Conscious Chatter

In episode 215, Kestrel welcomes Kameese Davis, the founder and CEO of Nylah's Naturals, to the show. A young plant-based hair care brand, Nylah's Naturals has introduced a science-based approach to textured hair products, and is pushing boundaries for clean and sustainable products.

"It's about combining that plant-based knowledge with the knowledge that our foremothers had and our grandmothers had in terms of how they would use plants and herbs for natural healing and for their beauty treatments as well — so, our passion really is combining those two elements to ensure that we are developing the best possible products for our consumers." -Kameese Davis, Founder + CEO of Nylah's Naturals

On this week's show, Kameese shares more on her journey and how a journey with her daughter ended up leading her to build Nylah's Naturals.

Also, Kestrel and Kameese discuss some of the aspects of the Silent Spring Institute study "Hair products for Black women contain mix of hazardous ingredients" — and how the findings could help researchers understand why Black women have higher exposures to hazardous chemicals than other groups and how these elevated exposures contribute to health disparities in the U.S. population.

The below thoughts, ideas + organizations were brought up in this chat:

• Silent Spring Institute Study

• EWG's Skin Deep

• Nylah's Naturals' Ingredients

• Feed My Creative, company that Nylah's Naturals is working with to showcase creative ways to reuse their product bottles

• Some other resources that Kameese recommends: Cosmilly Skincare Community CosDNA Think Dirty App, listen to our show with their founder here >

• Follow Nylah's Naturals on Instagram >

In episode 214, Kestrel welcomes Isaias Hernandez, the creator of Queer Brown Vegan, to the show. As a Queer, Brown, and Vegan environmentalist, Isaias makes accessible environmental education content, showcased on his platform Queer Brown Vegan, and seeks to provide a safe space for other like-minded environmentalists to engage in the discourse of the current climate crisis.

"I really believed in creating a space as Queer Brown Vegan to discuss everything that I learned and just put it out there so people can have information to themselves and not have to feel ashamed for asking questions … I really push for the narrative of 'you are your own environmentalist' that includes Indigenous experiences, ancestral knowledge if you are Indigenous, cultural-based experiences for BIPOC individuals or just lived experiences that you've had that you don't resemble to environmentalism." -Isaias Hernandez, Founder of Queer Brown Vegan

On this week's show, Isaias shares more of his story, and how when he was studying environmental science at UC Berkeley, he was finally able to reconnect a lot of the experiences he had growing up with the terminology he was learning. This led him to realize the importance of education and access to education — which is partly what inspired him to create Queer Brown Vegan.

Also, Isaias and Kestrel explore more depth on some of the topics that have been featured on Queer Brown Vegan in the past including "The Gentrification of Thrifting", "Drop Shipping", "Sustainable Activism" and more.

The below thoughts, ideas + organizations were brought up in this chat:

• "I think that any BIPOC environmentalist doing this type of work realizes how heavily the environmental movement has misrepresented a lot of these voices." -Isaias

• Eco-Learners, free downloadable e-book

• What Is The Gentrification Of Thrifting? - post on Instagram

• What is Drop Shipping? - post on Instagram

• "I think that creating boundaries is a form of kindness to me, and not necessarily a form of being rude." -Isaias

• "I think change starts locally with our own loved ones." -Isaias

• Follow Queer Brown Vegan on Instagram >

Thanks to this week's sponsor ECO-STYLIST — a marketplace for sustainable men's clothes, Eco-Stylist helps you dress like you give a damn and allows you to look sharp without compromising your values. Check out more at https://www.eco-stylist.com/conscious/

In episode 213, Kestrel welcomes Reza Cristián, the founder and editor-in-chief of SUSTAIN The Mag, to the show. An online media platform, SUSTAIN The Mag is a space where eco-conscious warriors cultivate a healthy, planet-friendly lifestyle.

