of the backseat of their trunk. They would sell mixtapes. But I don't know anybody who's done the shoe hustle out of the trunk.

6:29I did that. You did that. What is the shoe hustle? It's so funny because that's why I did have a few friends in the music business. Yeah. and I sort of connected with that hustling kind of vibe. Mentality, yeah. Yeah, I was good friends with a couple of guys. With Irv, right? With Irv Gotti. Yes, Irv Gotti. I was thinking about him today. I miss him so much. Me too. And I can't believe he's not here anymore. But he has that. They come from that school. The hustler spirit. The hustler spirit, yeah. I used to go to games with Irv and Ja Rule. They were great. We had so much fun. Yeah. Take me to your time though.

7:10Take me, who is that guy who's selling shoes out of the trunk of the car? Who are you? What age are you? So I worked for a company when I was in my twenties and then I went on my own in my thirties, you know, and I just started with one shoe. There was a little factory in East New York in the middle of, you know, a tough neighborhood. And, you know, I would just make, I started with what I could do, you know. what I mean by that is I didn't have a lot of money so I couldn't it couldn't be like a startup you know like I started with one shoe I would go to the stores I would sell the shoe are you being like serious like one shoe I actually started with one shoe it was a little clog yes you know and I had a bankroll yeah you know and I carried it in my in my pocket and I had a couple of employees and i used to pay them every day at the end of the day he has 60 bucks he has 80 bucks every single day what were they running around doing for you no i'm just saying like i had a driver was my first employee because i had like 22 dwis so i had no license so i had a driver a guy worked in my building where i lived in the village so i had a driver and we'd go and we'd sell the shoes and then you know and it just started like that it really just you just start where you can and built up bankroll.

8:34There's really something to that. I mean, obviously there was 1 ,000 steps in between and the ups and downs and all that, but there's really something about that moment. For so many people who have an idea, have a dream, have a thing, it's like do the one, get the one shoe. Yes, that is exactly right. Or do the one thing. A lot of people, you know, people have, you know, I just hear like the word startup. So I get this idea of like an office with a lot of like desks. Right. And it's a startup. I don't actually know what it means. They get some money and they start up. But for me, it was the startup was to take a hot shoe, a shoe, and get it into stores.

9:15I had connections with the stores from my previous job. Mm-hmm. You know, and they bought the shoe and they reordered the shoe. And then I had two shoes. You put a label on it? Steve Madden, yeah. Yeah. And then it just multiplied. And then from that point to today, that's how many years now? It's 35, 36. This will be the 36 years. Started in 1990. Wow. Yeah. Started almost, it's almost, yeah, about 36 years. And then - Does that even feel like you still? Or does it feel like, I don't know. It's like a story at this point, right? It's so long ago. It's a story. It is a story. But it's me and I'm still a hustler.

9:54and I'm older and wealthier and maybe less insecure. I'm lucky that I could be on a show like yours and these are things that I never really talk about since I don't have a psychiatrist anymore. But, you know, I feel like for me, like I feel like, okay, I got kids and I'm feeding my kids like a hunter-gatherer, you know, in my mind. And that's it. I'm getting up. I'm going to take care of my family. I'm going to feed them. And I know that sounds a little primitive, but for me, it helps me. It keeps me going during the day. It's not about me. I got to take care of these three kids and ex-wife and ex-girlfriends and all that bit.

10:45You know what I'm saying? But that's what I do. So that's the motivation now. Because back then your motivation was what? To make money, to be successful, to beat your demons. Because I know a lot of your story. I know that you've been through trauma and addictions and loss. Addiction, yes. I mean, addiction itself. Yes. It's not a small thing. It's not a small thing. It's a blurb in your book, in the cover of your book, and it talks about you're recovering. But addiction is sometimes people's whole story. You know, that's so smart, what you're saying. It doesn't have to be your whole story, but it's definitely part of my story.

11:28But it doesn't have to be the whole story. It's just so, it's hard to explain it to people. It's considered substance abuse as a disease by the textbooks now. And when you're in it, it's hard to get out of it, you know, and liken it to, you know, sometimes like diarrhea, let's just say. You can't, I know this is awful, but you can't will yourself to stop. Like, I'm going to just not go to the bathroom. But that's the way it is getting high. Wow. You know, you just. Oh, wow. Yeah. You know, it's kind of like that. And when you're in it, it's really almost impossible to get out of it.

12:15Had you beaten the addiction at the early stages of your, like the trunk, out the trunk guy? The trunk days. That's when I started getting sober, the trunk days. You know, yes, you can get sober. One can get sober. It can happen. And if I can get sober, anybody can get sober. Well, what is the thing? What do you attribute that to? How? You know, I have places that I go where people like me and that's what we do.

