Meet Our Founder

Kathy Carandang; Certified Pedorthist, President
Kathy Carandang

Hi! My name is Kathy Carandang, and I am a Certified Pedorthist. I’m like a pharmacist for your feet. I would like to share with you how I became a C-Ped.

In 2002, I landed a position with a local pedorthic shoe store having impressed the owner with my knowledge about foot biomechanics and the appropriate use of corrective footwear based upon my personal experience. At that point, I had worn custom orthotics for over 20 years. A year later, to my amazement, the pedorthist who fit me for my first orthotics, Jack Tovey, walked into the store and soon began working beside me as my mentor. With his guidance, I received a hands-on education based on decades of experience – not just textbook material. I learned more from Jack Tovey than I ever did from any of the pedorthic manuals I ever opened. Practical application and experience have always proven to be my best teacher. And now, I’m passing that knowledge on to my customers.

When I began working back in high school, I remember my first job as a waitress. I came home after my first 6-hour shift, complaining that my feet hurt so badly that I could hardly walk. It didn’t seem to matter what kind of shoes I bought; my feet would hurt.

By age 20, I worked as a cashier at a local grocery store. Let me tell you, standing is harder than walking when your feet hurt. I went to a local shoe store a friend had recommended, and my future mentor, Jack Tovey, sold me the ugliest shoes I had ever owned. He fixed up the inside of those shoes with a custom orthotic, and even though they were ugly, they did not hurt my feet. Ugly or not, I was in love with those shoes!

I spent the next 20 years in the hairdressing industry. After Cosmetology School, I landed a job with a reputable salon and soon learned if I wanted to be the best at what I did, I needed to open my own salon. Hence, Complete Concept Personal Care Studio was born in 1983. This was one of Indy’s first full service salons offering an array of services for both men, women, and children. I soon found myself married and pregnant with our first child. Torn between work and family, after receiving the news of our third child, I decided to sell the salon and become a stay-at-home mom. This was by far the best decision ever. I wouldn’t trade those years for anything. Our children are now grown, college-educated, and on their way to their own rewarding careers. And now I am in the phase when grandchildren become the news of the day. Family is everything.

In 2008, when the sad news came that the shoe store I was working for would be closing its doors, I took the opportunity to open a door for myself and created WalkEZstore.com and the ezWalker® orthotic products – once again an entrepreneur.  I choose to help people with foot pain locally and through the Internet because I can reach a larger audience. Education is the key to success with foot pain. This is why I ensure WalkEZstore.com is chock-full of helpful information you can apply to your everyday life.

From my experience in hairdressing and fashion, my own experience, and customer feedback, nobody wants to wear ugly shoes. Unfortunately, most orthotics don’t fit into cute shoes. However, the ezWalker® Performance custom orthotic works in ALL types of shoes, even fashionable high heels and dance shoes. Its ultra-thin design makes it extremely versatile. No longer do your shoes have to be ugly to feel good.

What makes my ezWalker® Custom Performance Orthotics work differently from all other orthotics is the casting method I created and use to make the orthotics. I use a biomechanical impression process that allows your foot to determine what it wants for your individualized arch height and will control pronation just enough to guide your feet to a better biomechanical gait with every step you take. And now that I’ve been fabricating ezWalkers for over 15 years, I can honestly say the success rate is phenomenal. I’m documenting foot improvement in as little as 6 months to a year. Why, even my own feet have never been healthier! With my ezWalker® in your shoes, you’ll walk your way to better health, and I guarantee it!

Conditions like bunions and bunionettes, metatarsalgia, Morton’s Neuroma, and pressure calluses can all result from improper foot biomechanics. The proactive use of the ezWalker® Performance Custom Orthotic will help guard against these problems if they do not already exist and can help relieve pain and make your feet healthier if they do.

When someone asks me how I got into this line of work, I usually say, “God prepares you and puts you places you need to be, even when you don’t know you need to be there.” I’m here!