Maia Mariner's Lazy Sneakers | Young, Gifted & Browns

We're introduced to "Lazy Sneakers" by its young founder Maia Mariner as she tells us the motivation behind her trailblazing intiative!

When she was 12 years old, Year 12 student Maia Mariner noticed that many of her peers did not have proper sneakers and either struggled to play or couldn’t play at all. But she also knew lots of people have an unused (lazy) pair of sneakers lying around.

So after talking about it with her parents, she came up with an idea for a sneaker bank to help her friends keep playing basketball - Lazy Sneakers was formed! That was in 2017 and since then she has collected over 2200 pairs and given away over 1500 pairs all over Aotearoa NZ.

The not-for-profit sneaker bank provides good reusable sneakers to people wanting to play, participate and reach their potential. She is running a low-cost model and is looking at how to turn it into a social enterprise as she hopes to collect over 3000 pairs of sneakers.

"Young, Gifted & Brown" follows talented and passionate Nesians from different walks of life on a mission to leave their mark on the world. The series will profile different gifted young brown people from Directors to family lifeguards.