12:46Yeah, you have to surround yourself with healthy people. Is it still an ongoing life? Absolutely. Forever. Yes, yes, it's ongoing. Wow. Yes. Does that stick with you through like, I don't know, you've had so many highs, awards, success, money. no seriously it's not a small thing people work there you know it's a big thing money money money people listen i know i well if you know money is a real thing it's a real thing and you it money money cannot make you happy yeah you know can't cure addiction it can't cure addiction and it cannot make you happy you can buy resources you can buy things and you can be comfortable with money but money itself will not make you happier it will not but um but of course uh because it's sort of an inside job you know what i mean yeah and the other thing is it occurs to me that sometimes it can depress people in a way because you think okay well once i get this i'm gonna be good you know and then you get it and then it's like wait i still feel like shit what's going on you know um and so then it can be a little bit depressing in a way like probably postpartum probably could set people back to their addiction yeah well you know you could say like i thought i was going to be so happy you know yeah but um i'm thinking about like somebody that's a movie maker or whatever you know i mean and they have let's say a lot of money but i think at the they want to make money but they also want to make good movies you know so and i feel that way i want to make money but I want to make good shoes and I want to have a great company because I have money now you know so um so now the goal is good I mean the goal is to have a great business and live sort of a healthy life you know I mean I don't mean eat kale you know what I mean I would I mean like you know sort of live uh sort of a healthier make healthier choices what is that for you?

14:51What does that look like for you? Less, no temper tantrums. Do you know what I mean? I used to lose my temper a lot and, you know, stuff like that. And also knowing that a lot of things have nothing to do with you. So, you know, when you're not really healthy, every kind of little thing you get insulted easily you know somebody doesn't answer your phone or doesn't text you right back you know and a lot of things have nothing to do with you so if you can live your life like that that's for me that's just me yeah you know and you learn that you know they're not even thinking about me they're just it's not an insult you know this has nothing to do with me you know that's the that's the that's the message that's like that's It's very important.

15:42Yeah. You know, but certain, you know, I've been in that place where everything's about me. You know, everything's about me all the time, you know. And so we talk about, you know, freedom from the bondage of self, you know. And so being healthy is kind of like that. It's kind of like not everything is about me. And don't get insulted over every little thing that goes on. I mean, you know people like that. Oh, yeah. They get insulted about every little thing. and sometimes you're with them and you go, why are they upset? Did I say something? What did I do? And I hate that. But I could be that guy, you know what I mean?

16:20Yeah, but you're trying to not be. I could be that guy. You're trying to be better. I'm pissed off all day. But you're trying to be better. Well, I'm trying to be happier. I'm trying to be, I don't know better, but I'm trying to be happier and I'm trying to, you know, it's good to learn about stuff too. Yeah. But not everybody needs it. Today's show is brought to you by our presenting sponsor, Hard Rock Bet, Florida's sports book. Listen, even if you're not the biggest football fan in the world, you are still tuning in. And maybe you want to get in on the action too. I know I do. If you haven't signed up with Hard Rock Bet yet, there's never been a better time.

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17:34You're like a lot of people's boss, yes? Yes. How many people? thousands thousands of people's boss yes well yes yes yes yes uh people so people expect you to have the answers to a lot of things we have a big company today and there's a lot of layers so i don't know everybody like i used to know everybody in the company yeah but uh yeah i just wonder what that feels like to have to be a leader of such a so many people you know the funny thing is it's it's and in some ways it's the opposite many of the guys and women and men that work for me don't always listen to me so and i go why are they listening to me you know and so uh if you had more some people like me in business you'd find that that's a very common thing yeah that they don't well that will require you to hire well i've hired so well that's really one of the one of the keys to my success.

18:35I've been very lucky. I picked a lot of smart people. What is the secret sauce? Because there's a lot of shoe companies. What is the Steve Madden secret sauce that lets you have this much success for so long? There is no secret sauce. We work hard. We move quick. Speed. Product. We have a North Star in our company. all the people that I work with have this, this, we know. So I always say like, take care of the product first and the money will come. That's sort of the way I believe. You know, I don't really get too hung up on that. Of course, making money profits very important, but the first thing is make sure you have good shoes.