"There was mostly you know, white people that were at the top, executives and editors-in-chiefs for example, and then, people on the covers — they weren't really everyday people, so I was really turned off by that. And that's really what led me to want to shift and change the perspective around media, and really tie it into sustainability because in a whole, it's not just about caring for the planet — it's caring about everyone and just interconnecting it all — so, that was my main priority to start Sustain The Mag." -Reza Cristián, Founder + Editor-In-Chief of SUSTAIN Mag

On this week's show, Reza shares more on her background and how resourcefulness has always been integrated into her lifestyle, growing up in a Mexican family. She also shares more on what led her to actually build Sustain The Mag, and some of the ideas she has for the future of the platform.

Kestrel asks Reza to ideate on what the future of media looks like from her perspective, and they also discuss if and how the sustainability narrative is shifting away from a consumeristic-driven approach toward more of a focus on resourcefulness.

The below thoughts, ideas + organizations were brought up in this chat:

• Dominique Drakeford + Céline Semaan, two people in the sustainability industry that Reza looked up to while she was in college

• SUSTAIN The Mag Fall 2020 Cover Shoot, featuring the cofounders of Intersectional Environmentalist

• "Another thing that I love to always mention is to just not feel so lost in the consumerism part of sustainability, because that goes back to colonialism, that goes back to the mindset of capitalism where people think they have to purchase in order to be a part of something, and I always love to mention that we were brought to think that we were the problem because corporations didn't want to take accountability for their mistakes, but in actuality, we are the solution." -Reza

• Follow SUSTAIN Mag on Instagram >

• Follow Reza on Instagram >

Thanks to this week's sponsor ECO-STYLIST — a marketplace for sustainable men's clothes, Eco-Stylist helps you dress like you give a damn and allows you to look sharp without compromising your values. Check out more at https://www.eco-stylist.com/conscious/

In episode 212, Kestrel welcomes Comet Chukura, the founder of GLOW, to the show. A knitwear brand pioneering adaptable accessories that reflect light, GLOW is committed to using sustainable materials and ethical production, with an intention to create social as well as environmental impact.

"The point is to always work with women on the peripheries — slow fashion, since it's all hand-knitted and crocheted, it does take a while to make — but the point is to utilize skills, which they would otherwise fall by the wayside, and kind of give Indigenous handicraft the respect it deserves in our system of fashion." -Comet Chukura, Founder of GLOW

On this week's show, Comet shares more what about led her to build GLOW, what her supply chain looks like, and how working with marginalized women is at the core of the brand. Additionally, she explains how the "tech" works for GLOW's sustainable, high visibility yarn.

Additionally, we touch on the layers of issues connected to the white gaze and white savior complex within the sustainable fashion industry — Comet recently wrote an article for Refinery29 called "Supporting Black-Owned Brands Shouldn't Be A Goodwill Gesture" in which she explores this more deeply.

The below thoughts, ideas + organizations were brought up in this chat:

• Christopher Raeburn, brand that Comet is collaborating with

• Birdsong, brand that Comet is collaborating with

• "Supporting Black-Owned Brands Shouldn't Be A Goodwill Gesture" article by Comet on Refinery29

• Follow Glow on Instagram >

• Follow Comet on Instagram >

Thanks to this week's sponsor ECO-STYLIST — a marketplace for sustainable men's clothes, Eco-Stylist helps you dress like you give a damn and allows you to look sharp without compromising your values. Check out more at https://www.eco-stylist.com/conscious/

In episode 211, Kestrel welcomes Diandra Marizet, who spearheads Business Development + Operations at Intersectional Environmentalist. A conscious curator, brand strategist + writer, Diandra is dedicated to elevating intersectional sustainability through the lens of fashion, social impact + culture.

"We need everybody pursuing intersectionality, environmentalism, sustainability — like, whatever you're latching onto in terms of progress, latch onto it, but do it in a healthy way that's manageable in the longterm." -Diandra Marizet, Business Development + Operations at Intersectional Environmentalist

On this week's show, Diandra shares more on her journey into the environmental movement, and how she went from growing up as a tomboy to working in apparel buying at Kate Spade, and eventually getting into social impact funding.

She also shares more of her thoughts on what the fashion industry needs to be focusing on right now to avoid putting another bandaid on an issue — and to instead, look at the root of the issues and address the systemic problems that are influencing the industry.

