The NYCHA Journal

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NYCHA Residents Top Story Youth 

Dynamic Duo: Mother & Daughter Entrepreneurs

LaToya

Daughter Launched Sneaker Company; Mom Is District Leader & Business Owner

March is Women’s History Month, a time to honor and celebrate the contributions women have made and continue to make. 

When she was 3, Tompkins Houses resident Amira-Dior Traynham-Artis, 14, tore pieces of paper into little strips and handed her daycare friends her “business cards.” Business has been on her mind since she was a toddler, and now as a teenager and with the help of her mother, the teen designs and sells sneakers from Lane1, a sneaker company she launched in January.   

Ms. Traynham-Artis has always had a gift for the arts and is excited to share her designs with the world. She posts new designs on Instagram and her website and works with an Italian manufacturer to produce the shoes.  

Lane1 Sneakers designed by Amira-Dior Traynham-Artis.
Lane1 Sneakers designed by Amira-Dior Traynham-Artis.
Amira-Dior Traynham-Artis in marketing photos for her business.
Amira-Dior Traynham-Artis in marketing photos for her business.


“The best part of being a designer and entrepreneur is that you never really know where your business is going to go, so being able to envision so many ideas for how it could go – I want to allow the future to be the future while paying attention to what I do in the present,” Ms. Traynham-Artis said. “I feel like that’s the most important thing to value as an entrepreneur. I want my shoes to be more public and for people to enjoy them.” 

Entrepreneurship is a family business. Ms. Traynham-Artis’ mother is the founder of a nonprofit organization, 4 Future Generations Entrepreneurship and Leadership Foundation, Inc., which teaches entrepreneurship and leadership to young people. She is also the president of 4 Future Generations Inc., an NYC-certified MWBE company. Kenesha Traynham-Cooper said her daughter is the poster child of her lifelong quest to teach young people about financial empowerment. “When I started my company I thought, I can’t just teach my daughter entrepreneurship and not teach the people my daughter’s around,” Ms. Traynham-Cooper said. “It would be unfair. There are too many disparities in the community.” 

A few years ago, when Ms. Traynham-Cooper was a childcare provider, she gifted 3-year-olds in her care with shares of stock and taught their parents how to open and manage their brokerage accounts. She was also part of the fourth cohort of NYCHA’s Childcare Business Pathways and the first in her class to graduate from the program – an experience that helped her open her in-home daycare (which is not currently active due to family circumstances and commitments).  

She’s also the District Leader for the 56th Assembly District in Brooklyn, elected to office in November 2021. In this role, Ms. Traynham-Cooper nominates and hires poll workers, vets candidates for judgeships, and serves as a member of the county party’s executive committee, which votes for the party’s leadership. She is also a member of the Kings County Democratic Party’s Judiciary Committee, which votes for the party’s leadership, and a vice chair for the state’s Democratic Party.  

As 56th Assembly District Leader, Ms. Traynham-Cooper attends and organizes many events in her community, including food and meal distributions.
Ms. Traynham-Cooper is often seen at events with her fellow 56th Assembly District Leader, Henry Butler (right),
District Leader Traynham-Cooper is often out and about at NYCHA developments and events in her district.

“I felt like there needed to be someone at the table who represented NYCHA,” Ms. Traynham-Cooper said. “I was already doing the work, helping people in my community, connecting them to resources. NYCHA residents aren’t always treated the best due to a stereotype about those who live in public housing. I love my community. I love bringing resources to my community, not just to NYCHA residents, but to everyone.” 

Ms. Traynham-Cooper has deep ties to Tompkins and the Bedford-Stuyvesant community. Her grandmother, Bessie Traynham, was one of the first residents to move into Tompkins when the development opened.  

Even before she became District Leader and started her business, she taught civic engagement and entrepreneurship in schools and elsewhere in her community. She is also a consultant for NYCHA resident associations and, with her daughter, hosted a painting and mental health awareness program for young people during the pandemic.  

Ms. Traynham-Cooper believes that economic empowerment and civic engagement can help uplift her community, and she is leading by example (along with her daughter). She wants to ensure that her daughter uses the momentum from media interviews and social media buzz to put Lane1 in the sights of large sneaker companies and stores. (See media coverage of Ms. Traynham-Artis here and here.) 

“We want to be able to sell Amira’s sneakers in stores and have partnerships with big chains, to find different ways to collaborate,” Ms. Traynham-Cooper said. “I also hope we can inspire other young people to help them reach their goals. I’ve always wanted to make sure that Amira understood that anything she wanted to do in her head she could make tangible in her lifetime, and that is the objective for the rest of the youth in our community as well.” 

Ms. Traynham-Artis’ simple advice to other young entrepreneurs: “Be the energy you want to attract!” 

Her energy has attracted opportunities that are helping to boost her profile. The company collaborated with another Brooklyn-based company, Gernie New York, on 75 pairs of sneakers that were included as part of the DPA Luxe gift suite for Oscar nominees in Los Angeles. Before she and her mother left for LA, Ms. Traynham-Artis spoke about her company and the Oscar’s gift suite opportunity on Good Morning America.