19:25That's what we do. Yeah. That's, that's what it is. And when you go into design, even now. Yeah. We're trying to make shoes that people want to buy. Yeah. That's what I want to make. That's it. Yeah, I'm not interested in making shoes people don't want to buy. But you serve as a very specific customer too, right? It's like you chose accessibility, right? You chose to be able to be affordable. Yeah. Because you could have designed, I'm sure. I don't know. You don't think you could have designed? I'm not sure. A$1 ,000 shoe? I've always been in the same thing. I make shoes that are not too cheap, not too expensive.

19:59It's a sweet spot. It really is. It's a nice spot. You know, it's a nice spot. No, you know, I don't know if I could. I don't really know if I could. I'm just very good. You've never thought about that? Come on. You know, it's a different ballgame. It's just a different thing. Jay-Z had a famous Steve Madden line. I wonder how you felt about that line. You know, I was in prison when that happened. Oh, my goodness. I was. How did you take that? Well. Because you could take it good or bad. I couldn't care less. I'm happy, you know. You know, I was just in prison and he mentioned me. and everybody was talking about it.

20:34And I actually met him at a party and I told him about it and he laughed at my face. No, he didn't. He did. I don't know if he heard me. We were at a party. He was with Beyonce. She was so nice. She's lovely. She really was so lovely. Yeah. So sweet. Well, how did you handle it? What did you say? And I said, I got to tell you a story. And I told him the story and he just giggled and laughed in my face. That's all he had? That was it. Did you offer any feeling about it? I was trying to talk to him about it, but he wasn't. It wasn't the time, probably. It wasn't the time. It wasn't the time. But his wife was lovely.

21:12Yeah, but so what? So you're in prison. Yeah, it came out. It was a thing. Yeah, it was a thing. Then how did you feel about that? It was fine. It was good. He mentioned your brand. He mentioned the brand and it was fine. It was no big deal. I wanted to talk to him. What would you have said? I don't know. I was in prison. You helped me out. Everybody treated me so great. Thanks to you. You wanted to have your moment. Yeah, and he wasn't going for it. He wasn't going for it. Maybe it wasn't the time. Maybe it wasn't the time, Steve. I'm sure he was busy doing what he does. I feel like there was a whole bunch of other lyrics, too.

21:50I feel like you've been mentioned. Yeah, I met all those guys. Yeah, I met Nas. That was fun. How was that? It was cool. I met Nas I met T.I I took a plane ride with T.I I like T.I's music by the way well that was big also when I was away that sound you don't know me all those songs I really liked it I tried to tell him that too but I had him on a plane with me so he couldn't get away from me you had his full attention what was that time like for you it was heartbreaking moment. Your shoes are already... I'm already hot. Everybody knows who I am. Not like I am today, but it was 20 years ago. It is the doing of the time.

22:45It's not terrible. It's not like going to St. Regis hotel. It's terrible. But actually, you know, you get in a groove. You're surviving. you're doing your thing you're working out you're reading you know having some laughs with the guys uh and you know you're getting through the day you know but the heartbreaking thing is that all the stuff's going on outside people are falling in love and having children and eating steak and moving on with their lives moving on and you think it's like being dead you know it's kind of like being dead like this is what death is like only i'm not dead but you know like everybody's out there doing their thing and uh you're you know and especially after visiting day you know people would come to see me and then they would go one way and i would go back to my little cube yeah you know it's like and my heart would break as i would walk back you know i would i would have this sadness you know that everybody's going to something and i'm going back and to yourself reading people magazine or something but you know i mean go on get a little out there into the big heart of nevada where you can go off road and off the map on two lakes or on horseback dip into hot springs and dive into deserts climb a mountain or make your best effort see thousands of stars in some of the darkest skies.

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26:26Apple Vacations, where your story starts. so it's tough it was tough it's even tough as somebody who's visited people i've visited people in jail and that moment when you when the person in their in their jail clothes is turning around and going back yeah it's it's tough to even watch that from the outside yeah yeah yeah to think about that so i can only imagine imagine no i can't what it's like to be the guy going back yeah so that was very hard so what is the thing that like drives you through well you've been through so much and then you get out of jail by the way then you get out yeah oh that was so good that was so good it was so good but now you're out yeah you probably like on a it's like right now what are they calling this february is the year of the horse the year of the horse yeah you were probably like yes i was right i came out and i had a lot of energy and i was grateful and it was It was an exciting time to come out.

27:25And thankfully, you know, the team was in place and we went and we just exploded. You know, it was great. Wow. Yeah. I was very lucky like that. It's super inspiring. And it's so much of a testament to like, I don't know, it's just like your story's not always written for you at the beginning. It's like you could have went in a completely different direction. I could have. I could have died too. Yeah. You know, drugs and alcohol kill. Yeah. Yeah. Just don't wake up one day. That's it. Yeah. So what was the thing that woke you up? Well, you're sick and tired of being sick and tired. Yeah. That's what it is.

