Profile

Steven Madden is an American fashion designer and businessman. He is the founder and former CEO of Steve Madden, Ltd., a publicly traded company. Madden was born in Far Rockaway, Queens, the son of a Jewish mother and an Irish Catholic father. He grew up in adjoining Lawrence and graduated from the local high school in Nassau County, New York. After high school, Madden studied at the University of Miami for two years before returning to Long Island. The youngest of three brothers, he started the company with $1,100 in 1990 by selling shoes out of the trunk of his car.