Co-Founder, Fashinnovation

What is your personal advocacy?

My personal advocacy is ensuring equality for all, in all aspects of life and for everyone - people are a huge part of sustainability. From treating every single being with the same respect and attention, to ensuring diversity and inclusivity on our platform and events at Fashinnovation, and dedicating my life to humanising homelessness (publishing my first book titled It Can Be You). My advocacy also includes ensuring that people are treated fairly in all parts of the supply chain of the fashion industry. It's a huge part of sustainability and so it is also important to me. People are what inspire me to wake up every day and give the best of myself.

What is your personal advocacy?

My personal advocacy is ensuring equality for all, in all aspects of life and for everyone - people are a huge part of sustainability. From treating every single being with the same respect and attention, to ensuring diversity and inclusivity on our platform and events at Fashinnovation, and dedicating my life to humanising homelessness (publishing my first book titled It Can Be You). My advocacy also includes ensuring that people are treated fairly in all parts of the supply chain of the fashion industry. It's a huge part of sustainability and so it is also important to me. People are what inspire me to wake up every day and give the best of myself.

What was the turning point that first got you interested in it?

Growing up in Brazil, I noticed as a 2 or 3 year old little girl, that there was a vast difference between the affluent and the poor - from the way people treated them to what they had and everything else. It always hit a big nerve with me and in general, I feel it does so with everyone. I just love to see the best version of everyone's self. If I can be a small reason for a smile on someone's face, it makes my life worthwhile.

How do you live it out daily?

I live it out daily by doing very small things like having a conversation with my Uber driver in the morning or the person pumping my gas etc. and really giving them the same attention as I would to a family member. Another example is when I'm in line to purchase coffee or food, I pay for the person behind me if I can, to give them a nice little unexpected surprise. Living it out daily also means everything from smiling to everyone I see daily, to making sure I tell EVERYONE who supports my business or philanthropy that they are as big a part of the business as I am, it means inspiring anyone that gives me the opportunity to share my thoughts, to being the best mom that I can be to my two little girls so they grow up in the same way, to treating the lady who takes care of my babies while I am at work like a second mom to my kids, and never having her feel like someone who works for me but rather, as part of the family, to asking anyone on the streets I see asking for money if they are hungry and if so, buying them food, and finally, to giving the platform on Fashinnovation to an artisan in the villages in India the same way I would to a Diane von Furstenberg.

Words to live by:

Do unto others as you'd do to yourself.

What's your personal definition of sustainability?

Treating everyone equally, being inclusive, treating people fairly, taking care of the things around you, not being wasteful, and not over consuming.

What are your tips for individuals who want to start adopting a more sustainable/conscious lifestyle?

Just be good to yourself, via being good to others as well as to the environment in which you live. Every small step is a big step towards a sustainable future!