28:02We have alcoholism in my family. Yeah. Yeah. And my brothers do. And so, I don't know. Lucky star. But you have to surround yourself with a lot of sober people. Is there survivor's remorse in that? No. But there are times when you feel like I just need to get high or I need to get out. And those are the times you need to reach out. I mean, now I feel like smoking a Marlboro Red. Right now? Yeah. What? Is it me? Is it our conversation? I don't know. lately i've been missing cigarettes smoking a cigarette so bad it's so bad for you don't do it i'm not doing it but i'm just saying it's so like that's when i oh god just want to like light up a cigarette you know and just uh yeah i know it's tough but you know so bad it's so bad and it's so good it's so bad it's so bad and so good and so bad and I have shitty lungs to begin with do you have to have different vices now to kind of like replace you know uh well yeah you know I'm I uh I work out a lot you know I work out and uh I don't know you know it's not that special you know just we just you are special no I don't know about all that hey guys support for this podcast is brought to you by Walden University.

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30:11Okay, so these are just in real life questions. Pick one till you like one and then answer it. How happy are you from a scale of one to 10? Today. Today I'm a nine. Today I'm a nine. But every day is different. You know, most of the time I'm happy. Okay. You're a happy guy most of the time? Most of the time. Okay. then when I walk in a room I want people to feel I want people to feel what do I want them to feel respect you know maybe respect what do you respect most about yourself I respect the ability to do things that are not comfortable you know mostly not getting high I respect that about myself good for you no really that's true yes it sure is yeah but what are the things we're going to the bar people are drinking tequila you know everybody drinks tequila now yeah i miss the tequila thing like people are like fans they buy these like is this pissing you off hundred dollar bottles or whatever maybe even more bottles of tequila they're experts they are they're tequila i know people that fancy themselves yeah tequila experts and i'm sipping on a coke does it piss you off a little bit a little bit yeah yeah what should people know because there's so many of us i have i have family gambling addicts also yes alcohol yeah um so what should people know about addicts like what should outside people when dealing with family or what should they understand because it's hard sometimes outside from family members you know this yeah that's that's a big question what should they understand that it's a disease it's a disease like diabetes like cancer it's a disease they can't stop addicts can't stop alcoholics can't stop but there are places where they can stop it's it's arrested you can arrest it but you can't cure it ever ever wow yeah but that doesn't mean you can't have a great life and you know you arrested and you go on and you could have a great life there's you're like the poster boy for that well today i am you know what i mean it's we have it's a day at a time and there's a lot of people out there that are sober and uh you know some doing great things they don't they don't broadcast it yeah but uh because it's probably hard to revisit sometimes right you know why they want to stay humble about it too but uh anthony hopkins just celebrated 50 years of sobriety you know the old actor that was in silence of the lambs yeah i saw he went in and spoke about it online i saw him on tiktok had he never talked about it before well yeah people knew about it but uh yeah 50 years 50 years yeah god bless god bless is right that is amazing that is amazing what do you like when we talk about business it's like there's so many people i'm sure you do you do a lot of mentorships you have your organizations you believe in rehabilitation and giving people a second.

33:18I know even in your company you hire. We do. Formerly incarcerated. Yeah, we have a few people that I was in prison with work with me. Oh, that's a work for the company? Yeah, and then we work with some organizations, the Doe Fund. And I like to reach out to young people if I can to not throw in the towel in their 20s if they get going out and getting fucked up and being foolish. And, you know, it's not too late to turn it around. and it's hard to teach the entrepreneur thing yeah so you're an entrepreneur and yeah you know it's it comes it could be anything you know it's just someone that makes their own way and does things differently and is succeeding yeah you know what's so funny though I just was saying this to Brittany I was like my whole career I have never focused on money enough I've always been like I want to make a cool I want to do this great thing which you probably have some of that which is true but you've also been very diligent about creating a successful financially yes you know successful company it's different i do think it's i think that's a good point you're making i think you have to make money as an entrepreneur yes i actually think if you you're failing as the entrepreneur if you're not ringing the register i think you need to ring the register gotta ring the register but of course you know if you're if you have passion you're an artist you're trying to design that dress or make that song or yeah you know or you know and so you say well i'm gonna do that but usually if you take care of those things the money will follow and you have to make sure that that's what they've always said to us and i feel like we've gotten a lot of shit wrong number one number one they we have to be hustle you have to hustle work so hard all the time i don't know if that was right at this big age i'm starting to to think maybe I need a little more balance, right?