The below thoughts, ideas + organizations were brought up in this chat:

• Leah Thomas' post on Instagram, that ended up leading to the launch of Intersectional Environmentalist

• Kimberlé Crenshaw's podcast Intersectionality Matters

• On Purpose, a social enterprise initiative by Kate Spade

• Intersectional Environmentalist

• "We are not bound to our current perspectives but to the evolution of them. Don't sweat." -Didi

• Follow Didi on Instagram >

Thanks to this week's sponsor ECO-STYLIST — a marketplace for sustainable men's clothes, Eco-Stylist helps you dress like you give a damn and allows you to look sharp without compromising your values. Check out more at https://www.eco-stylist.com/conscious/

The Root Episode 6: The New Standard is broken down into 3 parts — 1) coproducers Dominique and Kestrel interview each other to get a brief feeling of how this project has impacted them individually, 2) we share interviews with 4 of our sponsors from this project, and 3) we share more on what "The New Standard" means to us, the pillars it is built upon, and what questions we all need to be asking moving forward.

THE ROOT SPONSORS

SAMATA, CEO of Red Carpet Green Dress "It's mandatory listening to the point where it should be curriculum. And I always advocate for teaching people about how clothes are made - that they come from trees and farms and rivers and lakes and hands. But I think the other part is that we need to educate people about the systems that exist within the industry - not just the products and how they're made." REBECCA BURGESS, Founder of Fibershed "Our culture is so superficial right now around the conversations around race. And I think what The Root did is - it literally rooted in the variances between those of us who have been in migration patterns that just keep going, those of us who have been more rooted in place, experiences of socio-economic variation … there's just so much that's involved that's so intersectional - I like that you gave space for those intersections!" KELSEY SABO, Marketing Manager, Sustainability at MATE "Our biggest key takeaways … having a better idea of how that white washed narrative has not been getting to the reality that sustainability at its core has been advocated for by the BIPOC community since far before any white people have been talking about it."

PATRICK WOODYARD, CEO of Nisolo "I've been front and center working in sustainable fashion now for almost 10 years and I think the fact that I've learned more from one podcast about inequity of BIPOC in the fashion industry than I have from years of going to conferences and reading sustainability articles from the top editors in the United States covering sustainability - that reality reveals not only my own blindspots but certainly the disgraceful blindspots of the industry as a whole right now." THE NEW STANDARD

After listening back to The Root project over and over, we have uncovered a framework — something we're calling The New Standard. The New Standard is a rubric / a tool for holding ourselves accountable, exploring opportunities for equitable partnerships, and taking ownership of our own responsibilities in order to propel actions forward. The New Standard is the baseline for any conversation or activation in sustainability.

The below 3 pillars represent this new standard approach —

• Education → accountability

• Equitable partnerships → opportunity

• Action → responsibility

After listening to this entire project, we welcome you to join us in asking difficult questions that fall within or across The New Standard pillars. Begin asking the hard questions in your personal life, in your work, in your community, in your corporation, because after this project — The Root — one of the most important things we can all do is go into a self assessment stage, so we can understand what we need to work on, and we can get ACTIVE!

Thanks to this week's sponsor - Red Carpet Green Dress™ (RCGD), a women-led global change-making organization working from 'moment' to movement, bringing sustainability to the forefront of conversation and action within the fashion and apparel industry.

Learn more at RCGDglobal.com.

If you're interested in RCGD's monthly virtual workshop series, you can get tickets here >

And RCGD currently has two surveys live if you'd like to share your feedback:

• 'Language and Sustainability Survey'

• 'Cultural Sustainability Survey'

The Root Episode 5: Where Do We Go From Here? is a unique compilation of all 17 guests from the previous 4 episodes sharing a proclamation statement of how we intentionally move the fashion industry forward.

PART 1, Historical Analysis & Paradigm Shift MIKO UNDERWOOD "The American fashion community was born from the inception of indigo farms in America. The enslaved labor of Black Americans grew the cotton industry and built America's fashion economy … we are required to be culturally accountable and culturally responsible."

