Gabi Sparks
Gabi Sparks, a Las Vegas native, coincidentally grew up a Raiders fan.
Her father is an union carpenter who played a role in the construction of the Raiders headquarters in Henderson, Nevada. Through her father, she got connected with Bob Romanski, the team's head equipment manager.
Romanski was previously in charge of painting all of the team's cleats for the My Cause My Cleats campaign, and was looking to bring in help with the project. While Sparks had ample experience with painting portraits, she had never brought her artistry to a pair of shoes until being asked by Romanski.
"Bob sent me three pairs and he gave me complete creative freedom on them," Sparks said. "He just wanted to see what I could come up with. It was really hard coming up with something to fit the surface area of a shoe after not having done that before."
Dazzling the equipment staff with her trial run, Sparks has been painting cleats for the team since 2021.
Of the dozens of pairs she's customized, the ones with causes catered to military veterans are most dear to her heart. She just recently moved back to her hometown with her husband, who is an Air Force veteran.
"Adding the simple aspect of really cool looking cleats to games can bring awareness to so many issues," Sparks said. "And it really does impact people and help them, especially with having important phone numbers to outreach for people on them or even making people aware of these certain situations. I think it's really cool that the NFL does this and players are given the opportunity to show something more personal on the field."
Follow Gabi Sparks on Instagram: @gabipaintsshoes