May 15, 2025 • 11 mins
In this special crossover episode, Khristina and co-host of the Levels to this podcast, Terrika Foster-Brasby, are joined by Moolah Kicks founder, Natalie White. They discuss White's motivation to start Moolah Kicks, a brand dedicated to creating premium performance sneakers for female basketball players. White shares her journey from the brand's inception, its success, and partnerships with athletes like Courtney Williams.
Moolah Kick's new sneaker line called 'Grocery Pack' drops today.
Want more women’s basketball scoop? Follow the show on Instagram @ICYMIwithKW and X @ICYMIwithKW and for more on Khristina, follow her on Instagram @khristinawilliams
Let us know what you think of the show by leaving a rating and a review!
CREDITS
Executive Producers:
Nikki Ettore
Jessie Katz
Tyler Klang
Jonathan Strickland
Producers:
Mike Coscarelli
Buffy Gorrilla
Producer & Editor:
Tari Harrison
Host:
Khristina Williams
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
In Case You Missed It with Christina Williams is an
iHeart women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports
and Entertainment.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Welcome to a bonus episode of In Case You Missed
It with Christina Williams. And this is another crossover conversation
co hosted by Levels to This podcast host Trika Foster Prisby.
A couple weeks ago, we were able to attend the
Business of Women's Sports Summit and today's conversation is featuring
Mulak Caikes founder Natalie White. And if you're not familiar
(00:33):
with Mulak Caikes, it's the first signature shoe created by
women for women, and I'm super excited for y'all to
dig into this conversation. Also this week, on May fifteenth,
Mulac Cakes is dropping a new grocery pack shoe. So
this conversation couldn't have come at a better time. So,
without further ado, here's our conversation with Mulach Kicks founder
(00:56):
Natalie White. Okay, y'allso we're still hanging out out here
at the Business of Women's Sports Summit and we're here
with my homie, Natalie White, the founder and creative of
Moolah Kicks and of course hanging out here with my
co host Rika Foster Brasby all day long.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
How's the conference been for you so far?
Speaker 3 (01:15):
It's been amazing. There's great energy in here today, so
many talented people and everyone who cares about elevating women's sports.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Absolutely, I'm so proud of your journey. I remember years.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Ago, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Man, just how far you've come in the women's sports space.
Talk about your brand, Mulah Kicks, and what motivated you
to essentially start your own shoe in apparel company.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
It's been crazy. So for those who haven't heard of Moulah,
we are the brand built by and bour female ballers,
making premium performance sneakers specifically for us. And I grew
up here in New York City, played basketball in almost
every sneaker you can imagine. I went to Boston College
(02:02):
where I managed the varsity team, played club there, and
I was picking out sneakers my senior year of college,
which is when shortly after when we met YEP and
saw that there was an ad for four WNBA players
holding out and promoting sneakers named after somebody else. And
that was the first time that it really hit me.
(02:22):
Oh my gosh, We've been playing in men's and children sneakers,
every female hooper has for as long as we can remember,
and never even questioned it. Not only does it have
a social implication, but a performance one as well, because
the female footform differs in key areas in the male
foot form, and so when we wear those shoes were
(02:45):
more at risk her knee, ankle and leg injury. And
so I started Moolah back in twenty twenty to be
the premium performance brand specifically for female hoopers. And oh
my god, have we come far. You guys can look
up faces. There's features of me in these like silly
joy Okay, I'm peddling tied die t shirts that I
(03:11):
screamed printed a homemade logo on at AAU tournaments, like
ha ha it was. This has been in everything but
Glamorous Journey. But now we're in six hundred and thirty stores,
we have Courtney Williams WNBI, we have one hundred nio athletes.
We're coming out with the best performance product in twenty
twenty five, both this spring in May and then again
(03:33):
this next basketball season. And the growth, like you said,
over the past couple.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Of years, and not unless doing it in the middle
of a pandemic. Twenty Yes, the world essentially stoped. So
how were you able to scale and grow your business
in the midst of a global pandemic?
Speaker 3 (03:49):
I mean, I think we were all there in twenty twenty.
