A rapper, a foundation, and three young scholars walk into Nike HQ — and what happens next says everything about the future of creative mentorship

Scott Steps Into the Room

For three years, Travis Scott’s name appeared in the Fashion Scholarship Fund’s program materials — a celebrated backer whose touring schedule and relentless career kept him from showing up in person. That changed this spring.

Scott flew to New York for the FSF’s annual gala, where he addressed students and industry professionals with a message that cut through the noise: trust your instincts, push through doubt, and let creativity lead. It was a rare moment of candor from an artist more associated with spectacle than scholarship — and it landed. The following afternoon, he took it further, joining the three scholars his foundation sponsors for a visit to Nike’s New York headquarters, a fitting backdrop given his decade-long sneaker partnership with the brand.

The Cactus Jack Scholars Program

Scott’s relationship with the FSF began in 2024, but formalized the following year with the launch of the Cactus Jack Design Ethos 101 Program. The initiative grants three students $10,000 each, structured mentorship, and curriculum developed by the Cactus Jack team. Two recipients are also selected for an immersive residency at the Cact.us Design Center in Houston.

The 2026 cohort is sharp. Cameron Elyse Blount attends North Carolina A&T State University; Caira Coleman is enrolled at Spelman College in Atlanta; Jasmine Cox studies at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Each arrived with distinct ideas. Each left Nike with something harder to measure — the confirmation that their thinking belongs in the room.

Scott on Education and the Creative Process

Scott spoke candidly about what education has meant to his own development. He frames it as the foundation for inspiration — the learning curve, he argues, is what sharpens instinct and keeps artists motivated over time. His own path was anything but traditional. He attended the University of Texas but left in his sophomore year, less interested in coursework than in the ambient education of watching how different people moved through the world. That instinct-first approach has carried him far: multiple chart-topping albums, eight Grammy nominations, sold-out global tours, a producing career, a chief visionary role at Oakley, collaborations with NASA and Dior, and one of the most recognizable sneaker legacies in the industry.

For Scott, music and design have never occupied separate lanes. The creative impulse — first expressed through hand-drawn merch and graphic T-shirts — has always moved freely across shoes, furniture, architecture, and food. Even the name Cactus Jack has roots in something personal: a childhood nickname from his mother, drawn from the rough, colorful landscape of Texas that first shaped his sense of beauty.

The Ideas That Caught His Attention

During the Nike visit, the scholars walked Scott through the case studies that earned them their scholarships. Coleman proposed a collaboration between Def Jam and Kith in which customers could unlock exclusive music by purchasing pieces from a limited collection — a model that fuses retail, music rights, and fan culture into a single transaction. Cox developed a Thom Browne and Sharpie partnership concept. Blount explored a Telfar collaboration spanning her university and other HBCUs.

Scott was impressed — not just by the concepts, but by the instinct behind them. He noted that young creatives are increasingly bypassing traditional campaign infrastructure and taking direct ownership of how products connect to people. That lateral thinking, he suggested, is exactly what the industry needs more of.

Seeing It Through

Asked what advice he’d give students entering the workforce, Scott offered something more precise than the usual encouragement. The real danger, he said, isn’t quitting outright — it’s abandoning one idea for another before the first has had a chance to breathe. Chasing a faster path before seeing the original vision through is where creative momentum dies.

The scholars took that to heart. Cox described the experience as life-changing, saying she and her peers are stepping into the industry with their foot on the gas. Coleman, navigating her path as a young Black woman entering corporate America, said the program had given her the confidence to push through.

FSF executive director Peter Arnold called Scott‘s involvement meaningful beyond the financial — pointing to his genuine engagement with the students as what sets the partnership apart. For Scott, watching the scholars’ ideas sharpen over two or three years carries its own reward. The FSF’s Class of 2026 includes 160 scholars across FSF and Virgil Abloh Post-Modern awards, with more than $1.9 million in total funding distributed — a pipeline Scott is now a visible, invested part of.

Source: WWD