Published October 16, 2025

A Mile in My Shoes: NYU Partners with the Empathy Museum

Campus Resources Civic Engagement Current Students

A large display box inside a bright building reads “A Mile in My Shoes” presented by the Empathy Museum at New York University. A student walks past while two others sit and talk in the background.

Would you walk a mile in someone else’s shoes? Well, a big shoebox inside NYU’s John A. Paulson Center gave the NYU community an opportunity to do just that. During the fall of 2025, NYU partnered with the Empathy Museum to bring its collection of shoes and stories to campus. What’s more, this specific installment included the stories of NYU students, faculty, and staff. And it brought the community together in impactful and surprising ways.

A person wearing headphones smiles while looking down at a phone. They are dressed in a white sweater with navy stripes and appear to be listening to audio. — Photo by David Song

A close-up shows someone writing on a white card with a black Sharpie marker. They wear a gold watch, bracelets, and jeans, with neatly painted red nails. — Photo by David Song

Finding Connection Through Listening

The Empathy Museum’s A Mile in My Shoes exhibition explores our shared humanity through quiet moments of listening. When you enter the shoebox, boxes of shoes greet you, each in a different size. First, you find a pair of shoes that match your size. Then, you put them on and take a few moments to listen to the owner’s story.

When Natalia Jedlinska stepped into the Empathy Museum, she laughed seeing the shoes featured in her size. They happened to be the same white Nike sneakers she wore on her own two feet that morning. A funny coincidence, she thought. And then she listened to Christian’s story.

“The story I listened to was similar to mine,” Natalia explains. “He talked about how people told him he was delusional for applying to NYU. That not everyone supported him. It was kind of my situation as well.”

Natalia is a sophomore majoring in Media, Culture, and Communication at the Steinhart School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, and an international student from Poland. “I moved to a completely new country alone, and a lot of people thought I was kind of crazy. Why didn’t I just stay in my own country?” she adds. “So not only did the shoes literally match mine, but the story was very personal for me.” Spending time with someone else’s story that morning made Natalia feel less alone in her own.

A group of students gather inside the Empathy Museum’s interactive exhibit space, reading and discussing notes pinned on a bulletin board. The walls are lined with text and displays, with colorful fabric art hanging above. — Photo by David Song

A student with braided hair and headphones around their neck reads a paper titled “A Mile in My Shoes” at a display table. The table holds more headphones, pens, and small supplies for the Empathy Museum’sexhibit. — Photo by David Song

Building Community Through Art

Ibne Tamim is a commuter student and was looking for an opportunity to get involved on campus. When she saw the job listing to work with the Empathy Museum on Handshake, NYU’s job and interview listing site hosted through the Wasserman Center, she was intrigued.

“Since I didn’t have the dorm experience, I wanted to find a job where I could meet new people,” the Economics and Data Science major at the College of Arts and Science explains. “And this job is really unique. You put on someone else’s shoe and, quite literally, walk into someone else’s life. So it attracts interesting people. The whole thing just embodies empathy, and that was really important to me.”

And from day one, not only did she connect with the students who visited the museum, but she bonded with her student coworker, too. Moe’Neyah Holland is a graduate student at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences majoring in History of Art and Archaeology. Similarly, when Moe’Neyah saw the job listing, she knew it was something she wanted to get involved in.

“I did an art internship at the Tacoma Art Museum when I was a teenager, and I never wanted to leave,” she says. “Art changed my life. It can make you feel a certain way, a way you don’t feel in your day-to-day life. Since then, I’ve always wanted to work in museums. So the opportunity to work in this one has been really amazing.”

The short-term student job gave Ibne and Moe’Neyah the chance to connect with the stories and art they were surrounded by. But, it also gave them the chance to connect with one another—to meet and engage with someone of an entirely different major and perspective.

A person holds a shoe box labeled “A Mile in My Shoes” while scanning a matching display on their phone. Behind them, shelves are filled with shoe boxes and pairs of shoes as part of the Empathy Museum’s exhibit. — Photo by David Song

A bright pink clog-style shoe sits on top of a cardboard box labeled “A Mile in My Shoes” at New York University. The label notes the shoes belong to “Adea” and are size five. — Photo by David Song

Coming Together Through Dialogue

While the Empathy Museum sends its shoeboxes around the world, hosting the exhibit on a college campus opened doors to expanded learning experiences. Students partook in storytelling and listening workshops. Classes visited the museum together and wove the experience into their course discussions. There were mindfulness moments and arts and crafts pop-ups all with the same goal: building empathy for others through listening.

“I’m a size six, so I tried on these beautiful red leather shoes,” says Jenny Cheng, a senior studying digital communications and media at the School of Professional Studies. “I heard the story about how the woman first came here, her struggles, her assumptions, her life experiences. Wearing her shoes, it felt almost like I was with her as she was experiencing these things. It was an awesome experience.”

Fostering empathy through stories and dialogue is part of the fabric of NYU—flourishing as a community is actually one of NYU’s Strategic Pathways recently announced by President Linda Mills. And whether it’s partnership with organizations like the Empathy Museum or bringing in new voices and perspectives through the University’s In Dialogue event series, the work of building connections and listening to one another is ongoing at NYU.