ADITI MAYER "The future of fashion is one that understands the history and oppression that it's built upon … What we need is an interrogation of power exists, why it exists and how we can disassemble and redistribute it for true equity." NIKKI SANCHEZ "My vision for the future of fashion is a complete decolonization of the industry. From design to material sourcing to brand and marketing structure. This would mean a 180 turn from appropriation, exploitation, extraction and fast fashion." PART 2, Systemic Awareness & Re-imagination IBADA WADUD "As we seek to restore equity, I feel we must look particularly to communities who have been historically oppressed. Unlearning biased knowledge within the sustainability sector which I refer to as the process of decolonizing our minds, is imperative in order to reimagine systems that are regenerative versus extractive." EMI ITO "When power shifts from white people to people of the global majority, then we will be moving toward healing. When rights, lived experiences, creativity and joy of Black Indigenous and other people of color are honored, not appropriated and celebrated not surpassed - then we will be moving toward freedom in fashion." AJA BARBER "Power shift, we need a shift in power in all systems and a lot of systems need to be rebuilt from the ground up." KIMBERLY JENKINS "Black people are not a monolith — we are not charity either. What we demand and what we deserve is equal opportunities and resources to not be taken for granted and to not be exploited." RACHEL RICKETTS "We need to address all forms of oppression and the ways in which they intersect - the ways in which fashion is one of the most egregious manifestations of oppression in terms of classism, fat phobia, homophobia, transphobia, colorism, ageism, ableism - all of the forms of oppression need to end."

PART 3, Labor Extraction & Accountability

AYESHA BARENBLAT "The only future of fashion which is truly just and resilient must center fashion's most resilient garment makers and labor organizers. We need a worker centric view for the future of fashion which centers Black and Brown women." LISA BETTY "The fashion industry needs to wake up to this extraction, to this brutality and to the environmental consequences of the industry within itself." ERICKA HART "If your favorite brand is using prison labor - they have to go. We are out to abolish prisons so we don't need modern day slaves creating Nike's or whatever kind of garment that you like because you want it cheaper." WHITNEY MCGUIRE "We're birthing a new industry collectively. But what needs to happen so that this contraction is useful in opening up new pathways and not just unnecessarily painful - is accountability." BLAIR IMANI "If you're not willing to put your garments on your workers and have them model for you and compensate them that way — you shouldn't be in this work. This work requires work, don't lose sight of that."

PART 4, People, Power & Reclamation

IFY IKE "If there's one thing that I want us to do is to really fall in love with everything that is around us, recognize our connection to those items and also make our lives matter to us more than those that are benefitting from our lives." DJ "We've long been hamsters on the wheel of fashion's exploitative trends and racist systems. It's time for us to boldly jump from this proverbial wheel created by the old guards and explore a wholly new approach to fashion design and acquisition." TERUMI MURAO "The future of fashion will be decentralized and democratized to reflect what all people want and need." AKILAH STEWART "Reimagining the way that things always have been done and how things can be done in the future. Using creativity as a solution building tool."

Thanks to this week's sponsor - NISOLO, a handmade shoe brand that's passionate about driving systemic social and environmental change across the fashion industry. They are a B Corporation and Climate Neutral Certified brand committed to living wages and reversing climate change.

Nisolo hooked our show up with a discount code — use THEROOT for 20% off and for first purchases only.

Learn more at Nisolo.com/theroot.

The Root Episode 4: The Future Of Fashion is broken down in 4 lightening talk segments, hosted by Dominique Drakeford. Part 1 discuses Marketing with Aditi Mayer & Terumi Murao. Part 2 hones in on Education with Kimberly Jenkins and Whitney McGuire. Part 3 dives into Small Business Entrepreneurship with Akilah Stewart and Ibada Wadud. Lastly, Part 4 contextualizes the landscape of Policy with Ify Ike and Ayesha Barenblat.

Terumi Murao is a sustainable stylist and model who works in the fashion and commercial advertising industry. She has worked previously in scientific research, luxury hospitality, and marketing for design & technology. Her curiosity and creative restlessness continually drive her to imagine and iterate on new human-centered, sustainable solutions. She cares deeply about fashion as a tool for personal growth, and a platform to elevate underrepresented voices and advocate for justice.