I'm sure people watching can do an old digging. I
don't know if I'd say it was booming. Okay, Back
in twenty twenty, we had just gotten the idea which
gospel looks really different, and we came out with our
first sneaker, you know, the Phantom one that went into
one hundred and forty stores, made history as one of
the largest opening orders ever from Dick's Corning Guts. But
(04:12):
the products we have now are just night and day
from where we were, I mean, truly right, But we
love more than anything, I love and appreciate the people
who have been riding with us since day one. But
it's been as our products are now leading the pack,
like we have the best performance sneakers in the market,
(04:32):
and so that's made the growth so much easier because
our product is everything.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
Absolutely yeah, No, I one hundred percent can vouch for
this because I have a few pairs of Moulac cakes
and some other merchandise from Mulah, and Mulah is more
than just cakes. Let's just throw that out there. But
what I what I will say is that I love
the support and the fact that you were able to
get input from other ballers and people who could really
and I think that's something that's been missing, right, is
(04:59):
that when we are looking at invested in women's having
women include it in the process. So just kind of
share with us, like, how important was it for you
to ensure that it wasn't just your voice, but that
other women's voices and visions were uplifted in the products
as well.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Oh my gosh, I need to It's really not my
voice at all. And that's why it's gotten so much better,
you know, because really, we pull hundreds of high school
basketball players, hundreds of college players, we try them on
with so many teams, we get feedback on all of
the colors. I'm here to answer the call and take
(05:37):
in all those ideas and opinions and thoughts on where
we should go and do that like this is absolutely
not about what I want, and thank God, and that's
why I've even able to grow the way we have.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
You mentioned Courtney Williams being one of the athletes signed
to Moolah. And I can't help but think that. You know,
when you think about how brands invest in athletes, usually
they do don't go to athletes that necessarily look like
Courtney or can identify like Courtney. So what went into
that process of choosing Courtney Williams as you know, the
athlete to sign the Moulah kiss?
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Oh my god, Courtney Williams is a no brainer?
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Are you, by the way best?
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Like, there's no question Courtney Willims the best everything, her attitude,
her game, the consistency of that mid range jumper, like,
I mean, she Courney Williams has it all. And the
way that we met was so organic. We met actually
doing a spot for Bleacher Report at the Connecticut Sun
(06:36):
and they said, we're doing a spot on the sneakers.
They said, we'll bring in an athlete to try them
and I said great. They said, we're gonna do it
on camera. They're never gonna have heard of Moolah, They're
never gonna have tried it on And do you have
confidence to do that? And I said absolutely. So I
met Courtney like in an interview similar to this, when
(06:58):
she gave her a pair. She heard the story, she
tried it on, and she loves it ever since, and
she says, well, now, something she loves about it is
that she can wear a different pair every game without
having to break the men. And what we love about Courtney,
it's like, come on, every single thing about her. I
love just what a terrific player, a terrific person.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
And it must have been full circle to see her
in those WNBA finals walking the Moulah kicks.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
Absolutely I know, and I feel her on breaking in shoes.
I hate to have to break in a pair of shoes.
It's great to just feel comfort immediately. We're here at
the Business of Women's Sports Summit and I was saying
to you before we started that one thing that I
think is so incredibly important is that we have finally
got to a place where we can have conversations about
(07:43):
merchandising and what it means for women in women's sports
and for women to be the brain behind it. And
for a long time it felt like that wasn't a thing,
Like not only were there not many women who were
in this part of the industry in a sports space,
but they weren't accepted into the sports space it was like,
if you aren't Nike Adida, then pretty much we don't
(08:04):
know why you're here. Just kind of talk about our shit.
You're like what it means to be on a panel
at an event like this and how kind of putting
women first in the merchandising space has changed.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
So so what's really interesting there is that I think
those brands are are it's doing a disservice because with
when we're talking about women's sports, we are creating an
ecosystem of our own and we are creating a game
that needs to be celebrated for who we are rather
than comparative, right, And when folks, whether it's a brand
(08:38):
or anything or an entity, when they add on women's second,
that sends a message. And so I think that the
beauty is that we are our own brand, where every
single thing we do is for women's basketball. We are
women's basketball comes second to no one here, and that's
(08:59):
something that no one else can say. And so I
think there was a time two separate issues, kind of
like there was a time that people heard women's sports
X and had a certain thought heard women's basketball sneakers
were like, oh, the women's shoes aren't gonna be as
nice as the men's shoes. And that's a mental hurdle
that we had to get over. But now that we've
(09:21):
surpassed that, it's such a beautiful thing to say we
actually have an entire ecosystem that's here to put our
game first, rather than we're an add on to someone
else who's been around for however many years.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Well, I certainly look forward to seeing all that you do.
What can you tell us what's next for you? Natalie?
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Oh, we're dropping a new or new release. Okay, it's
called the Grocery Pack, and it's going to be available
across the country. It's our newest release of our Neo
Volt pro V two and our kids press break. So
stay tuned because we're pretty excited.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
Oh my god, we got news dropping on our show.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
We loved Natalie. Thank you, appreciate you and so proud
of you, so proud of you, so proud of you.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
That all right, y'all, I hope you enjoyed this bonus
episode of In Case you missed it with Christina Williams.
