Raaja Nemani

CEO & Co-Founder, BucketFeet

New York City

An entrepreneur passionate about the arts, design and community, Raaja Nemani founded BucketFeet in 2011 and serves as the company’s Chief Executive Officer. BucketFeet is a Chicago-based e-commerce and retail company that collaborates with artists from around the world to create artist-designed footwear with a promise to make the world a brighter place. Raaja graduated from Northwestern University in 2004 and worked in finance and private equity for four years until he left to fulfill a lifelong dream to backpack around the world. While traveling in Argentina, Raaja met future BucketFeet cofounder Aaron Firestein, who was selling hand-designed shoes to travelers. Inspired by the amazing response to these shoes on his year and a half-long journey across six continents, Raaja saw the potential to create an innovative fashion platform and celebrate artists from all over the world. Bucketfeet was born out of this vision.

Raaja has helped build an artist network of over 30,000 artists from around the world, with shoes now selling in more than 15 countries, as well as at leading retailers and through brick and mortar studios. His love of design and community is infused in every element of BucketFeet - from its mission and its retail studios to the shoes themselves. Raaja aims to connect people through art and provide people with original products that not only stand out, but tell a story.