Links to Terumi's work:

• Terumi's Website

• Follow Terumi on Instagram

Aditi Mayer is a sustainable fashion blogger, photographer, and journalist whose work explores the intersections of style, sustainability, and social justice. Seeing fashion's disproportionate effects on communities of color globally, she began her blog, ADIMAY.com, after the Bangladesh Rana Plaza factory in 2014. She has become a frequent speaker on topics of social and environmental justice, with recent collaborators including Human Rights Watch, Timberland, Planet Home, Vegan Fashion Week, and more. Currently, she is working with the Garment Workers Center to elevate stories of labor exploitation in LA.

Links to Aditi's work:

• ADIMAY.com, Aditi's Blog

• Aditi's Photojournalism Portfolio

• LA Garment Worker COVID Relief fund

• Follow Aditi on Instagram

Whitney McGuire is an attorney for creative entrepreneurs. She is also a co-founder of Sustainable Brooklyn, and co-founder of the record label swiMMMers ear with her husband. She became an emerging leader in the field of Fashion Law and is former chairperson of Fashion Law Week, the first week-long symposium dedicated to educating the community about legal issues impacting the fashion industry. Through her work, she champions the sustainability of those hailing from targeted communities including artists and advocates.

Links to follow Whitney's work:

• "In The Future, Black People Are..."

• Whitney's Website

• Sustainable Brooklyn Website

• Vogue Article

• Follow Whitney on Instagram

Kimberly Jenkins is Assistant Professor of Fashion Studies at Ryerson University, lecturing previously at Parsons School of Design and Pratt Institute. Kim became best known for designing a course and exhibition called Fashion and Race, and has shared her insights globally in industry forums and institutions. Her expertise on fashion history and infusing 'race' into fashion theory education has led to consulting work for Gucci, Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, the Centraal Museum along with other corporate brands and organizations. Kim is the founder of The Fashion and Race Database, an online platform filled with open-source tools that expand the narrative of fashion history and challenge mis-representation within the fashion system.

Links to follow Kimberly's work:

• Kimberly's Website

• The Fashion and Race Database (founded by Kim)

• Donate to The Fashion and Race Database

• Kimberly's 3-part exhibition, 'Fashion and Race: Deconstructing Ideas, Reconstructing Identities,' hosted by Google Arts & Culture

• Kimberly featured in Vogue

• Kimberly featured in The Guardian

• Kimberly featured in The Washington Post

• Follow Kimberly on Instagram

• Follow The Fashion and Race Database on Instagram

Akilah Stewart is a sustainable lifestyle RE-programmer, community organizer and the founder of FATRA. Focusing on creative waste management, FATRA is known for transforming single use plastic and dead stock material into the"Recycled Bottle Bag" -- RE-inventing the way we define traditional luxury products by incorporating raw materials and alternative design methods. As a first generation American born to Caribbean parents, Akilah Stewart shares sustainability through an indigenous vantage point - one that REconnects us with working with our hands, respecting the land, and encourages us to make something from nothing.

Links to follow Akilah's work:

• FATRA's Website

• MelaninASS Interview

• Monte Carlo Fashion Week

• Susty Soul Podcast Interview

• Peachy Keen Interview

• Waste Led Design Interview, Slow Factory

• Follow Akilah on Instagram

Ibada Wadud is the Founder & Head of Impact at LULAH and a member of the Adjunct Faculty at Parsons School of Design in the Department of Design Strategies. LULAH makes better handbags designed in Brooklyn to employ formerly incarcerated women. In 2019, LULAH received the Girlboss Foundation Prize, was featured in New York Magazine's The Cut, and participated in Essence Festival in New Orleans. Prior to founding LULAH, Ibada was a member of the Corporate Social Responsibility team at Kate Spade, and has worked with Ermenegildo Zegna, Gucci and Fendi. She has particularly focused on artisan communities throughout her career with a concentration on economic development. Ibada recently joined The Slow Factory team where she contributes her Design Justice practice to advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion within sustainability.