Is always good to chop it out with my girl
Trutha Foster Brisby, but also to talk to some women
who are just making strides and doing your thing and
the women's sports industry shout out to Natalie White. Don't
forget Mulah Case dropped their grocery pack this week on
(10:30):
May fifteenth, so make sure you pick up a pair
of shoes. And as always, we're super excited about the
WNBA season kicking off on the sixteenth, so make sure
you if you're not in town, you watch on TV
ort you go out to see your nearest Serena and
support the league.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
We'll see you next time in case you missed it.
With Christina Williams is an iHeart women's sports production in
partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You can find
us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
get your podcasts.
In Case You Missed It with Christina Williams is an
iHeart women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue Sports
and Entertainment.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Welcome to a bonus episode of In Case You Missed
It with Christina Williams. And this is another crossover conversation
co hosted by Levels to This podcast host Trika Foster Prisby.
A couple weeks ago, we were able to attend the
Business of Women's Sports Summit and today's conversation is featuring
Mulak Caikes founder Natalie White. And if you're not familiar
(00:33):
with Mulak Caikes, it's the first signature shoe created by
women for women, and I'm super excited for y'all to
dig into this conversation. Also this week, on May fifteenth,
Mulac Cakes is dropping a new grocery pack shoe. So
this conversation couldn't have come at a better time. So,
without further ado, here's our conversation with Mulach Kicks founder
(00:56):
Natalie White. Okay, y'allso we're still hanging out out here
at the Business of Women's Sports Summit and we're here
with my homie, Natalie White, the founder and creative of
Moolah Kicks and of course hanging out here with my
co host Rika Foster Brasby all day long.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
How's the conference been for you so far?
Speaker 3 (01:15):
It's been amazing. There's great energy in here today, so
many talented people and everyone who cares about elevating women's sports.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Absolutely, I'm so proud of your journey. I remember years.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Ago, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Man, just how far you've come in the women's sports space.
Talk about your brand, Mulah Kicks, and what motivated you
to essentially start your own shoe in apparel company.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
It's been crazy. So for those who haven't heard of Moulah,
we are the brand built by and bour female ballers,
making premium performance sneakers specifically for us. And I grew
up here in New York City, played basketball in almost
every sneaker you can imagine. I went to Boston College
(02:02):
where I managed the varsity team, played club there, and
I was picking out sneakers my senior year of college,
which is when shortly after when we met YEP and
saw that there was an ad for four WNBA players
holding out and promoting sneakers named after somebody else. And
that was the first time that it really hit me.
(02:22):
Oh my gosh, We've been playing in men's and children sneakers,
every female hooper has for as long as we can remember,
and never even questioned it. Not only does it have
a social implication, but a performance one as well, because
the female footform differs in key areas in the male
foot form, and so when we wear those shoes were
(02:45):
more at risk her knee, ankle and leg injury. And
so I started Moolah back in twenty twenty to be
the premium performance brand specifically for female hoopers. And oh
my god, have we come far. You guys can look
up faces. There's features of me in these like silly
joy Okay, I'm peddling tied die t shirts that I
(03:11):
screamed printed a homemade logo on at AAU tournaments, like
ha ha it was. This has been in everything but
Glamorous Journey. But now we're in six hundred and thirty stores,
we have Courtney Williams WNBI, we have one hundred nio athletes.
We're coming out with the best performance product in twenty
twenty five, both this spring in May and then again
(03:33):
this next basketball season. And the growth, like you said,
over the past couple.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Of years, and not unless doing it in the middle
of a pandemic. Twenty Yes, the world essentially stoped. So
how were you able to scale and grow your business
in the midst of a global pandemic?
Speaker 3 (03:49):
I mean, I think we were all there in twenty twenty.
I'm sure people watching can do an old digging. I
don't know if I'd say it was booming. Okay, Back
in twenty twenty, we had just gotten the idea which
gospel looks really different, and we came out with our
first sneaker, you know, the Phantom one that went into
one hundred and forty stores, made history as one of
the largest opening orders ever from Dick's Corning Guts. But
(04:12):
the products we have now are just night and day
from where we were, I mean, truly right, But we
love more than anything, I love and appreciate the people
who have been riding with us since day one. But
it's been as our products are now leading the pack,
like we have the best performance sneakers in the market,
(04:32):
and so that's made the growth so much easier because
our product is everything.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
Absolutely yeah, No, I one hundred percent can vouch for
this because I have a few pairs of Moulac cakes
and some other merchandise from Mulah, and Mulah is more
than just cakes. Let's just throw that out there. But
what I what I will say is that I love
the support and the fact that you were able to
get input from other ballers and people who could really
and I think that's something that's been missing, right, is
(04:59):
that when we are looking at invested in women's having
women include it in the process. So just kind of
share with us, like, how important was it for you
to ensure that it wasn't just your voice, but that
other women's voices and visions were uplifted in the products
as well.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Oh my gosh, I need to It's really not my
voice at all. And that's why it's gotten so much better,
you know, because really, we pull hundreds of high school
basketball players, hundreds of college players, we try them on
with so many teams, we get feedback on all of
the colors. I'm here to answer the call and take
(05:37):
in all those ideas and opinions and thoughts on where
we should go and do that like this is absolutely
not about what I want, and thank God, and that's
why I've even able to grow the way we have.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
You mentioned Courtney Williams being one of the athletes signed
to Moolah. And I can't help but think that. You know,
when you think about how brands invest in athletes, usually
they do don't go to athletes that necessarily look like
Courtney or can identify like Courtney. So what went into
that process of choosing Courtney Williams as you know, the
athlete to sign the Moulah kiss?
