Sherel Schnyder thought she was bound for New York City when she moved from suburban Sydney, Australia to the United States in 2011 to play soccer and go to school at SUNY Jamestown Community College. 

“But I loved it,” she said of her time at JCC’s Cattaraugus County Campus in Olean. “I feel like it was a butterfly moment for my whole life.”

Living a world away from her family, Schnyder, née Alpkaya, graduated with a Social Sciences degree from JCC in 2013 and played on the 2011 Cattaraugus County Campus Jaguars women’s soccer team that went 18-3 and finished sixth in the National Junior College Athletic Association national tournament.

She was a dean’s list student and peer tutor.

Olean was where Schnyder experienced snow for the first time and lived on her own with classmates from Australia, Canada and Buffalo in an apartment above the former Village Green downtown.

Sherel Schnyder’s LOBO Footwear offers a unique feature: convertible heels.

All of it paved the way for where Schnyder is today: founder, CEO and one-woman operation behind LOBO Footwear, the maker of Australia’s first convertible high heel.

“It was just a transformational time in life,” she said. “I mean, I turned 18 in March, and I remember moving to New York across the world a few months later in May. I didn’t realize what a huge milestone that was at the time. It just was quite courageous. I was out of my comfort zone every single day.

“And it was before the days of just picking up and Facetiming,” she added. “You’re away from your family, and in a different time zone. Everything was unfamiliar. Although it was English-speaking, I think it prepared me for fierce independence and self-belief, but also the ability to kind of connect with diverse cultures and diverse people and have that confidence to meet new people anywhere in the world.”

Schnyder returned to Australia after JCC and worked at a startup, which introduced possibilities for her own operation. She pondered the idea of starting a company like LOBO for “six or seven years.”

LOBO launched in 2024 after Schnyder labored for four years raising capital and working with engineers to construct sturdy yet flexible heels. She also moved to Portugal for a period to find a viable manufacturer to produce the footwear.

“I just saw a gap in the market,” she said. “I thought, this hasn’t been done before. It needs to be done. I can’t believe it hasn’t been done, and women need some change. We need a solution. So, I couldn’t get rid of the idea from my mind. It was constant.

“I thought I had to be the one to come up with a solution, and then I quickly realized I can get people to help me with that. And then I just sold everything and went all in on it.”

Schnyder’s primary goal was to make the first convertible heel in Australia, which she accomplished. She’s confident there’s more to come.

“You can instantly go from high to low in a matter of seconds,” is how Schnyder explained LOBO’s heel offerings. “So women don’t have to sacrifice fashion for function, or vice versa anymore. So it’s extremely stylish. It’s made in Europe. I will be the market leader in the world, not just Australia.”

LOBO is off to a promising start. If you’re into women’s fashion and spend any amount of time on TikTok, there’s a chance you’ve witnessed Schnyder’s convertible high heel.

Australian celebrity media personality Abbie Chatfield referred to the heels as her “dream shoe” in a TikTok post. Fellow entrepreneur and Australian influencer Chloe Ashley Taylor also lauded LOBO on the social media network.

The result has been millions of views and an increase in sales from around the world for the e-commerce operation. “I’d love to branch into bridal and wholesale, and have some pop ups,” Schnyder said of expansion possibilities.

Schnyder spends most of her days chatting with engineers, corresponding with the manufacturing setup in Portugal, responding to customer requests, boxing heels and sending them out, and picking up contract work outside of the business occasionally until LOBO becomes a more reliable revenue stream.

She also is a mom to a 13-month-old son.

Schnyder described her two worlds — entrepreneur and doting parent — as “two polarizing extremes.”

“It’s like lots of testosterone in business and a roller coaster,” she said. “The complete opposite, it’s like oxytocin and beautiful calm with the baby. Just these wholesome moments of him like laughing at a duck or a doorknob.”

Being a busy mother hasn’t lessened Schnyder’s determination to push LOBO further. Her advice to fellow entrepreneurs is to start moving now, no matter what.

“If you’ve got an idea and you can’t stop thinking about it,” she said, “just go for it. You’re never too old, or it’s never too late, and money can always be made. And the worst-case scenario in the Western world we live in is not that bad. You just get a job and move in with your friends or family, and it’s absolutely fine and rebuild again.

“So just go for it,” she concluded, “and don’t listen to anyone that tells you it can’t be done.”