19-year-old from Zumbrota training to become cobbler

ZUMBROTA, Minn. (KTTC) – Nowadays, as young people look to the future, many may aspire to become a TikTok star or go into social media.

But some are choosing a more classic path like this recent graduate of Zumbrota-Mazeppa high school.

19-year-old Ansley Travo is training to become a cobbler. She got her love of fashion, and especially shoes, from her mom.

Then, when she was a freshman in high school, she got a job at Luya Shoe Store in Zumbrota. It’s there where she really became interested in footwear and began to learn more about it from her coworkers.

Her boss connected her with Mike Derouin, former owner of Thee Only Shoe Repair in Rochester which closed back in September of last year.

Since she graduated in May, Ansley’s been training with Derouin in Lanesboro to learn how to repair shoes, zipper, leather and more.

“My classmates and peers were like what is cobbling? What is that? I say it’s shoe repair and leather work. They still had no idea that that was a thing. I think it’s pretty amazing. I’m showing younger people too that there are things that we can do that are out of the box,” she said.

Ansley plans to open her own shoe repair shop one day somewhere in the southeast Minnesota area.

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