Katherine Johnsen has lived in the same building in Toronto for three and a half years

• Katherine Johnsen receives around 15 pairs of sneakers every week

• When she’s out of town, she relies on her concierge, Ridge Levene, with whom she’s become close friends over the years, to help her handle her packages.

• In August, Levene helped Johnsen open a package of Nike Air Max 95 Toronto shoes. Months later, she surprised him with a pair of his own

Katherine Johnsenco-founder of sneaker startup Common Ace, receives about 15 pairs of sneakers every week.

The Toronto native, who is also a partner at an agency called Counter Culture, has lived in the same building in Toronto for three and a half years. She travels frequently, averaging about 70 flights per year. When she’s out of town, she relies on her building’s concierge, Levene Ridgewith whom she became close friends over the years, helping her manage her packages.

“Ridge is incredibly helpful when I get too many packages while I’m away and they start filling up the mailroom,” Johnsen, 31, tells PEOPLE exclusively. “He brings them to my house and lets friends in if they need to stay there. He’s so supportive and kind. Plus, he loves sneakers, so often when I get new pairs, I’ll opens in the hall with him He shares the excitement and it’s just wonderful to have him around.

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Johnsen shares with PEOPLE how, in August, Nike re-released the Nike Air Max 95 Toronto. The shoe pays homage to the city, with contributions from several talented artists, as well as a custom box that tells a beautiful story.

She remembers opening the package of shoes sent to her with Levene, who is also an artist. “He was really excited,” she said. “He loved it. He knew some of the people involved in the shoe, and I thought, ‘Okay, that would be exciting for him.’ “

That’s when Johnsen decided to order Levene a pair of shoes for her birthday. After searching everywhere, she found a pair that would fit her and bought them. In October, she came up with a plan to surprise him: She wrote a card, placed it in the sneaker box and headed down the hall to give him the package.

Throughout the surprise, she filmed Levene’s reaction and, after obtaining his consent, posted it on social media, where it has since gone viral, garnering over 1.2 million views and nearly 1,200 comments.

“I worked at the Starbucks next door. We all love Ridge!! He gets free drinks for life,” one comment read.

“Ridge was in tears before he found out what was in the box. We love him!! He’s our concierge now!,” another user said.

Someone else commented: “It’s not a doorman, it’s family .”

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“The nicest thing about Ridge was that he read the whole card from start to finish and was really excited,” she says. “It was fun for me. He’s so appreciative of people taking the time to recognize him, I think, because he feels like a fixture. A lot of people take people like that in their lives for granted.”

“It’s not that Ridge couldn’t afford a pair of shoes, but I think it was touching for him that someone remembered something he said that meant something to him,” she adds. “I could have gotten him any pair of shoes, but he had noticed how much he liked them, and I was really excited to do that for him. I think it meant more because it showed that he was seen and heard. He mentioned it two or three months ago, and that’s what I remember making it so meaningful to him.

After giving Levene the shoes, Johnsen says he immediately put them on. He later made a reaction video to her TikTok, which she described as “the cutest thing in the world.”

“Thank you so much ,” he wrote.

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She also notes that because she’s been posting videos with Levene for a while, making him a regular on her account, her followers were especially excited to see how surprised he was.

“It was just a bit special to show but to be honest I was really surprised,” she continues. “I didn’t think it would go viral.”

“I always say, ‘I would have worn makeup if I knew this video would do so well!’ I had just finished a workout and couldn’t wait to give them to him,” she adds. -She. “I wasn’t expecting a response. I think it’s important to show appreciation for the people in your daily life who make your day special. It doesn’t have to be through a gift; even a simple card counts. Often I’ll get coffee for Ridge when I come back from meetings because I know he’s working hard if it inspires someone else to do something nice for someone. , this is a huge victory for me.