Links to follow Ibada's work:

• Lulah, Ibada's brand

• Follow Ibada on Instagram

• Follow Lulah on Instagram

Ayesha Barenblat (@remakeourworld) is the founder of Remake, a nonprofit organization dedicated to building a community of conscious consumers, and engaging millennial shoppers through films, visual storytelling and immersive journeys to connect us as humans back to makers. In the past, she led brand engagement at Better Work, a World Bank and United Nations partnership to ensure safe and decent working conditions around the world. Prior to this, she was head of consumer products at BSR, providing strategic advice to brands including H&M, Levi Strauss & Co., Marks and Spencer, Nike, and The Walt Disney Company.

Links to follow Ayesha's work:

• Remake's Website

• Payup Fashion's Website

• "'Lockdown has been a wakeup call for the industry': what next for fashion?" in The Guardian

• "15 Designers, Scientists, and Environmental Activists—From Ayesha Barenblat to Stella McCartney—On Sustaining the Fashion Industry" in Vogue

• Follow Remake on Instagram

Ifeoma Ike is a Nigerian-American attorney, artist and social change designer. With a vast career, ranging from Wall Street to Capitol Hill to on the ground movement lawyering, Ifeoma is the Founding Partner of equity strategy firm, Pink Cornrows. Recognized in 2019 by HBO & Vanity Fair for her justice and policy record, "Ify" is a thought partner for leaders committed to disrupting the status quo and creating a society that is just and fair for those traditionally marginalized.

Links to follow Ify's work:

• Pink Cornrows Website

• Follow Ify on Instagram

• Follow Ify on Instagram

• Follow Pink Cornrows on Instagram

Thanks to this week's sponsor - MATE, a clean essentials brand made sustainably in Los Angeles with non-toxic, natural and organic materials. MATE hooked our show up with a discount code — use ROOT20 for 20% off and for first purchases only.

Learn more at MateTheLabel.com.

The Root Episode 3: Racism In The Fashion Industry is broken down into 2 segments. The first segment focuses on the designer lens in which Dominique Drakeford speaks with sustainable fashion designers Miko Underwood and DJ discussing the creation of the fashion industry and the importance of shifting the white exploitive gaze through historical analysis, Black abundance mindset and cultural responsibility. In the second segment, Dominique Drakeford hones in on the "influencer" lens by speaking with Aja Barber and Emi Ito on the uses of social media as a tool for education, advocacy and solidarity against institutional oppression.

Damian Joel (preferably called D.J.) is a self-taught designer who credits his interest in fashion to years of witnessing his mother sweat over her sewing machine to make ends meet. After years of working in corporate Jamaica as a Marketing and PR executive, D.J. transitioned his career, and became a regular style correspondent on Jamaica's morning show. He also acted as a Personal Stylist to Olympic gold medallist Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce. In 2014, D.J. headed to New York, where he has managed to carve out his own space— without formal training — relying merely on his intuitive talent in fashion.

Links to DJ's work:

• INTRO x DJ, D.J.'s brand

• Interview with MelaninASS

• NPR Interview

• FIT Black History Month Fashion Presentation

• Weeksville Heritage Centre Fashion Exhibit Review

• Follow DJ on Instagram

Miko Underwood is an artist, seasoned design director, sustainability practitioner, actionist and the founder of the first sustainable denim brand in Harlem, NY, Oak & Acorn - Only for the Rebelles, a genderless luxury heritage brand. A denim expert, with nearly twenty years of wash & product and brand development, Miko founded BLDG 357, Inc. a boutique multimedia design consultancy with global clients in the U.S., China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, New Zealand & West Africa. Miko is the consulting creative director for We Got Us Now, a nonprofit that focuses on identifying & amplifying the voices of children and young adults impacted by parental incarceration & active voice for those who share her personal story in the fashion community.

Links to Miko's work:

• Miko's brand Oak and Acorn, the first sustainable denim brand in Harlem, NY

• The Denim Collective, an educational initiative curated by Miko, that brings to the forefront the Black Community's contributions to the origins of fashion - beginning with Denim

• Follow Miko on Instagram

• Follow Oak and Acorn on Instagram

Aja Barber is a writer, stylist and consultant who lives in London. Aja's work centers around fashion, feminism, sustainability, race, colonization and all the issues that are holding the fashion industry back from being its best self.

