How a Cognitive Scientist with Narrow Feet Found Her Perfect Shoes

Meet Melissa, a cognitive scientist turned emotional literacy pioneer who bridges the gap between Hollywood entertainment and the science of emotions. As the co-founder and president of ThinkHumanTV, a National Science Foundation-backed benefit corporation, she's revolutionizing how young people and educators learn about emotional awareness through popular media from platforms like Netflix and Disney+. Drawing from her unique blend of academic expertise—including a Ph.D. in Cognitive Science from Columbia University, where she now teaches—and her background in poetry and performance, Melissa brings a multifaceted approach to emotional education. A recent Camelback Ventures and Visible Hands Fellow who moonlights as a writer, yogi, and comedic actor, she's working to transform how we understand and relate to our emotions through the power of storytelling and science.

We sat down with Melissa to discuss her IAMBIC experience and discover how precise customization finally gave her narrow feet a true home in footwear.

How did it feel wearing a true one-of-one pair of shoes crafted just for you? 

My IAMBIC shoes feel like a treasure, a unique treasure that only I have. And what makes that great is that I never fit into any pair of shoes. My feet are really, really narrow. And so literally, I feel like I don't fit in anywhere in the footwear world because my feet are just always popping out of shoes. So to finally actually be able to live in and walk in shoes that feel solid on my feet and allow me to walk with comfort and style - that's just the most incredible treasured experience.

How do you feel about the look and style of the shoes? 

I think they are futuristic looking, which I really like. And I do love that they're versatile. So I can dress them down and wear them with sweatpants, but I can also dress them up and wear them with my more expensive work type pants.

The cool thing is that every single time I've gone out with my IAMBICs, I've gotten compliments on them. People are like, "Wow, where did you get those shoes? Those shoes are amazing." And I'm like, "Yeah, you gotta try it. These are amazing."

I've gotten so many compliments on the aesthetic. You can dress them up and down. And I like that they even look a bit futuristic, but have also like this interesting nostalgic vintage vibe to them at the same time. So just a really cool combination of energies that I get from the shoe and that I really love.

Which aspects of IAMBIC’s technology impressed you the most?

I honestly just loved that the instructions were so clear. I wasn't confused by anything. The onboarding process was super smooth. The process of just taking different pictures from different angles and perspectives of my feet, that was super simple. I had never done that before for anything else, let alone for shoes. But it was all really seamless. It was all really easy. The app was super clear and user friendly. And it was a cool process. I actually really enjoyed doing it. It was fun.

I feel that the smartphone-based foot scan was just able to catch a level of nuance to my foot shape that wouldn't be possible with any kind of footwear that exists. And so, there were pictures being taken of my heel and I was taking pictures from the side of my foot. So the camera could see my arch and the fact that my feet are really flat. And the camera could clearly see from the pictures that my feet are super narrow. So it just made me feel like the technology was capturing the level of nuance that doesn't exist in footwear elsewhere.

How does IAMBIC’s use of technology set it apart from other shoe brands?

I have never encountered another shoe brand that cares as much about individuality as IAMBIC. This is a testament to the incredible technology and the science behind the brand. 

I have a really unique foot shape, so I've always had trouble finding shoes that fit. But with IAMBIC, I didn't even have to worry about that because I know that the technology itself was accounting for the uniqueness of my foot - its very narrow shape and how long it is and the fact that shoes aren't made for feet like mine. And so I'm just really confident in the IAMBIC technology now and also moving forward and future iterations of it. It already feels like a very different shoe searching, shoe buying experience.

What excites you the most about your shoes becoming more personalized with each pair through the Sole Print technology?

As human beings, we're never the same. We're always evolving and we're always changing. And I think that also holds true for our feet. Even if the nuances are really tiny, right?  I feel that just as we're evolving as people, our feet are changing and evolving over time as we get older. Just as we grow and as we evolve our feet are changing, and so to have a shoe that is actually able to capture that, not just by the technology, but literally also via the material that the shoe is made out of - that is ingenious.

It's so creative and I love that the material of the shoe is functional in that way and that it's also capturing all of this data, all of this information that ultimately serves to make a really unique shoe that fits the individual.

Can you describe the moment you first put on your IAMBIC shoes and felt the precision fit? 

Wearing my IAMBICs for the first time felt like coming home to my feet for the first time ever. My feet are really narrow and they're really long, especially for women's feet. So every time I try on a new pair of shoes, something doesn't quite feel right.

But slipping into the IAMBICs and lacing them up and feeling just how the shoe hugged my feet in all the right ways and how comfortable the experience was - my feet weren't popping out of the shoe, which is often a problem with my feet. I was getting to know my own feet in this way for the first time and how my feet should feel in a shoe that actually fits. So not only was this a comfortable experience and a really exciting experience, but it was also an enlightening experience.

What surprised me the most was the fact that my feet were stable inside the shoe. Usually my heel pops out of the back of a shoe and so I have to either make sure that I'm buying a shoe that has a lot of ankle support or I'm tying my laces literally around my ankle to keep my foot in the shoe. But this time that wasn't even a concern because immediately when I put my foot into my IAMBICs and I laced up the shoe there was just a perfectly snug fit. It was comfortable and it truly felt like it was a unique, one-of-a-kind experience of coming home to my feet and the way that walking should feel like, the way that just living in shoes should feel like.

How has the precision-fit improved your day-to-day comfort and performance?

So I suffer from chronic foot pain. A lot of that has to do with wearing just shoes that don't actually fit. And so whenever I wear my IAMBICs, I've noticed that I have felt less foot pain, which is really incredible. And also they're just so comfortable. I'm not worried about the back of my heel popping out of the shoe or my ankles not having enough support. And they are just so stylish. So it's a beautiful combination of just feeling the comfort, the personalization, feeling the way that my foot should feel in a shoe, not feeling chronic pain, and then also looking good.

How has experiencing precision-fit transformed your expectations for all footwear?

This experience has set the bar way high. Never have I had a personalized experience when buying shoes. And so I feel that IAMBIC really takes the fit worry out of the footwear buying experience. I have never fit into shoes really in my whole life.

When that worry is gone, when I know that I can rely on the really incredible science and technology that drives IAMBIC, it just takes away the concern that I often carry with me when I'm looking for shoes. The actual buying experience becomes more of a pleasure because I know that the shoes are going to fit and I know that they're going to look good and I know that they're going to feel great and be comfortable as well. And so now that is the expectation that I have across the board.

It really is amazing and I believe that this is gonna change the industry for the better because footwear shouldn't be this one-size-fits-all type model, or multiple sizes that are just really generic fitting a bunch of people type model. Just as everyone's feet are unique, their shoes should be unique too. And IAMBIC really lives up to that sort of ethos and it is incredible.