Jason Mayden was affirmed in his identity as a founder while working at Jordan Brand.
Mayden launched his first business at age 10, shoveling snow and cutting grass as AFROTECH™ previously reported.
Mayden’s first prototype was a basketball card collection featuring Michael Jordan, so his entrepreneurial hat would come full circle at Jordan Brand, where he started as an intern in 2000 and returned in 2024 as its chief design officer.
The history of Jordan Brand dates back to 1984, when Michal Jordan and Nike formed a partnership, per AFROTECH™. The first Air Jordan shoe was released a year later and was a massive success. By 1997, Jordan Brand became an independent subsidiary of Nike.
Following his internship, Mayden built his career at Nike, first as a senior product designer and later as director of innovation, according to his LinkedIn. In 2012, under the leadership of President Larry Miller, he transitioned to Jordan Brand as senior global design director.
“I was working in cross-training on the Nike side, and they brought me back to Jordan, and it was the moment that the brand needed to scale and go from hundreds of millions of dollars to billions of dollars, meaning we needed to be self-sustainable and grow,” Mayden recalled.
“I got a chance because of just sheer proximity and the size of our team, to see President Larry Miller, navigate strategy, operations, [and] finance. That was fascinating to me because I’m like, ‘That’s also creativity,'” he added.
Miller and Nike co-founder Phil Knight greatly inspired Mayden.
Mayden’s admiration for Miller stemmed from him being a Black man from Philly with humble beginnings who wore suits and, through his swag, was a reminder that he could be himself in the footwear industry. As for Knight, Mayden admired his love for product and his vision of building a company that served world-class athletes like Jordan.
Ultimately, it was Miller and Knight who affirmed Mayden’s calling beyond Jordan Brand, to embrace the founder he had always been.
“I would come into his [President Miller’s] office every week. ‘I got another idea. I think we should be building this. I think we should be doing that.’ And eventually he was like, ‘Man, you’re a founder.’ And that word and that label was so important for me to hear because I heard it from him. Then I heard it from Mr. Knight … who saw the same spirit of like, ‘You’re a founder. You will build something someday,'” Mayden shared.
“To hear from the founder of Nike and then the first president of Jordan Brand, tell me, ‘You’re a founder. You’re a builder. You’re gonna build something.’ I believed,” he continued.
In 2016, two years after leaving Jordan Brand, Mayden launched Super Heroic, a children’s brand based in Silicon Valley inspired by his son, who faced health challenges at age 7. He recognized that one of the most significant challenges facing youth was mental health. To address this, each shoe came with a cape, a symbol meant to inspire self-efficacy and help children reimagine who they could become.
Super Heroic was a success in its time, with Mayden involving his family in the company’s operations. The venture raised $10.3 million in funding from investors, including Magic Johnson, before Mayden led its exit during the wake of COVID-19, per Mayden’s LinkedIn.
Mayden reveals how Johnson shaped his understanding of entrepreneurship.
“I’ve worked with two out of the three great MJ’s… What I learned from Magic is that you’re not bound by the labels placed on you,” he explained.
“He was just an athlete. So he became an entrepreneur, and then he’s more famous for being an entrepreneur now in certain circles than he is as an athlete. So I just feel tremendously blessed to have been a part of building that and benefiting from it, with how we exited from it,” Mayden shared.
He also added that he is grateful that the brand is still revered today.
“Also, seeing that a generation of kids who interacted with that brand, they still send letters about it, ‘I’m in college now, and I still got my cape, I still got the stickers you gave me at the event.’ It gives me so much joy. Because that, to me, that’s legacy,” he continued.
Mayden has gained extensive experience and valuable lessons from his decades in the footwear industry, insights he shared on the AFROTECH™ Conference 2025 stage, which will return to Houston from Nov. 2-6, 2026.
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