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Oh my god, Courtney Williams is a no brainer?
Speaker 1 (06:12):
Are you, by the way best?
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Like, there's no question Courtney Willims the best everything, her attitude,
her game, the consistency of that mid range jumper, like,
I mean, she Courney Williams has it all. And the
way that we met was so organic. We met actually
doing a spot for Bleacher Report at the Connecticut Sun
(06:36):
and they said, we're doing a spot on the sneakers.
They said, we'll bring in an athlete to try them
and I said great. They said, we're gonna do it
on camera. They're never gonna have heard of Moolah, They're
never gonna have tried it on And do you have
confidence to do that? And I said absolutely. So I
met Courtney like in an interview similar to this, when
(06:58):
she gave her a pair. She heard the story, she
tried it on, and she loves it ever since, and
she says, well, now, something she loves about it is
that she can wear a different pair every game without
having to break the men. And what we love about Courtney,
it's like, come on, every single thing about her. I
love just what a terrific player, a terrific person.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
And it must have been full circle to see her
in those WNBA finals walking the Moulah kicks.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
Absolutely I know, and I feel her on breaking in shoes.
I hate to have to break in a pair of shoes.
It's great to just feel comfort immediately. We're here at
the Business of Women's Sports Summit and I was saying
to you before we started that one thing that I
think is so incredibly important is that we have finally
got to a place where we can have conversations about
(07:43):
merchandising and what it means for women in women's sports
and for women to be the brain behind it. And
for a long time it felt like that wasn't a thing,
Like not only were there not many women who were
in this part of the industry in a sports space,
but they weren't accepted into the sports space it was like,
if you aren't Nike Adida, then pretty much we don't
(08:04):
know why you're here. Just kind of talk about our shit.
You're like what it means to be on a panel
at an event like this and how kind of putting
women first in the merchandising space has changed.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
So so what's really interesting there is that I think
those brands are are it's doing a disservice because with
when we're talking about women's sports, we are creating an
ecosystem of our own and we are creating a game
that needs to be celebrated for who we are rather
than comparative, right, And when folks, whether it's a brand
(08:38):
or anything or an entity, when they add on women's second,
that sends a message. And so I think that the
beauty is that we are our own brand, where every
single thing we do is for women's basketball. We are
women's basketball comes second to no one here, and that's
(08:59):
something that no one else can say. And so I
think there was a time two separate issues, kind of
like there was a time that people heard women's sports
X and had a certain thought heard women's basketball sneakers
were like, oh, the women's shoes aren't gonna be as
nice as the men's shoes. And that's a mental hurdle
that we had to get over. But now that we've
(09:21):
surpassed that, it's such a beautiful thing to say we
actually have an entire ecosystem that's here to put our
game first, rather than we're an add on to someone
else who's been around for however many years.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Well, I certainly look forward to seeing all that you do.
What can you tell us what's next for you? Natalie?
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Oh, we're dropping a new or new release. Okay, it's
called the Grocery Pack, and it's going to be available
across the country. It's our newest release of our Neo
Volt pro V two and our kids press break. So
stay tuned because we're pretty excited.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
Oh my god, we got news dropping on our show.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
We loved Natalie. Thank you, appreciate you and so proud
of you, so proud of you, so proud of you.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
That all right, y'all, I hope you enjoyed this bonus
episode of In Case you missed it with Christina Williams.
Is always good to chop it out with my girl
Trutha Foster Brisby, but also to talk to some women
who are just making strides and doing your thing and
the women's sports industry shout out to Natalie White. Don't
forget Mulah Case dropped their grocery pack this week on
(10:30):
May fifteenth, so make sure you pick up a pair
of shoes. And as always, we're super excited about the
WNBA season kicking off on the sixteenth, so make sure
you if you're not in town, you watch on TV
ort you go out to see your nearest Serena and
support the league.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
We'll see you next time in case you missed it.
With Christina Williams is an iHeart women's sports production in
partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. You can find
us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
get your podcasts.
Host
Khristina Williams
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.