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1. Can you tell us a bit about the work you’re currently doing and how you got to this point?:
Most of my work focuses on the sustainable fashion world, specifically with a focus on textile waste diversion. I first fell in love with fashion through thrifting, but I got my start in the industry in 2016 doing communications and events for donateNYC, an NYC Department of Sanitation (DSNY) program that helps New Yorkers reach the goal of sending zero waste to landfills. It was here that I honed my craft, working with DSNY to help communicate their textile waste diversion initiatives while falling in love with the process of communicating complex data to masses in an accessible way.
I also started working with donateNYC’s trade association of non-profit reuse organizations ( which included partners like Housing Works, Goodwill, Fabscrap, Big Reuse and more). Through these partnerships, I helped create ReFashion Week, a first of its kind celebration of the secondhand and sustainable fashion community here in NYC that featured activations, panel, and a secondhand fashion show with several of donateNYC’s partner organizations. In this role I served as both a stylist and event producer and served as a consultant for the show from 2018-2021. As the secondhand fashion industry took off, so did ReFashion week which eventually led to collaborations with the likes of Kid Super, Tonne Goodman, sustainability editor at Vogue, and many more.
Now, I’m currently getting my master’s at Parsons school of Design, so a lot of my focus is on writing, teaching, styling, and event production. I recently produced a fashion show for NYFW with the sustainable fashion advocacy organization, Remake and styled an accompanying collection for the event for Housing Works. I’ve also been really interested in how fashion is used as a means of protest as well as the social and environmental impact of digital secondhand marketplaces like Depop, grailed, and eBay.
2. What are your (climate) superpowers?:
My climate superpowers are absolutely the communication of complex ideas. Thanks to my time at DSNY I learned the importance of communicating sustainability related topics to a broad audience in the hopes of building community. By creating a better understanding without evoking guilt or shame, we were able to bring people in on the margins and create a larger tent of sustainability minded folks.
The same could be said in my efforts of styling and event production. I love putting together looks or shows that leave people in awe of the capacity of secondhand clothing. I want people to leave a show or a shoot and rethink the preconceived notions of what secondhand clothing, and sustainability as a whole, can look like.
3. Who are your (climate) superheroes?:
My climate superheroes are, first and foremost, the Indigenous folks who have served as stewards of the land for generations. After that it’s folks on the ground who are regularly doing work in climate justice spaces through an intersectional lens, specifically organizations here in the city like We Act for EJ or Dominique and Whitney at Sustainable BK. After that, it’s folks in the fashion industry, who have been thanklessly doing this work for years, particularly brands like Tracy Reese, Mara Hoffman, Eileen Fisher. Mara Hoffman and Tracy Reese, in particular, have been an inspiration in the way they live their values, all of which come through, both in the garments, and on social media. Finally, I think about my grandparents, and folks like them, who would not necessarily describe themselves as practicing sustainability, but were always careful and thoughtful at protecting the resources of the planet.
4. Can you tell us a story of a catalyzing moment in your journey to climate work?:
This is a wonderful question and something I pose to the undergrads I teach at Parsons all the time. I refer to it as my moment of radicalization, and for me, it was seeing the data of the amount of textiles in the waste stream in NYC alone. As someone who took care of my clothing and often repaired it it was shocking to see how quickly people were willing to just discard it. From there, I sought out more information and was further radicalized when I began to understand the plight of the garment workers, the toll on the planet from the production process, and the lack of options, at that time, to make better consumption choices. Almost ten years later, something new is still radicalizing me every day, whether it’s the gross profits ultra fast fashion brands are making while causing harm in almost every single way, or the recent Brandy Melville documentary on HBO that highlights all of the issues of rampant consumerism in the fashion industry.
5. What recommendations do you have for people reading this to get involved in climate work?:
Start at the local level! Find your community around you and tap into that energy because those are the folks that will be able to inspire you to do more. I look at an organization like Remake as a great example because they have this wonderful ability to connect large groups of people around a common goal and have been able to hold brands accountable because of it.
Aside from that, just start reading or watching more content around whatever topics that interest you. For example, I would recommend Dead White Men’s Clothing or True Cost if you want to know more about those worlds but it can be as simple as following influencers in the space or organizations like Seeding Sovereignty.
6. What is inspiring you these days?:
Currently, my biggest inspirations are my students. Every day they come in ready to fight the good fight and it energizes me. It feels great to look to them as the future on days where I feel particularly jaded or burnt out from the industry. More broadly, I think community in general has been the biggest inspiration at the moment. Being around like minded folks who see the fashion system for the beautiful mess that it is and are willing to do the work to change it has really kept me motivated to keep going.