Links to follow Aja's work:

• Subscribe to Aja's Patreon

• "Why the sustainable fashion movement should always include plus-size people" on CNN Style

• "Conscious, ethical and cruelty-free: a guide to the language of sustainable fashion" in The Guardian

• Follow Aja on Instagram

Emi Ito is a mother and public educator on Chochenyo Ohlone land in the Bay Area. Her Buddhist practice and journey of becoming a mother led her to explore and embrace sustainable fashion. She became outspoken about the cultural appropriation of the kimono as well as the need for wider representation of BIPOC in ethical fashion. She is the founder and co-moderator of Buy From BIPOC, a website and Instagram that celebrates BIPOC makers and creatives with a focus on slow, sustainable, and ethical fashion. Emi is also a Steering Committee member of Japanese Americans for Justice and the Committee Chair for the Families & Kids Committee of Tsuru for Solidarity. Both organizations focus on anti-racist solidarity work to combat anti-Black racism and the incarceration of families by ICE.

Links to follow Emi's work:

• "An Open Letter to White Makers & Designers Who Are Inspired by the Kimono & Japanese Culture"

• "Learning and Unlearning: an interview with Emi Ito on cultural appropriation" in Pom Pom Magazine

• Untangling The Threads Of The Kimono: Japan's Colonial History & Cultural Reparations In Fashion on Matter Prints

• Follow Emi on Instagram

This week's episode is in partnership with Levi's. Coming this Fall, Levi's® SecondHand— a new way to shop sustainably for well-worn, highly covetable, perfectly imperfect jeans. Because if everybody bought one used item of clothing this year, instead of buying new, it would save 449 million pounds of waste. (source: ThredUp) Learn more at Levi.com/Secondhand.

In The Root Episode 2: The Power of Privilege, Dominique Drakeford speaks with activist-educators Ericka Hart, Blair Imani and Rachel Ricketts, discussing the functions of privilege and the importance of applying critical and intersectional approaches toward dismantling white supremacy in fashion and beyond.

Rachel Ricketts is a global thought leader + outspoken champion for Black and Indigenous womxn. As a racial justice activist, lawyer, healer, speaker + author, she educates white folx on their role in perpetuating white supremacy, and helps folx of colour heal from internalized oppression. Rachel's work has been featured in Vox, Mind Body Green, Huffington Post, BuzzFeed, Elephant Journal, 21Ninety, Black Girl in Om and Thrive. She has worked with prestigious international companies including Google, WeWork, Lululemon and TELUS and presented at renowned conferences including SXSW 2018 + 2019. Rachel's first book My Love Includes Anger will be published by Atria Books in 2021.

Links to Rachel's work:

• Rachel's Website

• Take Rachel's Spiritual Activism Webinars

• More About Rachel's Book Do Better: Spiritual Activism for Fighting and Healing From White Supremacy, Out Feb 2021

• Follow Rachel on Instagram

Ericka Hart, M.Ed., D/s, pronouns: she/they, is a Black queer femme activist, writer, highly acclaimed speaker and award-winning sexuality educator with a Master's of Education in Human Sexuality from Widener University. Her work broke ground when she went topless showing her double mastectomy scars in public in 2016. She is currently an adjunct faculty member at Columbia University's School of Social Work.

Links to Ericka's work:

• Ericka's Website

• Book Ericka For A Workshop

• Ericka's Webinars

• Hoodrat to Headwrap, Ericka's Podcast

• Follow Ericka on Instagram

Blair Imani is a critically-acclaimed historian, outspoken advocate and activist, and dynamic public speaker. The author of two historical books: Modern HERstory: Stories of Women and Nonbinary People Rewriting History (2018) and Making Our Way Home: The Great Migration and The Black American Dream (2020), she centers women and girls, global Black communities, and the LGBTQ community. She takes education further on Patreon and provides publicly accessible weekly lessons on Instagram. Blair has appeared on Fox News and MSNBC, presented at colleges and universities, spoken at conferences around the world, and delivered powerful talks for organizations and brands including TEDx and GLAAD.

Links to Blair's work:

• Blair's Website

• Buy Blair's Books

• Follow Blair on Instagram