Sneakers and Self-Discovery: Venita Cooper

Venita Cooper remembers exactly when and where she was when she first got bitten by the sneaker bug. The life-changing moment came in 1995, when her mother bought her a pair of Nike Air Swoopes.   

The first-ever signature sneakers that featured a woman (basketball star Sheryl Swoopes), Nike Air Swoopes were red, white and blue high tops, with USA printed on the back and a Velcro strap that folded across the middle. Designed by Marni Gerber, they also came with a heel tab on the back — one that Swoopes herself had specifically asked for in order to help ladies with long fingernails slide their kicks on.   

Cooper remembers what the sneakers looked like and how they felt on her feet. But more importantly, she remembers exactly how she felt walking through her Lawton middle school’s hallways and being showered with attention.  

“I just remember begging my mom for them, and I always won if I begged for something,” Cooper says. “I’m an only child, so they give it to me. But I remember going to school and all the compliments and all the attention. Middle school’s a really challenging time for a lot of reasons; we’re seeking a community, we’re trying to express ourselves, trying to figure out who we are, our identity. And I just loved the energy and the vibes around me wearing these sneakers.”  

Cooper said when she started wearing the Air Swoopes, she felt accepted and loved. Those are feelings that never left her.   

Almost three decades later, Cooper now finds herself in a position to provide the same type of memories for up-and-coming shoe fans and old sneakerheads. She is the owner and manager of Silhouette Sneakers & Art at 10 N. Greenwood Ave., Suite C, in Tulsa. Since opening its doors in 2019 in the heart of Black Wall Street, Silhouette has become one of the premier high-end sneaker stores in Oklahoma.   

Along with exclusive sneakers from Adidas, New Balance and Nike (including Jordans), Silhouette’s walls are lined with apparel that spotlights Tulsa’s historic Black community. It is also a venue for local artists to showcase their work.    

“I think it’s been incredible,” Cooper says. “It’s honestly more than I could have ever anticipated, just in terms of the community that is now Silhouette. I love that we have people who have been shopping with us from the beginning. I love that we have people who reach out to us about sneakers. I love what we’ve been able to do in terms of our offerings and giving Black and Indigenous-owned brands a platform to sell their products in our stores as well as in terms of apparel — helping to amplify a culture that has always existed in Tulsa.”  

Yet running her own business was never Cooper’s goal growing up. In her previous life, she taught middle school English language arts in Oklahoma City before taking an administrative role in Tulsa. But her path changed one day in December 2018, when she was scouring the Internet for some new sneakers to purchase.   

“Tulsa didn’t have the shoes that I wanted and a friend of mine was watching me shop for sneakers online, and they’re like, ‘Hey, you should open up your own sneaker store,’” Cooper recounts. “They’re like, ‘Just open up your own store so you can get the sneakers you want.’ I was like, ‘That is ridiculous. You can’t just open up a store because you don’t have the thing you’re searching for online.’”  

But the more and more Cooper thought about it, the more appealing the idea became to her.   

“I kind of like audacious ideas and the idea kind of marinated in my mind for a little bit,” Cooper says. “And I started kind of having some informal conversations with some people that I’d met in Tulsa who I knew were into sneakers. They were very enthusiastic about the idea.”  

Unlike some small businesses, it didn’t take Silhouette long to go from just a concept to actually opening its doors for business. Much of that has to do with Cooper’s personality and ability to get people to believe in her dream.   

“Tulsa’s the kind of place where everyone is like two or three degrees of separation away from each other,” Cooper says. “My third conversation was with the head of the City Council of Tulsa, who is a big sneakerhead. And my fourth conversation was with a woman whose organization would ultimately pay all of my startup costs. And then my fifth conversation was with my future landlord. It happened really quickly.”  

Less than a year after not finding the sneakers she was looking for, Cooper opened Silhouette in November 2019.   

However, in many regards, getting the store open was the easy part for Cooper. The sneaker resale market is an industry that was and is dominated by men. According to a 2021 report by Highsnobiety, of all the sneaker stores in the world — from boutiques to chain stores — fewer than 10 were run by women.   

That included Cooper — and she was able to tell right away that there were those in the profession who were not used to the idea of working with a bi-racial woman who identifies as queer.   

“There are certainly times, even still, that — despite the fact that we’ve been around for three and a half years, there are definitely times where I feel a little disrespected because I’m a woman,” Cooper says. “Like my knowledge of sneakers isn’t respected by like every man who walks through the door.”  

When those times of disrespect occur, Cooper doesn’t let it dissuade her from the path she has set out on. She has been through too much in her life to let other people’s discomfort get in her way.   

“I think if I was 10 years younger, it’d be different. But just because I’ve lived so much life and endured those things in different contexts, for me it’s like all we can do is the best we can do in an interaction,” Cooper says. “Present ourselves in the best way possible. And if someone is not ready to accept who we are, then that’s not something that we can control.”  

Even though Cooper exudes a calm and business-like demeanor, she admits some encounters can be frustrating in the moment.   

“I don’t want it to seem like I have no emotions about it,” she explains. “You just learn to kind of brush it off and keep moving. Life is full of several peaks and valleys, constant peaks and valleys. So just having the perspective to know that interaction doesn’t define who I am. It doesn’t define how my day needs to go, and that there’s a peak on the other side of that valley.”  

Cooper has been at the peak more often than not lately. After her store survived the COVID-19 pandemic when many small businesses closed, it has been prospering. So much so that she is already starting a new venture.  

“It’s called Arbit. I’m actually working with a couple of Nike engineers on this. This is totally different. Silhouette is brick-and-mortar; Arbit is a tech company,” says Cooper. “It’s an app that provides the first pricing algorithm for sneakers. There’s this new market that is growing off these goods that are being sold post-drop. But pricing is kind of all over the place. And so Arbit functions to give people greater insights into what a shoe’s value actually is.”  

With Arbit, Cooper will be diving headfirst into the deep waters of an industry that was foreign to her. But she does it with no fear or hesitation. It’s the mindset she would tell aspiring entrepreneurs they need to take in business and in life.   

“I would tell them to try to and experience as much of life as possible,” Cooper says. “Find an opportunity to leave your hometown, whether that’s going to college somewhere else, whether that’s going on a service trip somewhere, or whatever it is. Broaden your horizon. And then when you get in situations where you are outside of your norm, investigate, explore, ask questions — because there’s nothing that is not within your reach. It’s all about the work we put in to open up doors and position ourselves to be successful.” •