Born and raised in London, Michaela Gooden had an early interest in a passion for developing and inspiring the next generation of children. A key driver for her over the years has been to encourage and cultivate independence and confidence in children, especially at an early age.
Having played football from youth level to professional at Fulham Ladies, in 2008 she was presented with an opportunity to attend University in America to play football on a full scholarship. One of her highlights while playing in The United States was being awarded the Most Valuable Player at the end of her first full season. Her 4-year experience was filled with great excitement having the chance to travel across America showcasing women’s football as well as building new relationships. Michaela graduated from UTM in 2012 with a degree in Sports Science, an experience she always dreamed of. As a child her vision was to always play in America, which she was fortunate to live out. This experience opened a trail of opportunities and allowed her to develop her creative skill set, which she would then go on to use later in life.
On returning to the UK, she decided to step into the teaching world and worked with many mainstream and SEN schools at primary level, as well as other specialist SEN organisations. Throughout her years of teaching she found herself being inspired by the minds and vision of the students and loved being able to support them with the right tool sets to help develop their goals and independence, similar to her American Dream.
As her teaching career came to an end she wanted to create a brand that allowed children to creatively express their independence alongside learning a fundamental skill. Inspired by her students and the constant repetition of ‘Your shoes are on the wrong feet’ grew the birth of The Right Socks. x
