Brennan Bizon is an award-winning custom sneaker artist and Duquesne business student. What started as a hobby decorating custom shoes has grown into a business producing hundreds of shoes and serving national and international clients, including leading sports figures and celebrities.

Brennan started Bizon Customs in Youngstown, Ohio while in high school at Cardinal Mooney. He first discovered the custom shoe world through social media and decided to try customizing shoes for himself. After only a few pairs, he started receiving orders on a local level. As his talent and products quickly spread by word of mouth, orders began flooding in. Today, Brennan continues to grow his business internationally, and he has hand-painted many hundreds of sneakers. His art has become an integral part of his identity and a part of his everyday life. All of his work is one-of-a-kind.

Balancing School and Running a Business

But Brennan is not just a creative and talented artist—he’s also a student and entrepreneur who is putting his education in marketing and information systems management to work. “People asked me freshman year if I needed to go to college. As I look back, it was a great decision and a gigantic point of value,” says Brennan. “When I came to Duquesne, I majored in marketing. That was something that I was familiar with and understood the concepts. I then took classes in finance and economics, courses that I’m not very familiar with at all. I suddenly found this information to be very useful, and I’m employing the concepts into my everyday business activities,” he said.

Building a Network

“I knew coming to Duquesne and Pittsburgh that I would have opportunities to build a network and expand my business, but I never imagined that it would be on this scale,” says Brennan.

 “The Business School taught me the importance of networking and making connections—they are always driving that home—and it’s really true. The Duquesne Athletic Department and the Art Rooney project got me involved and helped me get my name out there on campus and in the business world.”  – Brennan Bizon

Brennan said, “school comes first.” He’s not sure whether he’ll pursue customizing tennis shoes as a full-time job, but he said, “I want it to always be part of my life.” Bizon Customs has drawn clients from around the globe. Clients include friends as well as musical artists and athletes. Pittsburgh Steelers running back James Conner wore a pair of cleats designed by Brennan that pay tribute to the late hometown rapper Mac Miller. Other clients include Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith Schuster and rapper Nipsey Hussle.

Duquesne recently opened a formal art exhibit program that features the work of students, faculty and staff. Brennan displayed his custom sneakers at a reception in October. Everyone was impressed with his unique artwork. “That’s what makes it all worth it in the end. When you get to see the look on someone’s face of something you worked on for weeks at a time, it’s very cool,” Brennan said. It’s the reactions of people that love his work that make the exhausting hours of juggling college and running a small business good for the sole.

Follow Brennan Instagram @bbizon