In Her Shoes
Rome Saint went from flipping Pop Tarts as a kid to becoming the face of the sneaker game
Two of the biggest trends from quarantine.. the resale market went bonkers and people watched a lot of videos. One woman named Rochelle Pendarvis aka Rome Saint emerged at the center of it all, sniffing and inspecting sneakers in record time with an infectious smile.
J.E.: What is your life like?
R.S.: I lived in the projects in the Bronx with my Mom and five sisters. I was wearing Shaq O’Neals to the point where they were busted. I thought it was crazy. I can’t keep going to school with holes in my shoes. So, I tried to get money. My mom would get Pop Tarts. I would break it in half and resell them. She’d be saying “You’re selling the food I’ve been buying?”
R.S.: I got my first job working at the Botanical Gardens. I dropped out of school for a little in high school after my grandmother passed away. But, when I went back I wasn’t going to graduate, so I had to do after school programs. But, I still wanted to cop shoes while working through the motions.
R.S.: There was a lot going on, being a black gay girl in the hood. I didn’t want to become a statistic. My friends would always say, “You had those jobs that kept you focused.” I still live in the hood, but I’m getting better, I keep working hard and stay humble. I always keep God in the back of my mind. Without him, I would be nothing.
R.S.: Before working at Ebay, I was working at various different sneaker stores. I was a manager at Foot Locker, I was a Nike Pro Athlete at their headquarters. I was at Modell’s, but I wanted something more serious and to give back to my community. I saw the SneakerCon test for authenticity and aced it on the first try. I just kept going through the motions dealing with the hardest pairs, no insoles, no boxes. I’m 24, so I don’t have that sneaker knowledge from the ‘80s in the back of my mind. I just trained myself and had people training me. After a while, I didn’t have to ask any more questions and I knew what to look for myself.
J.E.: Now everybody knows you from the videos of you authenticating sneakers.
R.S.: I think it’s just about brushing up on your knowledge and spreading that knowledge around people. At one point, I didn’t know much about authenticating sneakers. Now I know. This is what they need. I’m humble at all times. I came from being in the projects, so when I got into this position, all I wanted to do was help people. It’s hard work and dedication. As soon as you got it, it can get taken away from you.
J.E.: What drives you?
R.S.: I personally think people are being taken advantage of. Nobody wants to waste their money on an unauthentic item. It’s like, this money could’ve gone to something else. So I’m checking everything for you. Smells, stitching, sizing, the velcro strap. Some fakes will be really off, they’ll be a flash orange color instead of a solar red. Maybe one thing is off with the box or the accessories. When I find really good fakes, I try to set them aside to educate my team on what the trends are.
J.E.: I can imagine you get a thrill of seeing the special real stuff too.
R.S.: I recently had the pleasure of checking the Oakley 8 PEs, the Drake Edition with the White and Red. They were crisp and pristine when I saw them in person. They were probably worth more than the building I was standing in. Me personally, I can’t do it. But if I had the money, I would. It’s all about the culture and I respect that part.
R.S.: My favorite shoe though is the Black Union Jordan 4. They are so clean, so crisp, with a buttery mid-sole, and the black on the top with the red and blue. It will match with everything in my closet. I would sell six sneakers to own that one.
J.E.: Where do you see it going from here?
R.S.: I actually have no thought, I’m literally just going through the motions. I’m trying to do other things that keep my mind stimulated. So, I started doing freestyles and my own merch. I’m going on the computer, Adobe Illustrator, and just making art and designs to show people, I have something else under my belt besides authentication.
R.S.: In terms of my future in the footwear game, I want to continue to help my teammates on the floor. I want to get more in-depth with designer shoes like Louis Vuitton. I want to be able to look at designer shoes and say, this is the X-Y. I’ve been designing my own shoes on Nike ID for years. Now, I’m thinking about designing my own sneaker. I went to the FIT school, breaking down how to make a shoe. Even working at Nike, they taught me the whole history of Nike. If I could live in a house full of shoes, I would.