Issue: Summer 2005

Alumni Profile - Taryn Rose

Shoe’s Gotta Have It

When people talk about thinking outside the box, most are speaking proverbially. But Taryn Rose MD ’88 thought literally outside the box – the shoe box – when making a highly successful career change.

The onetime orthopedic-surgeon-in-training is today the head of Taryn Rose International, a burgeoning $20 million shoe empire with stores in New York, Beverly Hills and San Jose, Calif., with another outpost slated to open soon in Las Vegas.

Born in Vietnam, Rose left her native land three days before the fall of Saigon; her family landed in Anaheim. Her father was a doctor, and “it was ingrained that I was going to be a doctor, too,” she says. But partway through her orthopedic residency at USC, she decided to do something unusual – make shoes.

“I’d always had an eye for fashion, proportion and colors; that was second nature. I thought to myself, if I could combine my education with something that intuitive, it wouldn’t feel like work at all,” Rose recalls.

Her family, however, didn’t take well to her new plans.

“My mother didn’t talk to me for a month; they were very opposed to it.” But that didn’t stop her. “There were plenty of naysayers then, but I feared regret more than failure.”

There was one tiny roadblock to her plans: Rose had no business training. So while still entrenched in her residency. she learned the business of making shoes in her downtime. And not just any shoes, but shoes that would be comfortable and healthful as well as stylish. “I knew what I wanted in a shoe, because I’d researched diabetic footwear when I was in residency at USC. I knew how a shoe was constructed,” Rose explains.

After finishing her residency, Rose then set about designing her first product, a simple, elegant loafer: “I made it out of material that looked like grey flannel but had some shimmery silver in it.” She got Nordstrom to carry it and never looked back.

Today, celebrities such as Uma Thurman, Blythe Danner and Liv Tyler are finding the nexus of comfort and style at her sleek salons.

“Ashley Judd broke a bone in her foot, and she had to be on the red carpet to promote her film De-Lovely. She had to find an option that was comfortable yet safe for her,” recalls Rose. “We dressed her up in the Rita, a high-heeled peep toe with a black satin bow. It looked very glamorous.”

The entrepreneuer’s plans for the future include expanding her business into a lower-priced line, as well as designing children’s shoes. But in the now, she credits her work with allowing her to live every day to the fullest. “What I’m doing now fulfills my wish for a type of lifestyle, one that includes the freedom to have more time with my children,” says Rose.

She adds wisely, “Just don’t ignore your dreams or your inner voice – you don’t want to end up regretting the time you’ve spent walking this earth.” And if you’re Taryn Rose, you don’t want to regret the shoes you’re walking in either.

“Don’t ignore your dreams or your inner voice,” says doctor-turned-designer Taryn Rose.