What's Up Yuma? Radio Spotlights Local Entrepreneur — Franky Sandoval of YumaKicks

Franky Sandoval was 14 and enrolled at Yuma Catholic High School when she made her first sneaker resale. Six years later, she is the founder of YumaKicks, a local operation built on social media reach, community relationships, and a work ethic she ties to what Kobe Bryant called "Mamba Mentality." On March 31, Sandoval sat down with KAWC's "What's Up Yuma?" program to trace the full arc of how she built it.

The business runs on three pillars she detailed in the interview: sourcing inventory at the right price, setting margins that the market will hold, and building a customer base through social platforms. Sneaker resale hinges on reading supply and demand in real time. Industry-wide, profit margins have compressed to the 10-to-25 percent range per pair for most new releases as competition has grown, and marketplace platforms like GOAT and eBay take 10 to 15 percent of each transaction. Getting started requires relatively modest capital, typically $500 to $3,000 to acquire an initial run of five to ten pairs, making it one of the lower-barrier retail businesses available to young entrepreneurs. YumaKicks' direct social media presence lets Sandoval connect with local buyers and sidestep some of those platform costs.

She is a young woman operating in an industry that skews heavily male. In the interview, Sandoval addressed what it means to embrace being "the odd one out," a posture she said she developed partly through competitive basketball. She was the first female player in Yuma's Desert Elite Basketball League, a circuit associated with Justin Patane, the local figure also known for Friday Night Munchies. Sandoval credited her mother as one of the most important influences on both her character and her business judgment.

KAWC's segment is part of a recurring series that profiles Yuma entrepreneurs and community builders. The Sandoval interview covers the practical mechanics of YumaKicks alongside the less visible side of the work: managing failure, finding mentors, and building trust with customers in a small market where reputation travels fast.

The full interview is available at kawc.org, and YumaKicks is on Instagram at @yumakicks.