Things I Thought About x Prince.s Des Villes: In Conversation With Myles O'Meally, founder of Areté.

As we enter the last phase of this magical collaboration with Prince.s Des Villes, today we meet the mind behind the renowned footwear engineering and development studio.

Dear community (can I call this a community??),

Today is a special day. At least for me. I am turning 31, meaning soon I will be 40. Then 50. Then 60 and well.. we all know how that goes.

When I was a teenager, I had a totally different idea of what my life was going to be in my 3rd decade on Earth.
It was modeled after what my parents were doing at this age; they were about to have their second child (me), my father was about to win the championship with his team and move up to Serie A, we didn’t yet have a home (while I do own my apartment already).

Quite frankly, not only I was extremely wrong about where my head would be today, I was also very mistaken about my status within society.
While I have yet to fulfill some of my insanely huge ambitions—like writing a book, directing a few documentaries, win a literary prize—I really can’t complain about how things played out for me.
I was able to achieve many of the goals I had established for myself, like.. I don’t know.. prove myself at two of the biggest brands in the world while at the same time meeting some incredible people along the way. I established lifelong connections and, most importantly, reconstituted some friendships I had lost due to my nomadic lifestyle.
Moreover, jumping into my 30’s, I finally found the strength to question what is it that truly drives me and make the necessary steps towards being able to do that on the daily; this newsletter being one of them.
As my readership grows—and I continue being held accountable for my weekly missives—I feel grateful and joyous about having stuck to a personal project for almost a year for the first time.
So thank you for reading me every Wednesday; I think it’s not a case my birthday falls on this day this year.

Anyways, after coming up with this tearjerking introduction, it’s time to get to the real topic of the day: Myles O’Meally, founder of Areté.

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Born in Birmingham to a Jamaican father, Myles O’Meally chose Amsterdam as the base for his footwear development company Areté after spending 3 years in Vietnam learning the TRUE ropes of footwear development under the guidance of arguably the biggest sportswear brand in the world: Nike. 

Currently based in Amsterdam-Noord, Myles moved to the city in 2018 and has increasingly been making a name for himself in the industry thanks to his expertise as a design-driven engineer. In this episode, he ran us through what it took to get where he is now, with a few shout outs to those people who helped him along the way. 
Sit back, relax and enjoy the show :)