Carly Gomez stepped into a new role at Crocs last year, taking on the title of senior vice president and chief marketing officer for the clog brand and infusing the knowledge she learned from a long run at Vans and a stint at Fabletics.
Gomez said she knows what her priorities are at the company: “The two most important things for me are driving culture internally and driving culture externally.”
Throughout her career, has followed one important mantra: “Be hard on the work and easy on each other.” When it comes to the work itself, she added, it should include strong storytelling to “get people to fall in love with your brand.”
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Recent storytelling initiatives at Crocs have included diverse voices, many of whom are women from a variety of backgrounds. “We like to work with people who have aligned values to us,” Gomez said. “We work with a ton of amazing female talent — creators, influencers, designers — across the board.”
Discussing one example of this, she said, “We did a creator series around our Classic [Clog] product, and one of the creators, her name is Ziwe Fumudoh. She’s really funny, but she’s really focused on style. She shows people how to be stylish, but you don’t have to take it too seriously. And I think that epitomizes who Crocs is.”
The brand also taps into femininity through its ongoing partnership with designer Simone Rocha.
Gomez said she’s been learning just how impactful her own presence can be. She shared a story of being asked to attend a fashion show for a local Denver chapter of the organization Girls Inc. Crocs had donated shoes for the event, which showcased young girls walking in their Crocs and hyping each other up in a small classroom.
“I felt so positive by being there,” the executive said. “Me showing up, I think it matters to the girls to be like, ‘Oh, I can see that. This is an option. I can do this.’ When you can see it, you can be it. So I think that’s important.”
Gomez’s participation that day was felt internally at the company, as well. Someone on her team later made a birthday post for Gomez that mentioned how special it was that she attended the event.
“I didn’t realize how much it mattered,” she told FN. “But showing up and being there and supporting the little girls, but also, showing people on my team that these things matter. And I care about little girls —how they grow and can be inspired by leaders, just even in the community.”
A version of this article appeared in the June 1 print issue of FN, as part of the “Women Who Rock” special section. On June 3, FN and Two Ten Footwear Foundation will honor these women at the annual live event in New York City.